Crusades in Europe in the Middle Ages. Significance of the Crusades for European History

The Crusades, which lasted from 1096 to 1272, are an important part of the Middle Ages covered in the 6th grade history course. These were military-colonial wars in the countries of the Middle East under the religious slogans of the struggle of Christians against the "infidels", that is, Muslims. It is not easy to talk briefly about the crusades, since only eight are distinguished as the most important.

Causes and Reasons for the Crusades

Palestine, which belonged to Byzantium, was conquered by the Arabs in 637. It has become a place of pilgrimage for both Christians and Muslims. The situation changed with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks. In 1071 they interrupted the pilgrimage routes. The Byzantine emperor Alexei Komnenos in 1095 turned to the West for help. This was the reason for organizing the trip.

The reasons that motivated people to participate in a dangerous event were:

• pursuit catholic church spread influence to the East and increase wealth;
• the desire of monarchs and nobles to expand territories;
• the peasants' hopes for land and freedom;
• the desire of merchants to establish new trade relations with the countries of the East;
• religious upsurge.

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for the liberation of the holy lands from the yoke of the Saracens (Arabs and Seljuk Turks). Many knights immediately accepted the cross and proclaimed themselves warlike pilgrims. Later, the leaders of the campaign were also determined.

Rice. 1. The call of Pope Urban II to the crusaders.

Members of the Crusades

In the crusades, a group of main participants can be distinguished:

TOP 4 articleswho read along with this

• large feudal lords;
• small European knights;
• merchants;
• craftsmen-philistines;
• peasants.

The name "crusades" comes from the images of the cross sewn onto the clothes of the participants.

The first echelon of the crusaders was made up of the poor, led by the preacher Peter of Amiens. In 1096 they arrived in Constantinople and, without waiting for the knights, crossed over to Asia Minor. The consequences were sad. The Turks defeated the poorly armed and untrained peasant militia without difficulty.

Beginning of the Crusades

There were several crusades aimed at Muslim countries. The crusaders made their first appearance in the summer of 1096. In the spring of 1097 they crossed into Asia Minor and captured Nicaea, Antioch, and Edessa. In July 1099, the crusaders entered Jerusalem, arranging a brutal massacre of Muslims here.

On the occupied lands, the Europeans created their own states. By the 30s. 12th century the crusaders lost several cities and territories. Jerusalem king turned to the Pope for help, and he called on the European monarchs for a new crusade.

Main hikes

The table “Crusades” will help in systematizing the information

hike	Participants and organizers	Main goals and results
1 crusade (1096 - 1099)	Organized by Pope Urban II. Knights from France, Germany, Italy	The desire of the Roman popes to extend their power to new countries, the desire of Western feudal lords to acquire new possessions and increase incomes. Liberation of Nicaea (1097), capture of Edessa (1098), capture of Jerusalem (1099). Creation of the state of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Edessa, the Kingdom of Jerusalem
2 crusade (1147 - 1149)	Led by Louis VII French and German Emperor Conrad III	Loss of Edessa by the crusaders (1144). Complete failure of the crusaders
3 crusade (1189 - 1192)	Headed by the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French King Philip II Augustus and the English King Richard I the Lionheart	The purpose of the campaign is to return Jerusalem, captured by the Muslims. have failed.
4th crusade (1202 - 1204)	Organized by Pope Innocent III. French, Italian, German feudal lords	The brutal sacking of Christian Constantinople. The collapse of the Byzantine Empire: the Greek states - the Kingdom of Epirus, the Nicaean and Trebizond empires. The Crusaders created the Latin Empire
Children's (1212)		Thousands of children died or were sold into slavery
5th crusade (1217 - 1221)	Duke Leopold VI of Austria, King Andrew II of Hungary, and others	A campaign was organized in Palestine and Egypt. Failed offensive in Egypt and in the negotiations on Jerusalem due to the fact that there was no unity in the leadership.
6th crusade (1228 - 1229)	German king and emperor of the Roman Empire Frederick II Staufen	March 18, 1229 Jerusalem as a result of an agreement with the Egyptian Sultan, but in 1244 the city again passed to the Muslims.
7th crusade (1248 - 1254)	French King Louis IX Saint.	Campaign to Egypt. The defeat of the crusaders, the capture of the king, followed by a ransom and return home.
8th Crusade (1270-1291)	Mongolian troops	Last and failed. The knights lost all possessions in the East, except for Fr. Cyprus. The ruin of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean

Rice. 2. Crusaders.

