Church History Research Paper

This research paper is about the Crusades, what were they, who was involved, what were the reasons behind them, and more. “The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars launched by the Christian states of Europe against the Saracens.”[1] Saracens was the word used to describe a Moslem during the time of the Crusades. The great military expeditions known as the Crusades were Christian nations of Europe who got together to rescue the holy places of Palestine from the hands of the Mohammedans. “They were eight in number, the first four being sometimes called the Principal Crusades, and the remaining four the Minor Crusades. In addition there was a Children's Crusade. There were several other expeditions which were insignificant in numbers or results.”[2] “In 1904, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) received an appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comenus for military assistance against the Turks in Anatolia. Urban had done much to restore Papal prestige after Gregory VII and the Investiture Controversy. While engaged in a papal tour of French dioceses, he stopped at Clermont, and Preached the First Crusade.”[3] The Muslim victories against the Byzantines was a disgrace to Christianity. Instead of Europe fighting within itself, the thought came that they should go after the enemies of Christianity and the oppressors of the Holy Land. “Thus, the Pope called for an armed pilgrimage, and those dying in the blessed campaigns of liberation would receive a heavenly reward.”[4] “Urban had been targeting mostly French nobles, and had wanted a well-disciplined body of knights under control of a Papal legate. Contrary to the Pope's wishes, the Peasants' Crusade began first, in the spring of 1096. It was lead by the most popular itinerant preacher, Peter the Hermit.”[5] When they captured Nicaea in May 1907, the Emperor occupied it himself, claiming the surrounding areas for Byzantium. At this point “the Western army consisted, at the most, of 3,000 knights and 12,000