The Coming of Crusaders to Muslim Levant - Research Paper Example

? The coming of Crusaders to Muslim Levant The Coming of Crusaders to Muslim Levant Crusaders refers to the religious inspired military expeditions that were launched in the year 1097 to the year 1291 for the purpose of regaining and retaining what was described as the holy land of Palestine from the control of the Muslims. Crusaders originated from the military expeditions of the Christians of West Europe. However, after the end of Levant campaigns, the term was still used to refer to the expeditions that followed against the Islamic regimes. This was witnessed within the western Christian churches in which the prevailing conditions and the powers of the Muslim’s regime were seen as a threat to Christianity. There was sanctification of the war against the heretics of the Christian church in Western Europe. These however were as a result of the successful Levant campaigns and expeditions. It is therefore worth noting that the success of the Levant’s Crusaders was important and instrumental to the developments that followed. The initial Levant crusaders emerged as a result of revival of the religious feelings as well as the missionary zeal that was evident in Europe during the tenth century. 1Personal, economic and political expansionisms are also thought to have resulted into the coming of the crusaders to Muslim Levant. During this time the crusaders were considered to be fighting the holy wars. The dominance of the worldliness spirits was a major contributor to the nature of holy wars. This is because the priests were seen as very powerful individuals representing the people in another world. In this perspective, they had a lot of influence on the western church as they represented part of the papacy’s secular policy that controlled the activities of the western church. However, the popes and the priests had certain reasons why they motivated their faithful to wars against the Muslims. The teachings by the priests and popes were influential since the believers and faithful perceived the war in a different perspective. Most of them believed that it was a direct way to salvation through pilgrimage. However, pilgrimage was not common among the believers since it had been taking place in the European continent. Pilgrimage was witnessed in the theaters where Christians and Muslims shared common frontiers. They included Italy, Spain, Asia Minor, Sicily and the sea. In Jerusalem, there were other groups under arms organized mainly for mutual protection. These represented pilgrimages in Jerusalem and its neighborhood as well and the powerful influence that pope and the priests had on the faithful. 2The other reason why the crusaders went on to Levant was because of the belief that it gives an opportunity to divert the destructive war to a more useful purpose. The idea here is that the warlike energies are channeled away from the destructive endemic among the Christ people. This was good for the Christian community since it helped in the development of the new efforts to enforce God’s peace and truce among the believers, and fight the wicked. They believed that for an individual to proceed to the other world, one had to fight hard and win the war on earth. Fighting hard on earth as well as being obedience to the natural instinct was instrumental in helping the men gain the fruits of asceticism. The objective and the goal of crusaders were to spread Christianity at the available possible cost over the whole world. Generally, the major factor that contributed to the coming of the crusaders to the Muslim Levant was because of the strong and immediate policy that attempted to make Christianity universal even at the edge of sword in all parts of the world. The expeditions by the western church to capture and secure the Holy land resulted into the establishment of domains in Levant. This represents a broader struggle between the Christians and Muslims that tested the ability of each religion to control Levant. Christians thought the influence of the Muslim society in Levant was not legitimate. This struggle begun during the birth of Islam in the year 622 and went through centuries until the defeat of Turks in 1683. The coming of the crusaders to Muslim Levant therefore represent the time when the European community used their relative economic, military and political power to go back to offensive against their opponents. This also represents a time when warfare was not well developed and hence it played an important role in the development of the European warfare. The western church and the crusaders who went to Muslim Levant successful activities is therefore an important aspect of study. The question concerning the contributing factors to the success of the crusaders is also interesting. The nature of the Christian church, the political and military power of the European community and the toleration nature of the Muslim religion were some of the factors that contributed to the success of the Crusaders. 3The Crusaders had strong military power compared to the Muslim in Levant and hence it was a challenge to the Muslim community. The desire and the ambitions to have a universal church across the world and the belief that individuals can go direct to the other world by fighting on earth was important as well. The weakness of the Muslims with regard to their religious policy was also a contributing factor to their defeat. 