The Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusades expeditions occurred between 1096 and 1291, The bloody, violent and often ruthless conflicts propelled the status of European Christians, making them major players in the fight for land in the Middle East.

Firstly, it's said that the concept of the Crusades was alien to the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church. For them, war was something primarily political and therefore the state and the emperor were responsible for it, not the Church—not to mention that their priests and monks were supposed to abstain from fighting and shedding blood. The crusader states were not theocracies run by religious scholars, but secular states run by educated but fundamentally hard-nosed, practical, fighting men.

Now, let's FIND who initiated and led the crusades, but before we proceed we need to understand The Great Schism or The East-West Schism.

What was the Great Schism of 1054?

The Great Schism of 1054 was a pivotal moment in the history of Christianity, and the effects of this schism shaped the religious makeup of Europe for centuries. A schism is a split that occurs based on differences of belief, and the Great Schism split the Christian Church along East-West lines. In 1054 AD, the leaders of the two most powerful patriarchal churches, the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople, excommunicated each other. Once each declared that the other was heretical/deviant, communion between Eastern and Western churches was severed. Thus, this schism is also referred to as the East-West Schism. This split created the distinction between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches that remains to this day.

Beyond this literal definition, the Great Schism had profound effects on future generations, as the rift between Eastern and Western churches never healed. East and West grew further apart, and only in the 20th century were practical steps taken to nullify the excommunications. However, tensions between Eastern and Western churches were present even before the 11th-century schism took place, and the centuries since the Great Schism have not seen full reconciliation between Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

But why is there such an obsession with the Holy Land?

A question everybody should ask, and only Eschatology can answer it (we are not answering that question here as we have explained it in our other blogs).

Some say crusades were initiated or led by the Orthodox Christian world which false although we don't deny their participation in the crusades.

Let's brief some crusades...

Who started the Crusades?

On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II (Catholic) makes perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of “Deus vult!” or “God wills it!” Contrary to popular belief, the First Crusade was not so much a war against Islam, but rather a war waged by the Roman Catholic Church in order to gain the good will of the Byzantine Empire and subsequently the Eastern Orthodox Church through its military aid.

Unlike the First Crusade, the Second Crusade was led by two of Europe's greatest rulers, King Louis VII of France and Emperor Conrad III of Germany (both Catholics). Louis enthusiastically supported the Crusade, but Conrad was reluctant at first and was won over only by the eloquence of St. Bernard (who was one of the co-initiators of the Second Crusade). Pope Eugene proclaimed the Second Crusade. Pope Eugene III was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1145 to his death in 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become pope. In response to the fall of Edessa to the Muslims in 1144.

The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187.

The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III.

The Fifth Crusade was a campaign by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al-Adil, brother of Saladin.

The Sixth Crusade, also known as the Crusade of Frederick II, was a military expedition to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade and involved very little actual fighting.

The Seventh Crusade was the first of the two Crusades led by Louis IX of France and the Eighth Crusade was also launched by Louis IX of France.

We hope this summary gave us some Idea on the Crusades, In Sha Allah.

As we read above, all the crusades were initiated and led by the western Christians and the Orthodox Christian world did not entertain themselves in the crusades because they were actually trying to follow the teachings of Jesus in forgiveness, love, compassion, tolerance, and resisting evil. It wasn’t easy, since the human and natural response would be to fight back and destroy evil with your own. The Orthodox Church never replaced the political authorities as the Roman Catholic church did. Thus, war even against infidels was considered the emperor’s, not the patriarch’s or the clergymen’s job. Religious fanaticism existed, but the concept of Crusades was alien to the Orthodox world as said in the beginning.