The Crusade is believed to be the start of the relentless rivalry between the Muslims and Christians. The crusades were expeditions undertake in fulfillment of a solemn vow to deliver the Holy Places from Mohammedan Tyranny but later developed into territorial wars. The term crusader means to “mark with cross” which suites their purpose of redeeming their land.
Before the crusades, relationship between Muslim and Christians are not hostile and were mainly commercial and intellectual. They trade slaves and northern products such as honey, amber, and furs. Muslim wanted slaves but Christian teaching forbid Christians to enslave other Christians and therefore enslave pagans. This was considered a profitable relationship were it went down through central Europe to the Muslim world and some through Spain through the channels of Byzantine trade.
But as these go on, Islam population and territory expands until they reached Jerusalem. However, this did not interfere much with the pilgrimage to Christian holy site or the security of monasteries and Christian communities in the Holy Land, and western Europeans were not much concerned with some loss of Jerusalem when, they themselves faced with invasions from the Muslims.
A turning point in western attitude came in the year 1009 when the Fatimite Caliph of Egypt, in a fit of madness ordered the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre and all Christian establishments in Jerusalem. For years thereafter, Christians were cruelly persecuted.
The Dissertation on Pilgrimage /Christian, Muslim
A Study of the Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land And the Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca Submitted by: Prepared for: SSC 231 Cultural Conflict and Human Solidarity University College Utrecht May 2001 Introduction A French folklorist and ethnographer, Arnold Van Gennep (1908-1960) gave us the first clues about how ancient and tribal societies conceptualized and symbolized the transitions men have to ...
Much of the reasons of the crusade were stated by Pope Urban II’s proclamation of the first crusade on November 25, 1095 at the Council of Clermont:
Addressing a vast crowd of priests, knights and poor people. The Seljuk turks, he explained, a barbarian race from central Asia who had recently become muslims, had swept into Anatolia in Asia minor(now turkey) and had seized these lands from Christian empire of Byzantium. The pope urged the knights of Europe to stop fighting each other and to make common cause against these enemies of God. The Turks, he cried, are an “accursed race, a race utterly alienated from god, a generation, forsooth, which has neither directed its heart nor entrusted its spirit to god. Killing these godless monsters was a holy act: it was a Christian duty to exterminate this vile race from our lands. Once they had purged asia minor of this muslim filth, the knights would engage in a still more holy task. They would march to the holy city of Jerusalem and liberate it from the infidel. It was shameful that the tomb of Christ should be in the hands of islam.”
“Frenchmen! You who come from across the Alps; You who have been singled out by God and who are loved by Him — as is shown by your many accomplishments; you who are set apart from all other peoples by the location of your country, by your Catholic faith, and by the honor of the Holy Church; we address these words, this sermon to you!….Distressing news has come to us (as has often happened) from the region in Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople; news that the people of the Persian kingdom, an alien people, a race completely foreign to God…has invade Christian territory and has invaded this territory with pillage, fire and the sword.
The Persians have taken some of these Christians as captives to their own country; they have destroyed others with cruel tortures. They have completely destroyed some of God’s churches and have converted others to the uses of their own cult. They ruin the altars with filth and defilement. They circumcise Christians and smear the blood from the circumcision over the altars or throw it in the baptismal fonts. They are pleased to kill others by cutting open their bellies, extracting the ends of their intestines, and tying it to a stake….
The Essay on Eternally Saved God Christians Grace
email: title: Once Saved, Always Saved " You are saved until you sin again," the preacher tells the new convert. Such words can cause a new Christian to have fear of failing and can cause him other to feel like quitting the Christian walk. Jesus Christ has promised that once people ask Him to live in their hearts, they will receive eternal life. Jesus died on the cross for Christian " s sins one ...
“You, oppressors of orphans and widows; you, murderers and violators of churches; you, robbers of the property of others; you, who, like vultures are drawn to the scent of the battlefield, hasten as you love your souls, under your captain Christ to the rescue of Jerusalem. All you who are guilty of such sins as exclude you from the kingdom of God, ransom yourselves at this price, for such is the will of God!” ( 2 page 41 )
“the infidel turks are advancing into the heart of Eastern Christendom; Chrisitans are being oppressed and attacked churches and holy places are being defiled. Jerusalem is groaning under the Saracen yoke. The holy sepulcher is in Moslem hands and has been turned into mosque. Pilgrims are harrased and even prevented from access to the Holy Land”
And by that speech the crusade began. The describe the intensity of the Holy War, In the words of a Christian witness:
“Our men followed [the city’s defenders], killing and beheading them all the way to the Temple of Solomon. There was such slaughter there that our men waded in blood up to their ankles….Soon our men were running all around the city, seizing gold and silver, horses and mules, and houses filled with all kinds of goods. Rejoicing and weeping for joy, our people came to the sepulcher of Jesus our Savior to worship and pay our debt….Our men then took counsel and decided that everyone should pray and give alms so that God might choose for them whomever the pleased to rule over the others and govern the city….The living Saracens dragged the dead outside the gates and made heaps of them as large as houses. No one ever saw or heard of such a slaughter of pagan peoples, for funeral pyres were formed of them like pyramids and no one knows their number save God alone.”
This was the start of the battle between Muslims and Christians. There were 6 more major crusades that happened after that and it ended in 1291 when Acre, the last of the Latin holdings in Palestine, was lost. Indeed, the crusades fostered a harsh intolerance between Muslims and Christians, where before there had been a measure of mutual respect.
