Crusades
a long struggle between Christian Europe and Mohammedan Asia for the possession of the Holy Sepulcher, or burial place of Christ. It lasted from 1100 to 1300. The several spasmodic movements of greatest force are known as The Eight Crusades. In an age when a pilgrimage to a shrine was the accepted way to win sanctity, forgiveness, or health, a pilgrimage to the tomb of Christ at Jerusalem was the holiest of all good works. The Canterbury pilgrimage described by Chaucer is but an incident compared with the stream of pilgrims pouring into Palestine. In 1064, for example, a single company, setting out under the leadership of the Archbishop of Mainz, numbered 7,000 men. The Saracens, that is to say, the Arabs, in possession of the Holy Land, welcomed the pilgrim as a source of revenue; but the Turks who captured Jerusalem in 1076, though of the same religion as the Arabs, began to persecute the Christian travelers.
A tremendous excitement ensued. Pope Urban convened a council. Fired by his eloquence, the multitude broke out into a frenzy of enthusiasm. "God wills it, God wills it," was the cry. A holy war was proclaimed against the infidels. The ambitious, the pious, the criminal, the needy, and the adventurous all found opportunity. The Knights of St. John, the Templars, and the Teutonic Order were all organized during this period. Immense hordes of Europeans were precipitated upon Asia Minor and Syria. In 1099 the Christians obtained possession of Jerusalem. Four brief European kingdoms were set up in Asia, but under Saladin the Moslems retook the Holy City.
Among the many expeditions was the Children's Crusade, about 1212, instigated by the wild preaching of the times. Twenty thousand German children and 30,000 French, both boys and girls, reinforced by bands from England and other countries of Europe, made their way on foot to Marseilles, Genoa, and to the Mediterranean ports. They expected the waters to part for them, as did the Red Sea before the children of Israel. Many were taken on board ships and conveyed to far-off shores where they were sold as slaves. Others were conveyed to the Holy Land. Large bands made their way overland into the territory of the Turks, where they were slaughtered without mercy or were sold into slavery. Of the vast number of children that set out to rescue the tomb of Christ, a mere remnant of 700 were rescued from the infidels, seventeen years later, by Frederick II. Movements like these seem incredible. They remind the reader of the migrations of lemmings from the forests of Scandinavia to the sea. They resulted in the loss of thousands, possibly of millions of lives.
The Third Crusade, led by Frederick Barbarossa, Philip II of France, and Richard the Lionhearted of England, is the most noted; but through jealousies it accomplished perhaps the least. So far as political changes go the Crusades bore no result. The Turks fastened their grip on the Levant and hold it to this day. The civilization of Syria has been crushed out, but the Europeans learned much. Intensely as they despised the Turk, they learned to respect the Arab, and brought home many new notions. The commercial importance of Venice and Genoa was greatly increased. The Crusaders acquired a taste for the products of eastern lands. The spices, sugar, dates, melons, and apricots of the East became known in the West. Cotton, silk, calico, rugs, satins, velvets, muslins, and damasks were introduced. The use of various eastern oils, perfumes, and dyes began. The Crusaders learned how to build looms, windmills, and how to make glass. Venice and Genoa became great commercial cities and manufactories sprang up. The coarse manners of western Europe were refined, and the people became more intelligent. It is much to be regretted that the period of Crusades did not accomplish more for the Levant, and that it did not result in driving the debasing Turk out of Europe and western Asia, but the effect on western Europe was excellent. The best picture in literature is given in William Stearns Davis' novel, God Wills It.
See Jerusalem; Saracen; Windmill; Richard; Peter The Hermit