Why were the first 4 cursades so important?

Question

How holy were the Crusades?
Was the curasading spirts directed only against muslims in the Holy land?

Answer 1

because it began the gruesome change of pagan matriarchal worship to the gay molesting christian worship. How holy were they? Why, just ask the millions who were murdered because they refused to convert to Christianity! Holy crap!

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by Christians from 1095-1291, usually sanctioned by the Pope[1] in the name of Christendom,[2] with the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the sacred "Holy Land" from Muslim rule and originally launched in response to a call from the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuq dynasty into Anatolia.[3][4]

The term is also used to describe contemporaneous and subsequent campaigns conducted through the 16th Century in territories outside of the Levant[5], usually against pagans, those considered by the Catholic Church to be heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication,[3] for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons.[6] The traditional numbering scheme for the Crusades includes the nine major expeditions to the Holy Land during the 11th to 13th centuries. Other unnumbered "crusades" continued into the 16th century, lasting until the political and religious climate of Europe was significantly changed during the Renaissance and Reformation.

The Children's Crusade was not a military campaign, but probably a popular uprising in France and/or Germany, possibly with the intention of reaching the Holy Land in order to peacefully convert Muslims there to Christianity.

The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Due to internal conflicts among Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions, e. g., the fourth crusade, were diverted from their original aim and resulted in the sack of Christian cities, including the Byzantine capital, Constantinople.[7] Internal conflicts between Muslim kingdoms and political powers also meant alliances with one faction against the other such as the one with the Sultanate of Rum during the Fifth Crusade.
The immediate cause of the First Crusade was Alexius I's appeal to Pope Urban II for mercenaries to help him resist Muslim advances into territory of the Byzantine Empire. In 1071, at the Battle of Manzikert, the Byzantine Empire had been defeated, and this defeat led to the loss of all but the coastlands of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Although the East-West Schism was already beginning to brew between the Catholic Western church and the Eastern Orthodox church, Alexius I hoped for a positive response. However, the response was much larger, and less helpful, than Alexius I desired, as the Pope called for a large invasion force to not merely defend the Byzantine Empire, but also to retake Jerusalem.

oh, also money and property, what a surprise! All in the name of God. Halleluja, Catholic hyppocrites!

First Crusade 1095–1099
Full article: First Crusade

In March of 1095 at the Council of Piacenza, ambassadors sent by Byzantine emperor Alexius I called for help with defending his empire against the Seljuk Turks. Later that year, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called upon all Christians to join a war against the Turks, promising those who died in the endeavor immediate remission of their sins[8]. Crusader armies managed to defeat two substantial Turkish forces at Dorylaeum and at Antioch, finally marching to Jerusalem with only a fraction of their original forces. In 1099, they took Jerusalem by assault and massacred the population. As a result of the First Crusade, several small Crusader states were created, notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem.


[edit] Crusade of 1101
Full article: Crusade of 1101

Following this crusade there was a second, less successful wave of crusaders. This is known as the crusade of 1101 and may be considered an adjunct of the first crusade.


[edit] Second Crusade 1145–1149

The state of Europe in 1142Full article: Second Crusade

After a period of relative peace, in which Christians and Muslims co-existed in the Holy Land, Muslims conquered the town of Edessa. A new crusade was called for by various preachers, most notably by Bernard of Clairvaux. French and German armies, under the Kings Louis VII and Conrad III respectively, marched to Jerusalem in 1147, but failed to accomplish any major successes, and indeed endangered the survival of the Crusader states with a strategically foolish attack on Damascus. By 1150, both leaders had returned to their countries without any result. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who had in his preachings encouraged the Second Crusade, was upset with the amount of misdirected violence and slaughter of the innocent.[9]


[edit] Third Crusade 1189–1192
Full article: Third Crusade

Also known as the Kings' Crusade. In 1187, Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, recaptured Jerusalem. Pope Gregory VIII called for a crusade, which was led by several of Europe's most important leaders: Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick drowned in Cilicia in 1190, leaving an unstable alliance between the English and the French. Philip left, in 1191, after the Crusaders had recaptured Acre from the Muslims. The Crusader army headed down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They defeated the Muslims near Arsuf and were in sight of Jerusalem. However, the inability of the Crusaders to thrive in the locale due to inadequate food and water resulted in an empty victory. Richard left the following year after establishing a truce with Saladin. On Richard's way home, his ship was wrecked and he ended up in Austria, where his enemy, Duke Leopold, captured him. The Duke delivered Richard to Emperor Henry VI, who held the King for ransom. By 1197, Henry felt himself ready for a Crusade, but he died in the same year of malaria. Richard I died during fighting in Europe and never returned to the Holy Land.


[edit] Fourth Crusade 1201–1204
Full article: Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was initiated in 1202 by Pope Innocent III, with the intention of invading the Holy Land through Egypt. The Venetians, under Doge Enrico Dandolo, gained control of this crusade and diverted it first to the Christian city of Zara (Zadar), then to Constantinople, where they attempted to place a Byzantine exile on the throne. After a series of misunderstandings and outbreaks of violence, the Crusaders sacked the city in 1204.