The second campaign took place in 1147-1149. They were led by the German Emperor Konrad III Staufen and the French King Louis VII. In 1187, Sultan Saladin defeated the crusaders and captured Jerusalem, which was recaptured by King Philip II Augustus of France, King Frederick I Barbarossa of Germany and King Richard I the Lionheart of England.

The fourth was organized against Orthodox Byzantium. In 1204, the crusaders mercilessly plundered Constantinople, massacring Christians. In 1212, 50 thousand children were sent to Palestine from France and Germany. Most of them became slaves or died. In history, the adventure is known as the "Children's Crusade".

After the report to the Pope on the fight against the heresy of the Cathars in the Languedoc region from 1209 to 1229, a series of military campaigns took place. This is the Albigensian or Cathar crusade.

The fifth (1217-1221) was the great failure of the Hungarian king Endre II. In the sixth (1228-1229) the cities of Palestine were handed over to the crusaders, but already in 1244 they finally lost Jerusalem for the second time. To save those who remained there, they proclaimed the seventh campaign. The crusaders were defeated, and the French king Louis IX was captured, where he stayed until 1254. In 1270, he led the eighth - the last and extremely unsuccessful crusade, the stage of which from 1271 to 1272 is called the ninth.

Crusades of Russia

The ideas of the crusades also penetrated the territory of Russia. One of the directions of the foreign policy of her princes is wars with unbaptized neighbors. The campaign of Vladimir Monomakh in 1111 against the Polovtsy, who often attacked Russia, was called a crusade. In the XIII century, the princes fought with the Baltic tribes, the Mongols.

Consequences of campaigns

The crusaders divided the conquered lands into several states:

• Kingdom of Jerusalem;
• kingdom of Antioch;
• County of Edessa
• county of Tripoli.

In the states, the crusaders established feudal orders on the model of Europe. To protect their possessions in the east, they built castles and founded spiritual and knightly orders:

• hospitallers;
• templars;
• Teutons.

Report Evaluation

Average rating: 4.1. Total ratings received: 453.

The Crusades mark the beginning of the end of the Middle Ages. They were the completion of the development of Christian civilization. This was the greatest surge of medieval Christian energy, after which an internal crisis of Christianity set in. This is the end of medieval universalism, the desire to build a great Christian state. The crusades revealed the unrealizability of this idea, its decay, the collapse of the union of the church and the world, attempts to extend this synthesis to the entire universe. Having failed, civilization terminates its alliance with the church.

In addition, the crusaders clashed with the Muslim world. It was a test of the certainty that only Christians are genuine people, that only the Christian Western European order of the world is natural, has the right to exist. They were faced with the fact that outside the Christian world there are normal people, filled with even greater virtues than Christians themselves. This clash with the culture and morality of the Muslim world was a test for realizing its exclusivity of the Western world. Medieval Europe perceived itself as a norm that should become the norm for all mankind. It turned out that there is some other norm, which also has the right to exist.

The crusades contributed to the accumulation of semi-Pelagian medieval ideas that it is possible to redeem salvation from God, deliverance from His wrath, from purgatory with good deeds - it received a powerful centuries-old all-European motivation. It helped to consolidate the ugly soteriological ideas of Western theology.

Fruitful, and on the other hand, detrimental to Europe was the flood of all sorts of relics, holy relics. This contributed to the magical perception of the shrine, which was reflected in the acceptance of the Sacrament as a force that acts regardless of the readiness to accept this shrine, the magical idea of ​​the Christian Mysteries.

The crusades had great value for the political changes in Western Europe that would prove critical in the decay of medieval universalism. The crusades ensured the outflow of feudal knights to the Holy Land, a good half of whom did not return to Europe. There was an outflow of bearers of feudal consciousness from Europe. The class of feudal lords, its power in the era of the Crusades were significantly destroyed. Medieval universalism was possible only in the conditions of a feudal society, since only in the conditions of feudal fragmentation was the existence of such a pan-European consciousness possible. On the one hand, there was a pan-European church, on the other, a kind of pan-European Christian state formation. With the destruction of the class of feudal lords, feudal fragmentation weakened, and national states appeared. The unification of national states in the name of a common Christian state was already less possible than the unification of feudal lords. The formation of a nation-state came into conflict with the idea of ​​universalism, since the interests of one's own nation-state were more significant than the interests of some "world state".

The most fatal outcome of the Crusades was the weakening of Eastern Christianity. The fall of Constantinople, its capture by the crusaders was the prelude to its capture by the Turks. After the blow of the Western Christians, the Byzantines were no longer able to fully recover. This religious and political antagonism had already become irreconcilable; now there could be no talk of unity with Western Christians. Before the Fourth Crusade there was still communication, after it the consciousness of communication was no longer possible. The most important spiritual process of this time is that at the beginning of the second millennium, the Western Christian tradition had already separated from Eastern Christianity, from the heritage universal church. There is a formation of the Western, German type of religious consciousness.