4Even though they captured Jerusalem as early as 637 A.D., their idea of toleration of other religions unlike the Christians was a weakness and a contributing factor to their failure. Toleration of the other religious faithful allowed the crusaders who had settled in Levant to continue communicating with their co-religionists in Europe and hence they begun fighting from within. This was contrary to the Christians who had their policy well defined; making Christianity a universal religion in all parts of the world that they could reach. This indicates that Christians and the crusaders never tolerated other religions. Ability of the crusaders to fight, win and recapture the territory was also based in the organization of the Christians. It is worth noting that Christians were well organized with well channels of communication from the Western European allies who provided the military assistance as soon as it was needed. The internal differences within the Muslim community also created a sense of weaknesses and prepared them for a defeat. 5Historical analysts have argued that due to the fact that the crusaders established permanent settlements within Jerusalem, it was possible to defeat the Muslims because they were very much divided. Muslim society was involved in internal fights at certain times and experienced differences among themselves. The Christians and the crusaders took advantage of these differences and hence established a link with the rebels to destroy their enemies. As a result, Muslim society became weaker compared to the Crusaders. The crusaders however witnessed steady growth in number through the continuous flow of individuals who were both armed and unarmed into the territory of the Levant from Western Europe. This presented a burden of fighting due to the increasing permanent settlement in the area. In this course, the downfall of the kingdom of Jerusalem was therefore on its way. The Christians also enjoyed a wide range military power across different parts of Western Europe. The increased Christian naval strength throughout the Mediterranean as well as the urge they had to exploit this opportunity for their advantage was also an important factor in the development of a new empire. These were of course coupled by the ideological and cultural interests that favored the idea of crusade. In this context, the military were not just fighting because they were directed to do so but they had strong feeling from their hearts that they were fighting a Holy War. Even though there was internal fighting among the crusaders, it is important to note that crusaders experienced little internal wrangles compared to Muslim community. This is because they were organized and had a favorable policy of not accommodating other religions unlike the Muslim community. Crusaders influenced several aspects of the western warfare. The eleventh century in the history of western European experienced the most important impacts of the war as it resulted into the development of weaponry as well as the fighters. This also resulted into the development of the long range military logistical planning’s and hence the Crusades are viewed by some historians as to provide exposures to the war. 6It also provided the European military with the experience in maneuvering as well as the employment of light Calvary in the wars. This was the same to the Muslim Community as it gave the eastern armies military experience due to the exposure and cultural interactions that existed between the communities. Generally, the kingdom of Jerusalem was mainly weakened by the internal wrangles and fighting which were very devastating for the Muslim society. The internal fighting within the Muslim as well as Christian fighters was evident. However, the crusaders had a strong support from the Western Europeans military and economical power and hence it was easy for them in the war. They were also more organized in the war with clear policy to universally spread Christianity. Unlike the crusaders, the Muslim community had poor religious policy in which they tolerated other religions. As a result, the crusaders emerged and settled in Jerusalem permanently making it difficult for the Muslim community to fight them. Moreover, there was increased inflow of crusaders from the Western Europe. It was therefore difficult for the Muslim society leading to their downfall. Pilgrimage was a motivating factor that saw many crusaders come to Muslim Levant thereby increasing the military power against the Muslim Community. References Christopher, Jonathan, 2008, “The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam.” Columbia: Columbia University Press. Folda, Jaroslav, 2005, “Crusader art in the Holy Land: From the third Crusade to the fall…., Volume 1.” Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harris, William W., 2005, “The Levant: a fractured mosaic.” New Jersey: Markus Wiener publishers. Hillenbrand, Carole, 1999, “The crusades: Islamic Perspectives. New York: Routledge. Madden, Thomas F., 2002, “The Crusades: The essential readings.” Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Swenson, Donald, 2009, “Society, Spirituality, and the sacred: a social scientific introduction.” Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Read More