what were the crusades in a nutshell?

Answer 1

I looked up 'crusades in a nutshell' but couldn't find anyone who has cooked it yet.

Answer 2

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns during the time of Medieval England against the Muslims of the Middle East. In 1076, the Muslims had captured Jerusalem - the most holy of holy places for Christians. Jesus had been born in nearby Bethlehem and Jesus had spent most of his life in Jerusalem. He was crucified on Calvary Hill, also in Jerusalem. There was no more important place on Earth than Jerusalem for a true Christian which is why Christians called Jerusalem the "City of God".

However, Jerusalem was also extremely important for the Muslims as Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim faith, had been there and there was great joy in the Muslim world when Jerusalem was captured. A beautiful dome - called the Dome of the Rock - was built on the rock where Muhammad was said to have sat and prayed and it was so holy that no Muslim was allowed to tread on the rock or touch it when visiting the Dome.

Therefore the Christian fought to get Jerusalem back while the Muslims fought to keep Jerusalem. These wars were to last nearly 200 years

Answer 3

It was a semi-connected series of invasions of Western Europeans to the east. It was started by two things:

1. The Byzantine Emperor, who ruled any area covering the Balkan Peninsula and Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), was facing being overrun in Anatolia by Moslem expansion.
2. Western Europe was in a serious of inteminable little wars that were fractionalizing power.

So, when the Emperor asked the Pope for help, the pope gave religious benefits to anyone who would help go bail out the Emperor, holding off the Muslims. As a tangible goal, it was sold as an attempt to "take back the Holy land."

There were several crusades, and the last one never even got to Asia... in fact, they went and sacked Constantinople (capital of the Byzantine Empire!) then went home.

Answer 4

They only win the first crusades. They killed Jews, Muslim and EVEN JERUSALEM CHRISTIANS after conquer the city. Then, they made pact with Salahuddin, but after the king dead, the succedded kings rape Salahuddin sister that reside in Jerusalam and kill Salahuddin messanger. (this is what cassandra called as protecting Christianity) They later been expelled by Salahuddin Al-Ayubi. Crusaders fail in the others 6 crusades. For Cassandra: Actually, everyone know that "an attacker" is can't be a defender. Crusades starts when Patriarch Ecumene of Constantinople calling Pope of Rome to help him prevent Muslim expansion to Turkey. During that time, Pope accept Patriarch Ecumene ideas to attack Jerusalem. "could no longer protect Christian pilgrims from Muslims in the Holy Land". You should take note that Christian pilgrims since 700 AD didn't need a protection from Muslims because Muslim protect them doing pilgrimage (Muahad pact). You ideas sounds silly... And for your information, not only Jerusalem was attacked, but almost all southern part of Turkey, Antioch until Jerusalam was attacked by Crusaders. Are these called as defense? And excuse me, Muslim conquest didn't involve "forced to Islam". The Christian natives of the lands accept Islam as the sign of rejection of Western Church and Trinitarian Church. I don't think calling France people to protect Jerusalem from their natives is "a defense" And Egypt was the last object of crusaders, not Jerusalem, because "Egypt" is rich. Crusaders expect that Middle East would welcome them, but obviously they aren't. They actually been promised with rich land (that they expect easily to get). That's why many European leave their hometown. (Like the nowadays Jews that leave their country and expected to stay peacefully at stolen land) =)

Answer 5

In a nutshell... a response by the pope and the clergy of the middle ages to the rise in population ans social pressure. By motivating huge groups of lay people to treck all the way to the middle east, they used the religious front of a christian campaign to take back Jerusalem as a way to get warring nobles and hungry peasants to another area.

Answer 6

In a nutshell, the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Constantinople sent a request for aid to pope Urban II because the Byzantine Empire was losing land to the invading Muslims and was in danger of being completely overrun.

Pope Urban II though that this was a great way to stop the Christian nations in Europe from fighting each other by recruiting them to fight the Muslims instead. He also seemed to understand that if the Muslims were preoccupied trying to regain the Holy Land, then they would be so busy doing that that they would no longer be sending armies to invade parts of Europe.

So Pope Urban II invented a new idea called the "Crusade" in an attempt to unite the Christian West against the invading Muslim armies.

Not all Crusades were Christian fighting Muslims, however. The Venetians persuaded the knights of the Fourth Crusade to conquer and loot Constantinople instead of Jerusalem.

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The origins of the Crusades in general, and of the First Crusade in particular, stem from events earlier in the Middle Ages. The breakdown of the Carolingian empire in previous centuries, combined with the relative stability of European borders after the Christianization of the Vikings and Magyars, gave rise to an entire class of warriors who now had little to do but fight among themselves.

Meanwhile, Muslim armies had been busy conquering much of northern Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Spain, which had been some of the most heavily Christian areas in the world. The Reconquista in Spain was the first major effort by Christians to retake lost territory, which occupied Spanish knights and some mercenaries from elsewhere in Europe in the fight against the Islamic Moors. Elsewhere, the Normans were fighting for control of Sicily, while Pisa, Genoa and Aragon were all actively fighting Islamic strongholds in Mallorca and Sardinia, freeing the coasts of Italy and Spain from Muslim raids.

Because of these ongoing wars, the idea of Holy War against the Muslims was not implausible to the European nations. Muslims had occupied the centre of the Christian universe, Jerusalem, which, along with the surrounding land, was considered one giant relic, the place where Christ had lived and died. In 1074, Pope Gregory VII called for the milites Christi ("soldiers of Christ") to go to the aid of the Byzantine Empire in the east. The Byzantines had suffered a serious defeat at the hands of the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert three years previously. This call, while largely ignored and even opposed, combined with the large numbers of pilgrimages to the Holy Land in the 11th century, focused a great deal of attention on the east. Reports of Muslims abusing Christian pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem and other Middle Eastern holy sites further stoked the crusading zeal. It was Pope Urban II who first disseminated to the general public the idea of a Crusade to capture the Holy Land with the famous words: "Deus vult!" ("God wills it!")

Answer 7

Christians want holy land back from muslims. Muslims say no. Christians attack Muslims. Get land. Eat some Muslims.

Muslims attack Christians. Get land back.

Now after this, I can't remember. The last Crusade was all about money, I don't remember if it's the 3rd or 4th..

Answer 8

an excuse to grab land and power in the name of "religion"... God did not aprove of His name being used in that ...look what happened to those who started it. The Christian Faith can not be spread at the point of the sword... God will punish any who try it...

The sword is the way of the evil that is islam. up untill very recent times... they now invade by "legal" immigration. But it is still the threat of the sword that controles every islam dominated country.

Islam is the greatest evil facing the world today.

Answer 9

Muslims were converting at the point of the sword. Taking 'Christian' land/peoples. The Catholic church wanted them back (their revenue had fallen way short). Rev 9. tells about this muslim attack.

Answer 10

A failed attempt to spread the power of the pope. It lead to increased commerce, incresed scientific thought and the downfall papal power.