Here’s What You Don’t Know and Weren’t Taught About the Crusades II

The other aspect was of course the religious component. It is now politically incorrect to justify, as noted above, religion as a motivation for war. Jerusalem and the surrounding area was, for Christians at the time, holy land. Jesus walked, taught, lived, died and was resurrected there. Pope Urban was the one that called for the First Crusade, saying:
“They (the Turks) have completely destroyed some of God’s churches and they 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 altar or throw it into the baptismal fonts. They are pleased to kill others by cutting open their bellies, extracting the end of their intestines, and tying it to a stake. Then, with flogging, they drive their victims around the stake until, when their viscera have spilled out; they fall dead on the ground. They tie others, again, to stakes and shoot arrow at them; they seize other, stretch out their necks, and try to see whether they can cut off their heads with a single blow of a naked sword. And what shall I say about the shocking rape of women?”

The Crusade was to be a pilgrimage, and a holy endeavor. It was to bring grace and penance. It was originally for able bodied men that could fight. But everyone, women and the elderly wanted to go. What happened was that Urban relented and as a result, many sick, poor, children, women and other people unfit for soldiering went. Not just this crusade but the following ones.

Who went? About 150,000 from all European countries went. Most were poor, many were women. There were about 40,000 men in the First Crusade. Very few Knights, and these had armies. These weren’t loser knights, weak sons, etc, but barons, lords, estate owners, many of whom lost everything, including their lives. It was expensive too. Funds had to be raised because the cost was far beyond what it took to run their estates.

As part of Urban’s degree, captured lands were to be left to the Byzantine emperor. Most knights, after fulfilling their vows, returned to Europe with adding to their wealth, and often were impoverished and had to rebuild. The same for the poor; no wealth to be gained. A lot of ways to die. Starvation, bandits and robbers, attacks from Muslim armies. Were there ill intentioned people making the journey? Surely. I contend most were doing it for exactly the reasons they stated. Protect Europe, the Holy Land, and Christianity.

The scriptures that motivated: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. 16:24) “And everyone that has forsaken houses, or brethren, or sister, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life: (Matt 19:29)