The Crusades ended in failure, and therefore did not solve any of the long-term problems facing medieval Europe. However, they had a significant impact on its further development. They allowed for a certain period to ease the demographic, social and political tension in Western Europe. This contributed to the strengthening of royal power and the creation of national centralized states in France and England.

The Crusades led to a temporary strengthening of the Catholic Church: it significantly strengthened its financial position, expanded its sphere of influence, created new military and religious institutions - orders that played an important role in subsequent European history (the St. John in the defense of the Mediterranean from the Turks, the Teutons in the German aggression in the Baltics). The papacy confirmed its status as the leader of Western Christendom.

At the same time, they made the gulf between Catholicism and Orthodoxy insurmountable, deepened the confrontation between Christianity and Islam, and sharpened Europeans' intransigence towards any form of religious dissent.

It used to be believed that the Crusades significantly enriched the European food flora, gave impetus to the development of production technologies and led to the expansion of cultural potential through borrowing from the East. The latest research, however, does not support such claims.

At the same time, the Crusades did not leave their mark on the Western economy and culture. The robbery of overseas countries became a catalyst for property stratification and the progress of commodity-money relations. The economic power of the Italian trading republics increased, having received huge profits from freight and significantly strengthening their commercial positions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, seriously ousting the Arabs and Byzantines.

The crusades contributed to the social mobility of Europeans, overcoming their fear of the unknown; psychologically, they prepared the Great Geographical Discoveries.

And, finally, the crusading movement and the crusading spirit were reflected in medieval literature (knightly romance, troubadour poetry, historical writing). Among the most significant works are the historiographical and biographical works of William of Tyre, Geoffroy de Villardouin, Robert de Clary and Jean de Joinville, the poems The Song of Antioch and the History of the Holy War.

According to J. Le Goff, the Crusades turned out to be "the pinnacle of the expansionism of medieval Christendom", "the first experience of European colonialism".

In view of the unspeakably heavy losses suffered during the Crusades, and the incalculable number of dead Christians, as well as in view of the complete discrepancy between the results and the intended goals, it is difficult to say whether the enormous sacrifices and losses are balanced by the benefits that medieval society derived from acquaintance with the East. Above, we cited the opinions of researchers who point to a relatively high Arab culture in the 11th century. and on borrowings learned from the Arabs and transferred to Europe; they attribute great importance to the remains of ancient culture in the Greek lands, to forms of life alien to Europeans in the East, and find numerous borrowings by Europeans in household items, in terms of trade, industry; finally, they pay attention to the changes in the social life of Europeans after the crusades (development of urban freedom, protest against the absolutism of the Roman Church) and try to put all this on the parish and consider it as a direct result of the crusades. According to F.I. Uspensky, the benefits are immeasurably lower than the losses and losses.

Thus, the influence of the crusades on the progress of medieval society is subject to significant fluctuations, if we take into account the natural process of evolution, which, even without the crusades, could lead medieval peoples to success on the path of political development and emancipation. Regardless, the period of the Crusades left Western Europe with a heavy burden in the Eastern Question, which requires new sacrifices from it and serves as an obstacle to its further progress on the path of development.

conquered crusader latin campaign

Crusades - a series of military campaigns in the XI-XV centuries. from Western Europe against Muslims. In the narrow sense - the campaigns of 1095-1290. to Palestine, aimed at capturing first of all Jerusalem (with the Holy Sepulcher), against the Seljuk Turks. In a broader sense, there are also other campaigns proclaimed by the popes, including later ones, carried out with the aim of converting the Baltic pagans to Christianity and suppressing heretical and anti-clerical movements in Europe (Cathars, Hussites, etc.)

First Crusade

The first campaign began in 1096. At the head of a large and well-armed militia were Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse (he led troops from southern France and the papal legate joined him), Hugo de Vermandois (brother of the French king Philip I), Etienne (Stefan) II, Count of Blois and Chartres, Duke of Normandy Robert III Curthgues, Count of Flanders Robert II, Gottfried of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, with brothers Eustache (Eustache) III, Count of Boulogne, and Baldwin (Baudouin), as well as nephew Baldwin (Baudouin) the Younger, (son of Robert Guiscard), with nephew Tancred. The number of crusaders who gathered in different ways in Constantinople amounted to several tens of thousands of Bohemond of Tarentum. In Constantinople, most of the crusading leaders recognized their future conquests, as parts of the eastern empire, in fief dependence on Alexei and gave him the appropriate oath. It was not easy for Alexei to achieve this: he was even forced to resort to armed force (this is how he forced Gottfried of Bouillon to take the oath). Their troops were not a single cohesive army - each feudal lord going on a campaign attracted his vassals, and the peasants who had escaped from their homes followed them.

