Mr.Krishi Pothur
Krishi Pothur
Emergence of Medieval Europe
Proffesor Di Battista
11/18/12
The Road to Salvation starts With Death: Analytic Book Review of the First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading
The middle ages was marked by a shocking poverty, a sporadic decrease in the birth rate, and a high mortality rate due to famine and disease. However this did not stop the fervor that gripped the heart of Europe which was the crusading mentality. Crusading can arguably be seen as the “hip hop” culture of the medieval ages, other than devotion through Monasteries, Crusading was the best way to show your loyalty to God in the Middle ages. With Christianity deep in European hearts, it was only a matter of time before soldiers of Medieval Europe laid their eyes upon the birthplace and death of the Christianity's forefront figure (Jesus Christ), the holy land. The first Crusade was initiated when Pope Urban called the armies of Europe to defend Byzantine lands and regain the Holy land after it was conquered by Saracens from the Egyptian Caliphate. However we don't exactly have much information, but Jonathan Riley Smith provides a detailed amount of information that allows us to draw a picture in our mind about what the Crusades were really like. Of course, Riley examines crusade culture and how it is had a profound effect on the Social Classes but he emphasizes the importance of the Crusades which was to free the churches from “pillaging Muslim armies” and to protect Eastern Christians so to ensure that they are free to pray to their Christian god. From a different perspective, Pope Urban realized the potential of adding the holy land into European Christendom, which also momentarily united all of Europe and made the Christian faith dominant in Jerusalem by driving the various Arabic and Turkish ethnicities out thereby giving the people of Christendom a path to salvation, and how it effected the typical people that went on either the Pigrimage or the Crusade of the Crusader
Emergence of Medieval Europe
Proffesor Di Battista
11/18/12
The Road to Salvation starts With Death: Analytic Book Review of the First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading
The middle ages was marked by a shocking poverty, a sporadic decrease in the birth rate, and a high mortality rate due to famine and disease. However this did not stop the fervor that gripped the heart of Europe which was the crusading mentality. Crusading can arguably be seen as the “hip hop” culture of the medieval ages, other than devotion through Monasteries, Crusading was the best way to show your loyalty to God in the Middle ages. With Christianity deep in European hearts, it was only a matter of time before soldiers of Medieval Europe laid their eyes upon the birthplace and death of the Christianity's forefront figure (Jesus Christ), the holy land. The first Crusade was initiated when Pope Urban called the armies of Europe to defend Byzantine lands and regain the Holy land after it was conquered by Saracens from the Egyptian Caliphate. However we don't exactly have much information, but Jonathan Riley Smith provides a detailed amount of information that allows us to draw a picture in our mind about what the Crusades were really like. Of course, Riley examines crusade culture and how it is had a profound effect on the Social Classes but he emphasizes the importance of the Crusades which was to free the churches from “pillaging Muslim armies” and to protect Eastern Christians so to ensure that they are free to pray to their Christian god. From a different perspective, Pope Urban realized the potential of adding the holy land into European Christendom, which also momentarily united all of Europe and made the Christian faith dominant in Jerusalem by driving the various Arabic and Turkish ethnicities out thereby giving the people of Christendom a path to salvation, and how it effected the typical people that went on either the Pigrimage or the Crusade of the Crusader