The name given to the series of military engagements by the Western (Latin-speaking) Church, originally to fight against the 'infidel' Muslim powers occupying the 'Holy Land" and persecuting the Christians living there. The initial success in taking Jerusalem, however, encouraged crusades against other Christians who would not bend their will to Rome in her bid for influence and power. The main period of the Crusades ran from the last decade of the 10th Cent until the fall of the last Crusader stronghold of Acre in 1291. By 1300 Pope Bonaface VIII was beginning to offer indulgences to those who went to Rome rather than Jerusalem, which was as good an admission as could be squeezed from a medieval pope that the Crusades had failed. Some historians, however, see the crusading movement as extending beyond this period to include, e.g., the 16th Cent Spanish Amarda against Britain in the time of Elizabeth I.
The Crusades began when Pope Urban II, on an extended tour of France, preached for Christians to go fight the Muslims who had occupied the 'Holy Land,' occupied the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and were persecuting the Christians still living there. The pope had originally hoped to rouse the military noblemen whose class he was born into but his call attracted an overwhelming response from all classes of people, including many poor.
The term was not a common term in the early days of the movement. The term 'crusade' was derived from the French word croix, meaning 'cross.' Those who went on the original crusade called themselves 'pilgrims.' But the cross was intimately associated with the crusades from the beginning. Pope Urban himself introduced the cross as the symbol of the vow of committment to the venture. The 'pilgrims' would sew crosses onto their clothes as a symbol of what they were about. Pilgrims from other lands who also responded to the call would come to France and, not speaking a word of French, would simply make a sign of the cross with their fingers and they would be pointed out the way to go. With time it became natural that these pilgrims to be called crusaders.
The Crusades was not a single event but a series of events spanning a period of about 300 years, for once started it became a useful tool for other anti-Christian as well as 'anti-other-Christian' purposes. Historians have traditionally listed five main 'Crusades,' but there were many other minor ones, such as the Children's Crusades (1212), the Popular Crusade (1309), and the Shepherds' Crusades (1251 & 1320) (for a summary of the main ones, see below).
The Crusades have been studied extensively, their causes are complex, the direct gains miniscule, the drama complicated, their means and methods mostly questionable, the theological basis medieval, and the damage to the relation between the West, and by association Christianity, and the Muslim world still woeful. The latter, e.g., continues to view (or, at least, plays up) any act of aggression—real or perceived—by the West as a perpetuation of the Crusades. Though the subject has no direct and immediate relevance to the preacher, it is (for better or worse) part of our Christian heritage, and an understanding of it has much to teach the preacher and enrich his preaching. One point, however, should be kept in mind. The term 'crusades' is still often used in the West as a synonym for "an intensive campaign." Because of the association of the word with a painful past, we recommend Christians, and especially those living in lands with a significant population of Muslims, avoid using the word wherever possible. It should also be noted—though it is not a point we should push in conversation with our Muslim friends—that, though Muslims often blame Christians for starting the Crusades, it was 1) they who invaded the then so-called 'Christian' land of Palestine, 2) it was their invasion of the 'Christian' Byzantine territories as far as the Bosphorus in the decades immediately before the Crusades that roused the Byzantine ruler to ask for Urban II's help, and 3) they won the wars of the Crusades.
A more complete discussion on the Crusades is planned for ALBERITH.
You may also wish to read the following entries:
First Crusade (1095-1101)
Second Crusade (1147-9)
Third Crusade (1189-92)
Fourth Crusade (1202-4)
Fifth Crusade (1217-29)
Further Reading:
Christian History, Issue 40: The Crusades ☰
Jonathan Riley-Smith, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Christopher Tyerman, God's War: A New History of the Crusades. London: Penguin, 2007.
Karen Armstrong, Holy War: The Crusades and their Impact on Today's World. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.
The standard work of the past generation was the 3-volumned work by S. Runciman, A History of the Crusades (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). Pdf versions of it is available online.
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