Church's Involvement In The Crusades

The Crusades originated in 1096 as religious inspired military campaigns to recapture the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Muslims and protect Christendom. Throughout the course of the Crusades, crusaders attacked fellow Christians, allied with Muslims, and went to other locations, including the Byzantine Empire and Languedoc. While other crusaders fought Christian heretics in the Albigensian Crusade, the Children’s Crusade of 1212 sought to fulfill the mission and travel to Jerusalem. Although both the Children’s Crusade and the People’s Crusade popularized the Crusade and encouraged individuals that they could succeed with faith alone, the Church only approved the People’s Crusade. However, crusaders realized that the Church’s sanction and faithfulness to God did not determine the outcome of the Crusade. Participants in the Children’s Crusade respected and followed participant’s actions in the People’s Crusade. In 1096, Peter the …show more content…
According to chronicles of the Children’s Crusade, “Those who had once passed through the land in crowds and never without a song of encouragement among their troops, now returned singly and silently, barefoot and famished, held in scorn by everyone; and many virgins had been raped…” This Crusade began as a popular movement in which thousands of individuals willingly and eagerly agreed to undertake the cross for God, but it ended in utter failure and shame. Moreover, some claimed, “But since no affair that begins without the balance of reason and the strength of counsel has a good end…” Critics of this Crusade attributed the failure of this Crusade on the participant’s disorganization and irrationality. However, the People’s Crusade also failed because of disorganization and hostility. Consequently, crusaders realized that the Church’s support, participant’s devotion, and money did not indicate whether or not they would