In April 1097, the Crusaders crossed the Bosporus. Soon, Nicaea surrendered to the Byzantines, and on July 1, the crusaders defeated Sultan Kilij-Arslan at Dorilei and thus paved their way through Asia Minor. Moving on, the crusaders found precious allies against the Turks in the princes of Lesser Armenia, whom they began to support in every possible way. Baldwin, separated from the main army, established himself in Edessa. For the crusaders, this was very important, given the position of the city, which has since constituted their extreme eastern outpost. In October 1097, the crusaders besieged Antioch, which they managed to take only in June of the following year. In Antioch, the crusaders, in turn, were besieged by the emir of Mossul Kerboga and, suffering hunger, were subjected to great danger; they managed, however, to get out of the city and defeat Kerboga. After a long quarrel with Raymond, Antioch was taken over by Bohemond, who managed to force the rest of the crusader leaders to agree to the transfer of this important city to him even before its fall. While disputes were going on over Antioch, an unrest occurred in the army, dissatisfied with the delay, which forced the princes, ending the strife, to move on. The same thing happened later: while the army was rushing towards Jerusalem, the leaders were arguing over each city taken.

Rice. 30. Templars.

On June 7, 1099, the holy city finally opened before the eyes of the crusaders, and on July 15 they took it, and carried out a terrible massacre among the Muslims. Gottfried of Bouillon gained power in Jerusalem. Having defeated the Egyptian army near Ascalon, he ensured for some time the conquest of the crusaders from this side. After the death of Gottfried, Baldwin the Elder became king of Jerusalem, handing over Edessa to Baldwin the Younger. In 1101, a second large crusading army from Lombardy, Germany and France came to Asia Minor, led by many noble and wealthy knights; but most of this army was destroyed by the combined forces of several emirs. Meanwhile, the crusaders who had established themselves in Syria (their number increased with new pilgrims who arrived almost continuously) had to wage a hard struggle with the neighboring Muslim rulers. Bohemond was taken prisoner by one of them and ransomed by the Armenians. In addition, since the spring of 1099, the crusaders have been at war with the Greeks because of the coastal cities. In Asia Minor, the Byzantines managed to regain a significant territory; their successes here could have been even more significant if they had not spent their forces in the fight against the crusaders because of the remote Syrian and Cilician regions. Finally, from the very beginning there was a struggle between the crusaders themselves over the possession of different cities. Significant support for the Kingdom of Jerusalem was provided by the soon-formed spiritual and knightly orders of the Templars and Hospitallers (Johnites). Serious danger began to threaten the crusaders when Imad-ad-Din Zangi received power in Mosul (1127). He united under his rule several Muslim possessions that lay near the possessions of the crusaders, and formed a vast and strong state that occupied almost all of Mesopotamia and a significant part of Syria. In 1144 he took Edessa despite the heroic resistance of the city's defenders. The news of this disaster again caused crusading enthusiasm in the West, expressed in the 2nd crusade. The sermon of Bernard of Clairvaux first of all raised a mass of French knights, led by King Louis VII; then Bernard managed to attract the German emperor Conrad III to the crusades. With Conrad went his nephew Frederick of Swabia and many German princes.

At the end of the 1st Crusade, four Christian states were founded in the Levant.

The county of Edessa is the first state founded by the crusaders in the East. It was founded in 1098 by Baldwin I of Boulogne. After the conquest of Jerusalem and the establishment of the kingdom. It existed until 1146. Its capital was the city of Edessa. The Principality of Antioch was founded by Bohemond I of Tarentum in 1098 after the capture of Antioch. The principality lasted until 1268. The Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted until the fall of Acre in 1291. The kingdom had several vassal lordships, including the four largest ones: the Principality of Galilee, the County of Jaffa and Ascalon, Transjordan - the lordship of Krak, Montreal and Saint Abraham, the lordship of Sidon, the County of Tripoli - the last of the states founded during the First Crusade. It was founded in 1105 by Count Raymond IV of Toulouse. The county lasted until 1289.



style="width:1000px;">

Rice. 31. Map of the States of the crusaders.

