Why Do Historians Call The Crusades?

By the beginning of the eleventh century, the Islamic Empire replaced the Byzantine Empire as the controlling power in the Middle East and North Africa. In the middle of the eleventh century, Seljuk Turks destroyed the Byzantine army in the Battle of Manzikert and then conquered Asia Minor (modern day Turkey); a further encroachment into the Byzantine Empire territory. By 1079 AD, the Seljuks conquered Jerusalem, thus wresting control of the Holy Land from the Christians. Faced with the Islamic aggression and expansion, Byzantine (Eastern) Emperor Alexius I appealed to Pope Urban II (who led Western Christendom) to support the Emperor’s efforts in mobilizing an army to repel the Seljuks and their greater Islamic expansion. This series of events established the setting of what historians call the Crusades. To explore the significance of the Crusades, it is necessary to further establish its origins and discuss the Crusades themselves. The …show more content…
According to Madden, “A crusade army was a curious mix of rich and poor, saints and sinners, motivated by every kind of pious and selfish desire, yet it could not have come into being without the pious idealism that led men to risk all to liberate the lands of Christ.” For the Christians, the men were motivated not only to liberate the Holy Land but to seek salvation and forgiveness of sins, as suggested by Pope Urban II.
Interestingly, historians differ on the number of Crusades. There are also some differences in the dating of the Crusades. However, historians generally agree that there were at least five definitive Crusades. For this discussion, we capture eight Crusades (not including the Children’s Crusade of 1212) and dating provided by Walker: First Crusade 1096-1102 AD, Second Crusade 1147-1149 AD, Third Crusade 1189-1192 AD, Fourth Crusade 1202-1204 AD, Fifth Crusade 1217-1221 AD, Sixth Crusade 1228-1229 AD, Seventh Crusade 1248-1250 AD, and Eighth Crusade 1271-1272