The Crusades of the High Middle Ages (a. d. 1050-1300) was a period of conquest or rather, reconquest, of Christian lands taken from Muslims in the early Middle Ages. It is an era romanticized by fervent Christians as the time when Christianity secured its honorable status as the true religion of the world. The affect of the Crusades is still with us today. It sailed from Spain and Portugal to the Americas in the fifthteenth century aboard sailing ships carrying conquistadors who sought new territory and rich resources.
They used the shield and sword of Christianity to justify a swift conquest of mass territory and the subjugation of the indigenous peoples; a mentality learned, indeed, inherited from the Crusades. Even today Christianity is the dominant religion in this region. It is an amazing accomplishment that reminds us that our actions today have affects and, moreover, consequences that shall last for generations living centuries in the future. The Muslims and the Christians, two of the world’s biggest religions, which include Judaism, both believed in a monotheistic god.
Muhammad (570-632), a merchant who heard God’s call in the Arabian desert, considered himself to be the last prophet of God’s word on Earth. Prior to Muhammad’s fusion of the Arab culture, Arabs believed in polytheistic deities (Andrea 87). Muhammad believed that it was he who was ordained to preach about God’s, or Allah’s, “Oneness, the imminence of the Resurrection of the dead, a divine Day of Judgement, an all-consuming hell fire for the unjust and unbelievers, and a paradise of bliss for the faithful (Andrea 87). Furthering his religious cause Muhammad established a theocratic governance in Medina, a city in the Arabic world.
Next, he stirred the people into a holy war that succeeded in commanding the city of Mecca, eradicating polytheistic deities, and ruling over the Arabian tribes. When Muhammad died a caliph, or successor, assumed leadership. The two caliphs succeeding Muhammad furthered the Islamic cause by conquering vast territory. Their culture infiltrated lands “from the Pyrenees and Atlantic coast in Spain to the Indus Valley of India and China’s far western borders (Andrea 88).
Their world community called Dar al-Islam spread across land and included non-Muslim peoples. Muslims allowed the Christians living in this realm to continue practicing Christianity. However, the Pact of ‘Umar, a political document, succinctly laid out the requirements of Christian observance within the presence of Muslims. Although it was a restricted existence for the Christians, the Muslims did practice and offer tolerance towards this disparate religion.
At least the Muslims didn’t savagely murder Christians, which was the strategy for the Christian crusaders. How did the Christian crusaders re-conquer the territory they considered to be theirs? The Islamic leaders slowly lost control over their lands due to internal factional differences. Therefore, the Christians were able to make advancements towards the campaign of the re-conquista, the conquest.
Although the Christian crusades were slowly fought, in fact, it took over three centuries to re-acquire their lost territories (A. D. 1000-1300), they secured their presence within the region by utilizing tactics that became firmly established in the campaign that also fought in the name of God. This, indeed, was a fight justified in the name of God. It was the Christians who believed they were the real inheritors of God’s greatest offering for humankind: the after-life, heaven. Christians viewed the conquest as a legitimate expression of Christian piety against the Muslims.
While the Muslims believed that Muhammad was the last great prophet and the Koran is the final word of Allah, Christians rejected this view. Moreover, Christianity believed that Jesus Christ was the last prophet and savior of people who believed in him. His death, which was viewed as a heinous act committed by Jews who were violently persecuted thereafter due to this extreme Christian viewpoint, as all Christians believed absolved all mortal sins and assured entrance to the kingdom of God. In essence, the Christians believed that the Islamic religion was a perversion of Christianity.
It was their legitimate right and duty to re-claim territory lost to the Muslims. Pope Urban II invoked hate towards the Muslims by characterizing them as ‘barbarians who were guilty of inhumane outrages against the Christians of the East. ” Those who fought against the ” ‘pagans’ were following the Divine Will and thereby earned God’s friendship (Andrea 356). ” Capturing land lost, the Christian Crusaders did so in a wholly un-Christian manner. Brutality and force was the tactic of the re-conquista.
Christian knighthood became a salient means to inspire soldiers to “achieve salvation through the exercise of their warlike prowess (Hollister 197). ” The Crusaders slaughtered their enemies. An eyewitness to the Jerusalem Christian crusaders described the aftermath of indiscriminate killings that occurred. The survivors were up to their “ankles with the blood of the slain (Hollister 198). ” The Crusaders succeeded in their campaign of violence, in their campaign to eradicate the Muslim hold, and in furthering their leadership as the pre-eminent religion of the world.
The Crusades are defined by three characteristics: “piety, pugnacity, and greed (Hollister 196). ” It was this combination added to the promise of great land and resources that fueled the crusading soldiers. And, it worked. It was a powerful stimulant for their ambitious goals. Although the Crusades occurred over a protracted period, the achievement reached full culmination. The fight in the name of Christianity proved successful for these unforgiving, aggressive, and ambitious crusaders.
