why did the Crusades start?

Question

Will any one state the reason that the Crusades began?

Answer 1

There was a large amount of Frankish knights "hanging out" in Europe with nothing to do. This was perceived as a powder keg by the Pope and he decided to honor requests for support from the Byzantines. The knights were offered "forgiveness" or indulgence if they fought. Unfortunately the clergy that were charged with spearding the word, did it too well and also stirred up a poorly supplied peasent army which were immediately crushed when they arrived.

Edit:
Yes there were several factors in the Byzantines requesting aid, but the motivation behind honoring those requests had very little to do with the Holy land being conquered and much more to do with a large armed force without a war to keep them from tearing up the country side.

Answer 2

Quote: Another factor that contributed to the change in Western attitudes towards the East came in the year 1009, when the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre destroyed. In 1039 his successor permitted the Byzantine Empire to rebuild it. [4] Pilgrimages were allowed to the Holy Lands before and after the Sepulchre was rebuilt, but for a time pilgrims were captured and some of the clergy were killed. The Muslim conquerors eventually realized that the wealth of Jerusalem came from the pilgrims; with this realization the persecution of pilgrims stopped.[5] However, the damage was already done, and the violence of the Seljuk Turks became part of the concern that spread the passion for the Crusades. End quote.

In other words, Muslim intolerance toward the holy places of other religions.

Answer 3

the crusades started because muslims from the east took over the holy land and jerusalem. this was important to those in europe, so they decided to get the holy land back. there were 4 crusades, i believe, but only the third one was successful.

Answer 4

The Muslims had taken control of the Holy Land, Jerusalem in particular and the Crusades were started to liberate the Holy Land. 1st crusde started in 1086 by Pope Urban and captured jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099.

Just curious? How do you get a thumbs down on a documented historical fact????

Answer 5

The Islamic Crusaders started it first.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/Crusades.htm

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/crusades_timeline.htm

Answer 6

When the Muslims captured Jerusalem, England fought to get it back. It started in 1076 and last something like 200 years. Yet it is more like 1000 years since they are still fighting for it today.

Answer 7

Both the Christians and the Muslims wanted control of Jerusalem, because it was called the Holy Land, and it is.

Answer 8

like children desperately yearn for attention from an indifferent parent, these men fought each other to be their Father's favorite and chosen ones. each person thinks that their religion is the right and ONLY way to God. plus men and their testosterone and egos...
=)

Answer 9

Because the Muslims started Murdering the Christians.....the Christians were the only ones courageous enough to take a stand against it....
Just like today.....don't expect the atheists to do anything...they're scared shi-less.

Answer 10

The Muslim Game:

Muslims love talking about the Crusades… and Christians love apologizing for them. To hear both parties tell the story, one would believe that Muslims were just peacefully minding their own business in lands that were legitimately Muslim, when Christian armies decided to wage holy war and "kill millions.”

The Truth:

Every part of this myth is a lie. By the rules that Muslims claim for themselves, the Crusades were perfectly justified, and the excesses (though beneath Christian standards) pale in comparison with the historical treatment of conquered populations at the hands of Muslims.

Here are some quick facts…

The first Crusade began in 1095… 460 years after the first Christian city was overrun by Muslim armies, 457 years after Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim armies, 453 years after Egypt was taken by Muslim armies, 443 after Muslims first plundered Italy, 427 years after Muslim armies first laid siege to the Christian capital of Constantinople, 380 years after Spain was conquered by Muslim armies, 363 years after France was first attacked by Muslim armies, 249 years after Rome itself was sacked by a Muslim army, and only after centuries of church burnings, killings, enslavement and forced conversions of Christians.

By the time the Crusades finally began, Muslim armies had conquered two-thirds of the Christian world.

Europe had been harassed by Muslims since the first few years following Muhammad’s death. As early as 652, Muhammad’s followers launched raids on the island of Sicily, waging a full-scale occupation 200 years later that lasted almost a century and was punctuated by massacres, such as that at the town of Castrogiovanni, in which 8,000 Christians were put to death. In 1084, ten years before the first crusade, Muslims staged another devastating Sicilian raid, burning churches in Reggio, enslaving monks and raping an abbey of nuns before carrying them into captivity.

In theory, the Crusades were provoked by the harassment of Christian pilgrims from Europe to the Holy Land, in which many were kidnapped, molested, forcibly converted to Islam or even killed. (Compare this to Islam’s justification for slaughter on the basis of Muslims being denied access to the Meccan pilgrimage in Muhammad’s time).

The Crusaders only invaded lands that were Christian. They never attacked Saudi Arabia or sacked Mecca as the Muslims had done (and continued doing) to Italy and Constantinople.

The period of Crusader “occupation” (of its own former land) was stretched over less than two centuries. The Muslim occupation is in its 1,372nd year.

The period of Crusader “aggression” compresses to about 20 years of actual military campaign, much of which was spent on organization and travel. (They were from 1098-1099, 1146-1148, 1188-1192, 1201-1204, 1218-1221, 1228-1229, and 1248-1250). By comparison, the Muslim Jihad against the island of Sicily alone lasted 75 grinding years.

Unlike Jihad, the Crusades were never justified on the basis of New Testament teachings. This is why they are an anomaly, the brief interruption of fourteen centuries of relentless Jihad against Christianity that began long before the Crusades and continued well after they were over.

The greatest crime of the Crusaders was the sacking of Jerusalem, in which 30,000 people were said to have been massacred. This number is dwarfed by the number of Jihad victims, from India to Constantinople and Narbonne, but Muslims have never apologized for their crimes and never will.

What is called 'sin and excess' by other religions, is what Islam refers to as the will of Allah.