The Holy Wars of the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East, otherwise known as the Crusades, were overall a successful, although not completely moral, means of spreading and revitalizing Christian faith in Europe. The commencement of the Crusades was in the favor of Christianity, but as the Crusades heightened, things had gotten out of hand and had degraded the religion near the end. The Crusades were essentially a series of religious military expeditions that were cast to conflict with internal and external threats to their religion. They had primarily begun in the year 1095 and had been continued for the next 200 years to follow. The First Crusade, the key Crusade that had started everything, was the initial (Christian) march onto Jerusalem, or the Holy Land, and the main objective in mind was to reclaim what was the holiest place in Christian history since the very beginning: Jerusalem, or the ‘City of Gods,’ where Jesus Christ had been born, raised, and killed. Not only was the intent of this mission to regain the land, but also to give a chance for Christians to pay a pilgrimage and seek redemption. For the Muslims however, Jerusalem was significant because it enclosed the Dome of the Rock where Muhammad, founder of the Muslim faith, had once sat and prayed. With the achievement of retrieving the land for the Christians, they had a new incentive that consisted of devastating the entire Muslim population in the region that they had just invaded. The Second Crusade was initiated in 1147 when Nur ad-Din, the Crusaders’ main enemy, had taken back control over Jerusalem from the Christians. In this period, Christian forces, led by Richard the Lionheart, had lost their focus and had begun to engage combat with their allies for the wrong reasons. The Third Crusade, starting in 1187, concluded that unarmed pilgrims were permitted to voyage to Jerusalem, but Muslims controlled the land itself. Not only were pure Christians on these pilgrimages, but also even non-believers who had been converted to Christianity had taken a leave for Jerusalem. Throughout the entire process, however, there had been extensive amounts of corruption in the faith of Christianity. There had been dilemmas such as the sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the falsification of the Knights Templar, and the use of Christianity in vain for personal gain. All in all, Christianity was strong until it started to become corrupt and lose its basic roots that tie back to Jesus’ teachings.
The first movement of Christianity during the Crusades was evident when fellow Christians departed for the Holy Land to seek Christian redemption. At the time of the capture of Jerusalem by the Turks in 1076, Muslim soldiers had rejected Christians wanting to pay a pilgrimage to the city, in turn angering the Christian society to a great extent. Especially since pilgrimage was extensively significant as an act of devotion, it had become a very formal penance for sin that is more severe. With the initiative of Alexius I of Constantinople came the first traces of Holy War and the quest to regain the Holy Land. He, with the enormous help of Pope Urban II, called for the attack of the foreigners that remained in control of the Holy Land. He specifically said, “Christians, hasten to your brothers in the East, for they are being attacked. Arm for the rescue of Jerusalem under your captain Christ. Wear his cross as your badge. If you are killed your sins will be pardoned.” This being said, clearly living under the name of Christ was motivation enough to fight. Led by Peter the Hermit, Walter the Penniless, Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin and Eustace of Flanders, the First Crusade had been on its way. Christians seeking to repent their sins and redeem themselves had an urge to incorporate themselves with this mission. Also adding to the Christian population would be the sinners that had lost faith in Christianity because they had believed their opportunity for a peaceful afterlife had been void. This made Christianity flourish once again since everyone wanted a new hope. “It may seem paradoxical that a council both promulgated peace and officially sanctioned war, but the peace movement was designed to protect those in distress, and a strong element of the Crusade was the idea of giving aid to fellow Christians in the East. Tied to this idea was the notion that war to defend Christendom was not only a justifiable undertaking but a holy work and therefore pleasing to God.” This quote from a historian explains that the Pope wanted the Christian people to embark on this quest, regardless of the lack of morals it obeyed. It is not a Christian value to kill, but the Pope had spread lies about this true fact. He had, like the quote vaguely addresses, told the general population that when the commandment reads, “Do not kill,” it is meant specifically as, “Do not kill Christians.” This not only made it acceptable to kill Muslims, but they were told that they would also be guaranteed to ascend to heaven if involved with the Crusade. With these expeditions for redemption came together many devout Christians seeking to repent their sins, sinners who had once lost faith, and new Christians that had seen this journey as an opening for them to embrace the Christian faith.
