The First Crusade Essay

Europe as an entity within medieval times was strictly Christian and to understand this, it begins with the church. The church was the only voice between the bible and the people, this gave the church most of the power of how the common person perceived the bible and religion, this gave the church high authority over many day to day dealings. Christianity for 100 years had been a belief system unrivalled by other any other belief or mythologies. Islam was a threat to the Christian ideal, this is what gave the Vatican and the Pope the need for some sort of retaliation against the Islam faith. This idea of a religious fight is what lead to the crusades, the Crusades are defined as a movement against abuse. During the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries the Crusades the military expeditions of Western Christians to gain back control over the Holy land that had been controlled by Muslims. The first crusade began in 1905, with Pope Urban II. This show of power and force manifested within the church and came to notoriety through Pope Urban II’s plea to go to war in order to gain control over the Holy land’s. This ultimate show of force by Pope Urban II, he was able to use the first crusade for his own political agenda, to become a diplomatic leader to the Christians monarchs.2 The sequence of Holy wars was seen as a fight all those opposed to the Christian religion and the church. …show more content…
Bernard of Claivaux in France, his preaching changed the ideology of the Crusade, asserting that the crusade was not only an act of war or charity in order to gain control of the Holy lands but these efforts within the Holy lands were a means of redemption. The Crusades began with a call for help from the Byzantine Empire, who was losing a considerable amount of land and power to the Seljuk Turks. These Turkish invaders went on to control much of Anatolia, before the crusaders were able to turn the tide and drive the Turks out of