How Did The Christian Crusades Start?

How and why did the Crusades begin? What were the reasons for it?

Why the Crusades?

The Crusades were a reaction to Islamic forces overtaking Jerusalem and many of the holy sites in Judea and so Pope Urban II made a plea to the Western Europeans who then gathered support in providing for the pope armies of Christians. Alexius I’s had first appealed to Pope Urban II for mercenary forces to help rid the Muslims who were quickly overtaking major portions of the Middle East and Asia minor and now threatened Europe itself, eventually moving into Spain, Italy and parts of Southern France. In order to help him resist Muslim advances into territory of the Byzantine Empire, an appeal was made to bring forces into the land and in 1071, at the Battle of Manzikert, the Byzantine Empire was defeated, and this defeat led to the loss of all but the coastlands of Asia Minor. Part of the problem was an East-West Schism that was already beginning to brew between the Catholic Western church and the Greek Orthodox Eastern church so the Crusades certainly played into it. Alexius I hoped for a positive response, however, the response was much larger but less helpful than Alexius I desired. Seeing this, the Pope called for a large invasion force to not merely defend the Byzantine Empire, but also to retake Jerusalem from the Islamic forces. Thankfully, there was some disunity of the Muslim emirs and it turned out to be an essential factor in the very first campaign or Crusade.

Inspired Forces

Spanish historians have traditionally seen the Reconquista as the molding force in the Castilian character, with its sense that the highest good was to die fighting for the Christian cause it was to die for one’s country. The term Reconquista means “reconquest” and is analogous to the Spanish Reconquista of the Moorish Iberia. Even though Reconquista was the most prominent example of Christian reaction against Muslim conquests, it is not the only such example as the maritime states of Pisa, Genoa and Catalonia were all actively fighting Islamic strongholds in Majorca and Sardinia and were able to finally free the coasts of Italy and Catalonia from the Muslim forces. Much earlier, the Christian homelands of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and other areas had been conquered by Muslim armies and now with the threat that the European nations would be next, they mustered forces throughout Europe to push back the Islamic forces. Many saw this as a sign from God that they are to join forces to fight the enemies of God and so they took it as a mission from God and less as a directive from the Pope.

Retaking Jerusalem

The Crusaders saw as their main mission as being the retaking of the holy land, especially Jerusalem. This long history of losing territories to the religious enemy of Islam created a powerful motive to respond to the Byzantine emperor Alexius I’s call for a holy war to defend Christendom, and to recapture the lost lands, starting at the most important place of all, Jerusalem itself. Pope Gregory VII struggled to rationalize a war against an enemy when Jesus tells His followers to love their enemies and do good to them that hate them, so shedding blood, even of the Muslims, was a difficult decision that he wrestled with for a long time. What really troubled him was the fact that Christians who made pilgrimages to the Holy Land were being persecuted and some murdered if they refused to subjugate themselves to the Islamic forces.

Motivation

There was much more going on behind the scenes that many history books will tell us since Pope Urban II saw a crusade as serving to reunite Christendom, strengthen the Papacy, and perhaps bring the East under his control, however this badly disaffected the Germans and the Normans were not to be counted upon, so most see the heart and backbone of the crusade as being found in Urban’s own homeland among the northern French. In other words, it was in the Pope’s best interest to take back lands from the Muslim invaders but perhaps more for the purpose of bolstering the Pope’s power and not as much as an altruistic movement to free the holy land and Jerusalem.

Conclusion

There is not much good that came out of the Crusades except for the reclaiming of land that the Christians or even Latin people had lived on. There was so much shedding of blood that both sides are ultimately responsible, however the day is coming when Jesus Christ “shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4) and “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:7).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.