The Underlying Causes Of The First Crusade

The First Crusade originated as the brainchild of the Catholic Pope Urban II and was announced at the Council of Claremont in Aquitaine in 1095 as a call to arms to reclaim Jerusalem and holy sites like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus Christ was crucified and aide the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus against the Shia Muslim Seljuk Turks, who had taken Anatolia after a series of victories over the Byzantine Empire including the Battle of Manzikert. These events were recorded by Alexius I’s daughter, Anna Comnena who wrote the story of her father’s life in her great work, the Alexiad. Jerusalem was controlled by the Fatimid Caliphate which was located around Northern Africa and was predominantly Shia Muslim. This led to conflict with Sunni group over their interpretations on the succession of the Prophet Mohammed.
The underlying motivation for most of European interest in the First Crusade is the indulgence that Pope Urban II offers all who pledge to go crusade which grants eternal salvation to the individual. Immediately following his announcement groups of Christians across
Germany went from village to village murdering Jewish people, which was unilaterally frowned upon by Europe’s established institutions. This route to redemption of sins being in stark contrast to confiding in a priest during penance. This combined with anti-Islamic sentiment in Europe since recent Islamic expansion, namely on the Iberian Peninsula where the Umayyad Caliphate controlled Cordoba until its demise due to infighting and civil war.
The desire to join the crusade was so great in Western European Christians that many would bankrupt themselves financing the expedition; many would call on close personal acquaintances for loans or mortgaging properties based on its output known as vifgages.
The first wave of the First Crusade is known as the People’s Crusade and is the result of unarmed peasants eager to go on crusade though they are untrained and unarmed. Peter the Hermit called on anybody who would join him on departing before Pope Urban’s August date. Peter and his followers pillaged their way through the Byzantine Empire and were finally defeated by Seljuk Turks. The Peace of God Movement aimed at preventing some of the civilian casualties due to the religious sanctions on warfare established in the doctrine which protected ecclesiastic property as well as women and children and other
non-combatants.
That August, the main crusade forces left starting points around Europe to rendezvous in Constantinople under the leadership of people like Bohemond of Taranto, Tancred, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Baldwin of Boulogne. The crusaders chose to leave in August because it gave them time to prepare and August is also the beginning of the harvest, so it would be easy to stay well supplied on their journey. This was a key factor in the failure of the People’s Rebellion. They moved through Anatolia, the Seljuk Turks believing the threat of crusaders was illegitimate due to the poorly organized People’s Crusade. Different crusading leaders took several cities in the area and often did not return them to the Byzantines, despite declaring an oath to Alexius I Comnenus. The crusaders also believed to find the tip of the spear that give the crusaders divine protection. Finally, the crusaders set up siege on Jerusalem and successfully reclaimed the territory for years to follow.