The Crusades - Essay Example

The Crusades The word 'Crusade' is derived from the word "Cross" and the initial goal of the campaigns was to repossess the holy of Jerusalem from the Muslim conquerors. There were number of campaigns on this regard and as many as 8 major movements are documented. The four earlier Crusades mentioned by historians are: The first Crusade, 1095-1101; The second Crusade, by Louis VII, 1145-47; The third Crusade, by Philip Augustus and Richard Coeur-de-Lion, 1188-92; The fourth Crusade, the trump of Constantinople, 1204; The fifth Crusade: The Fifth Crusade (1217-1221) was fought against the powerful Muslim state in Egypt as at that point of history it was certain that defeating the sultan of Egypt would pave the way to the holy land. In the spring 1213, Pope Innocent III issued the papal bull Quia maior where the invited all the general population, the lower nobles, and knights of the Christian world to win back Jerusalem. This was instigated by Robert of Couron in France and Oliver of Cologne in Germany and with the declaration of Fourth Lateran Council in 1215; Innocent III laid down the plan of recovering the holy land. After the death of Innocent in 1216 Pope Honorius III took up the mantle and "organized crusading armies led by Leopold VI of Austria and Andrew II of Hungary. They left for Acre in 1217, and joined John of Brienne, ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Hugh I of Cyprus, and Prince Bohemund IV of Antioch to fight against the Ayyubids in Syria" (Crusade, Wikipedia). The campaign started with seizes of Damietta, in June, 1218 and they gained little success with conquering one tower outside the city on 25th August. But then epidemic swept through the crusader's camp and one of the many casualties was Robert of Couron. But by November the crusaders were able to capture the sultan's port under Francis of Assisi. He tried to negotiate with the sultan numerous times but failed. Slowly but surely the crusaders were gaining footholds in their campaign and ultimately seized Cairo. But their march to Cairo was proved to be disastrous as it was the flooding season of the Nile and "with supplies dwindling, a forced retreat began, culminating in a night attack by Al-Kamil that resulted in a great number of crusader losses and eventually the surrender of the army by Pelagius. The terms of this surrender meant the relinquishing of Damietta to Al-Kamil and an 8 year peace agreement with Europe in return for the original piece of the cross and the prisoners held from the failed advance on Cairo". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Crusade) The Sixth Crusade: The Emperor Frederick II of Germany had taken the crusading vow when he was young during his coronation ceremonies. And now it was his turn to salvage the holy land. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was ruled by John of Brienne who was actually had been acting as king. Fredric married his daughter Yolanda and started his campaign in 1228. Though Fredrick was barred considerably with internal conspiracies and movements he was able to force Al-Kamil, the sultan of Egypt into negotiation thereby winning the possession of Nazareth, Sidon, Jaffa, Bethlehem, and all of Jerusalem except the Dome of the Rock in February 18, 1229. Fredrick was not allowed to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, destroyed by Al-Mu'azzam, nephew of Saladin, in 1217 but he entered in to the city victorious and was crowned king on March 18th. But due to constant restraints by the conspirators back home Fredrick left Jerusalem in May and in 1244 when the truce ended Jerusalem was taken by the Mamluks. The Seventh Crusade: The Seventh Crusade was started by King Louis IX of France. For his campaign to recover the holy land King Louis IX became known as Saint Louis later in his life. Some scholars believe that this title was given to him simply because of his great devotion to God and not for his crusade campaign. The Mamluks took possession of Jerusalem in 1244. Louis felt it was his duty to announce his version of Crusade. King Louis IX of France announced his campaign in 1245. At the age of 34 Louis accumulated the needed funds from the church for the Seventh Crusade campaign and sailed to Cyprus in 1248. It was from Cyprus King Louis IX of France attacked and captured the port of Damietta in Egypt, supposed to be the tramp card and a gateway to the possession of the holy land. At this point of history the Ayyubids were a much depleted side and were completely unable to put up any resistance against King Louis IX. The King used Damietta as a vital base, and attacked Cairo with much atrocity but as it seemed that victory was on the King's side the Mamluks arrived in the scene for help and took away the tide from King Louis IX and defeated him. He was taken prisoner, and to get him back the French had to pay a lot of gold and give Damietta back. The Eight Crusade: The Eighth Crusade was launched in 1270 by Louis IX of France again. But "Louis was disturbed by events in Syria, where the Mamluk sultan Baibars had been attacking the remnant of the Crusader states. By 1265 Baibars had captured Nazareth, Haifa, Toron, and Arsuf. Hugh III of Cyprus, nominal king of Jerusalem, landed in Acre to defend that city, while Baibars marched as far north as Armenia, which was at that time under Mongol control." (Encyclopedia Britannica) In 1267 Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis convinced him to attack Tunis first, believing it to be a favorable base to attack Egypt. In 1270 sailed from from Cagliari in Sicily and landed during the most unfavorable season of July where the poor quality of drinking water took toll of most of the campaigner and one of the most important casualties was Louis himself. He died August 25. Louis' adolescent son Philip III was proclaimed the new king. So, Charles of Anjou took control of the campaign. But the epidemic carried on and by October 30th Charles of Anjou entered an agreement with the sultan of Tunis. According to the clauses of this agreement the "Christians gained free trade with Tunis, and residence for monks and priests in the city was guaranteed".(Norgrove, Rod. The Eighth Crusade) To many historians this crusade was a partial success. The Children's Crusade: "The survival of the Crusading spirit during the century is further shown by the extraordinary movement in 1212 which is known as the Children's Crusade. This expedition which, of course, was not a Crusade at all in the strict sense of the term attracted thousands of children and young adults from northern France and western Germany to its banners." (Brundage, Chronica Regiae Coloniensis) It is believed that this crusade was allegedly preached and organized by a pheasant boy named Stephen from a village called Vendome, France. But history recognizes Nicholas, a German boy from Cologne, as the instigator of this movement. About the time of Easter and Pentecost, 1212, thousands of boys, ranging from the 6 to their teens, started gathering locally and there after they set off for Jerusalem to liberate the holy land from Muslim occupation. They started of in small groups of 20 to 100 and marched to the Mediterranean hoping to find transportation to the Holy Land. The main two groups were from France and Germany. These were independent campaigns and very logically were disapproved by their parents and relatives without result. But this march with holy banners did not last long as they were turned back from Rome, Piacenza or Metz. Still it is believed that most of them reached Marseilles but it is very uncertain whether they actually made their way to Jerusalem. But it is widely believed that most of them either died on the way or were sold into slavery because only few hundreds of the initial thousands that rose actually returned home. Read More