Middle Ages Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Crusades=== {{main|Crusades|Crusading movement}} {{see also|Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty|List of crusades|Rhineland massacres}} [[File:Crac des chevaliers syria.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=A large stone castle on a hill|[[Krak des Chevaliers]] in Syria, built during the [[crusades]] for the [[Knights Hospitaller]]s.]] Clashes with secular powers led to the militarisation of the papacy. In response to a Byzantine appeal for military aid against the Seljuk Turks, Pope [[Pope Urban II|Urban II]] (pope 1088β99) proclaimed the [[First Crusade]] at the [[Council of Clermont]]. He declared the liberation of Jerusalem as its ultimate goal, and offered [[indulgence]]βthe remission of sinsβto all who took part.{{sfn|Barber|2004|pp=112β115}} Tens of thousands of commoners [[People's Crusade|formed loosely organised bands]] to march to the east. They lived off looting, and attacked the Jewish communities. Few of them reached Anatolia, and those who succeeded were [[Battle of Civetot|annihilated]] by the Turks.{{sfn|Lock|2006|pp=139β140}} The official crusade departed in 1096 under the command of prominent aristocrats like [[Godfrey of Bouillon]] (d. 1100), and [[Raymond of Saint-Gilles]] (d. 1105). The crusaders defeated the Turks in two major battles [[Battle of Dorylaeum (1097)|at Dorylaeum]] and [[Battle of Antioch (1098)|Antioch]], allowing the Byzantines to recover western Anatolia. The westerners consolidated their conquests in the Middle East into [[crusader states]], but their security depended on external military assistance which led to further [[crusades]].{{sfn|Barber|2004|pp=115β118}} Muslim resistance was raised by ambitious warlords, like [[Saladin]] (d. 1193) who [[Siege of Jerusalem (1187)|captured Jerusalem]] in 1187.{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=313β314}} New crusades prolonged the crusader states' existence for another century, until the crusaders' last strongholds fell to the [[Mamluks of Egypt]] in 1291.{{sfn|Barber|2004|pp=118β126}} The papacy used the crusading ideology in other [[Theater (warfare)|theaters of war]] as well.{{sfn|Barber|2004|p=118}} The Iberian crusades became fused with the {{lang|es|Reconquista}} and reduced Al-Andalus to the [[Emirate of Granada]] by 1248. The German and Scandinavian rulers' expansion against the neighbouring [[paganism|pagan]] tribes developed into the [[Northern Crusades]] bringing the forced assimilation of numerous Slavic, [[Balts|Baltic]] and [[Baltic Finnic peoples|Finnic]] peoples into the culture of Catholic Europe.{{sfn|Lock|2006|pp=107, 209β224}} The [[Fourth Crusade]] was diverted from the Holy Land to Constantinople, and [[Sack of Constantinople|captured the city]] in 1204, setting up a [[Latin Empire|Latin Empire]] in the east. [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]] (r. 1259β82), the ruler of a Byzantine [[rump state]]{{refn|group=note|After the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders, three Byzantine successor states emerged: [[Despotate of Epirus|Epirus]] in northern Greece and Albania, [[Empire of Nicaea|Nicaea]] in western Anatolia, and [[Empire of Trebizond|Trebizond]] in northeastern Anatolia. Michael VIII had ruled Nicaea before seizing Constantinople.{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=423β424}}}} recaptured the city in 1261, but [[Frankokratia|parts of Greece]] remained under the westerners' rule.{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=423β424}}{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=112}} The [[Albigensian Crusades]] against the Cathars of [[Occitania]] provided the opportunity for the French monarchy [[Treaty of Paris (1229)|to expand into the region]].{{sfn|Barber|2004|pp=173β174}} With its specific ceremonies and institutions, the [[crusading movement]] became a featuring element of medieval life.{{refn|group=note|Those who decided to participate in a crusade took an oath and placed the mark of the cross on their cloths. The crusaders enjoyed privileges, including a moratorium on debts, but those who failed to fulfil the crusader oath faced [[Infamy#In canon law|infamy]] or excommunication.{{sfn|Lock|2006|pp=313β317}}}} [[Quia maior|From 1213]], a crusader oath could be fulfilled through a cash payment which gave rise to the sale of plenary indulgences by church authorities.{{sfn|Lock|2006|pp=333β342}} The crusades brought about the fusion of monastic life with military service within the framework of a new type of monastic order, the [[Military order (society)|military orders]]. The establishment of the [[Knights Templar]] set the precedent, inspiring the militarisation of charitable associations, like the [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]] and the [[Teutonic Knights]], and the founding of new orders of warrior monks, like the [[Order of Calatrava]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2003|pp=46β47}}{{sfn|Lock|2006|pp=353β355}} The Teutonic Knights focused much of their activity in the Baltic where they founded [[State of the Teutonic Order|their own state]] in 1226.{{sfn|Barber|2004|p=332}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page