When messengers from the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus asked the Christians in Europe to help protect his empire from the Turks, an assembly of churchmen called by Pope Urban II met at Clermont, France on 27th November 1095. The pope addressed the assembly and asked the warriors of Europe to liberate the Holy Land from the Muslims. The response of the assembly was overwhelmingly positive and the first of at least eight crusades was launched. For clarification, I am defining the word ‘Crusade’ as a holy war authorized by the Pope in the name of God which campaigned for political, social, or religious change. The extraordinary success of the First Crusade would eventually make it almost impossible for future Crusades to achieve the same
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Whilst this was not a major factor in the Third Crusade’s lack of success it contributed to the overall inefficiency to capture Jerusalem and hindered the crusade from the very beginning. In 1095 Pope Urban II sent out his crusaders with the promise that “all who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the Muslims, shall have immediate forgiveness of sins” which epitomises how many men were going on crusade in order for their sins to be forgiven and to preach the glory of God to the infidels. Thus was launched the first and most successful of at least eight crusades against the Muslim caliphates in the East, driven by the refrain "God wills it!" This fully conveys how the First Crusade was inspired by religious fervour to take back Jerusalem and the Holy Land as a whole and to appease their God. This therefore amalgamated the nobles in Europe against a common enemy, reducing warfare at home which meant that the crusaders were a significantly more powerful and formidable force on a mission to free ‘their land’. This is in contrast to the causes of the Third Crusade which were stimulated by the disastrous events of July 1187 when the great Kurdish warrior Saladin, who had spent years unifying the various Muslim factions of the East, met a huge Christian army of approximately 20,000 men under the command of Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, in northern Israel. Saladin surrounded the exhausted and demoralised Christian army in the Middle Eastern summer heat and completely crushed it. King Guy was captured, and the main part of the military strength of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was annihilated, leaving Saladin undisputed master of the land where Jesus Christ was born, lived and died. Shortly after;
Whilst this was not a major factor in the Third Crusade’s lack of success it contributed to the overall inefficiency to capture Jerusalem and hindered the crusade from the very beginning. In 1095 Pope Urban II sent out his crusaders with the promise that “all who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the Muslims, shall have immediate forgiveness of sins” which epitomises how many men were going on crusade in order for their sins to be forgiven and to preach the glory of God to the infidels. Thus was launched the first and most successful of at least eight crusades against the Muslim caliphates in the East, driven by the refrain "God wills it!" This fully conveys how the First Crusade was inspired by religious fervour to take back Jerusalem and the Holy Land as a whole and to appease their God. This therefore amalgamated the nobles in Europe against a common enemy, reducing warfare at home which meant that the crusaders were a significantly more powerful and formidable force on a mission to free ‘their land’. This is in contrast to the causes of the Third Crusade which were stimulated by the disastrous events of July 1187 when the great Kurdish warrior Saladin, who had spent years unifying the various Muslim factions of the East, met a huge Christian army of approximately 20,000 men under the command of Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, in northern Israel. Saladin surrounded the exhausted and demoralised Christian army in the Middle Eastern summer heat and completely crushed it. King Guy was captured, and the main part of the military strength of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was annihilated, leaving Saladin undisputed master of the land where Jesus Christ was born, lived and died. Shortly after;