The crusader states completely covered the territory through which Europe traded with India and China at that time, without occupying any extra territory. Egypt was cut off from this trade. Delivery of goods to Europe in the most economical way from Baghdad, bypassing the crusader states, became impossible. Thus, the crusaders acquired a kind of monopoly in this kind of trade. Conditions were created for the development of new trade routes between Europe and, for example, China, such as the route along the Volga with transshipment into the rivers flowing into the Baltic, and the Volga-Don route. This can be seen as the reasons for the shift of the political center of Russia just after the first crusade to the area where international cargo was transshipped from the Volga basin to the Western Dvina basin, as well as the reasons for the economic and political rise of the Volga Bulgaria. The subsequent capture by the crusaders of the mouth of the Western Dvina and the Neman, their capture of Constantinople, through which the goods of the Volga-Don route and the route along the Kura River passed, as well as the attempt of the Swedes to seize the mouth of the Neva, can also be regarded as a desire to establish control over the trade routes of this type of trade. The economic upsurge at that time of the northwestern part of Western Europe against the southern one became the reason that for Europeans international trade with the East through the Baltic and further through North-Eastern Russia became more economically profitable. Perhaps it was in this connection that the crusades to the Holy Land lost popularity among Europeans, and the crusader states lasted the longest in the Baltic states, disappearing only when the Europeans opened direct sea routes to China and India.

Second Crusade

The second crusade took place in 1147-1149. It was started in response to the capture of Edessa in 1144 by the troops of Zangi.

The French nation, led by its king, put up a considerable force. Both King Louis VII himself and the feudal princes of France showed sympathy for the cause of the Second Crusade; gathered a detachment of up to 70 thousand. The goal that the Second Crusade was to achieve was clearly outlined and strictly defined. His task was to weaken the Muslim emir Zangi and take Edessa from him. This task would have been successfully completed by one French army, consisting of a well-armed army, which along the way was doubly enlarged by the volunteers who molested. If the crusader militia of 1147 had consisted entirely of Frenchmen, they would have taken a different route, shorter and safer than that which they had taken under the influence of the Germans.

The French in the political system of that era represented a nation, completely isolated, which, with its closest interests, leaned towards Italy. The Sicilian king Roger II and the French king were on close terms. Consequently, it was most natural for the French king to choose the route through Italy, whence he could, using the Norman fleet and also the fleet of the trading cities, which were such energetic assistants in the First Crusade, conveniently and quickly arrive in Syria. In addition, the route through southern Italy had the advantage that the Sicilian king could also join the militia. Louis VII, having communicated with Roger II, was ready to move through Italy.

When the question of the path and means of movement was raised, the German king proposed to choose the path that the first German crusaders had also taken - to Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Thrace and Macedonia. The Germans insisted that the French king also move along this path, motivating their proposal by the fact that it was better to avoid the division of forces, that the movement through the possessions of an allied and even related sovereign to the German king was completely secured from all sorts of accidents and surprises, and that with the Byzantine king began negotiations on this issue, in the favorable outcome of which Conrad did not doubt.



In the summer of 1147, the movement of the crusaders through Hungary began; Conrad III went ahead, a month later Louis followed him.

Roger II of Sicily, who had not previously declared his intention to participate in the Second Crusade, but who, however, could not remain indifferent to its outcome, demanded that Louis fulfill the agreement concluded between them - to direct the route through Italy. Louis hesitated for a long time, but yielded to an alliance with the German king. Roger II realized that if he now did not take part in the campaign, then his position would become isolated. He equipped the ships, armed himself, but not in order to assist the general movement. He began to act in accordance with the Norman policy towards the East: the Sicilian fleet began to plunder the islands and coastal lands belonging to Byzantium, the coast of Illyria, Dalmatia and southern Greece. Devastating the Byzantine possessions, the Sicilian king took possession of the island of Corfu and at the same time, in order to successfully continue his naval operations against Byzantium and to protect himself from the African Muslims, he concluded an alliance with the latter.

On the way to the Holy Land, the crusaders plundered the territories that lay in their path, attacked the local residents. The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos was afraid that Conrad III would not be able to curb the violent and recalcitrant crowd, that this crowd, greedy for profit, might start robberies and violence in the mind of Constantinople and cause serious unrest in the capital. Therefore, Manuel tried to remove the crusader militia from Constantinople and advised Conrad to cross to the Asian coast of Gallipoli. But the crusaders made their way to Constantinople by force, accompanying their path with robberies and violence. In September 1147, the danger to Byzantium from the crusaders was serious: irritated Germans stood at the walls of Constantinople, betraying everything to robbery; after two or three weeks, the arrival of the French crusaders was to be expected; the combined forces of both could threaten Constantinople with serious troubles. At the same time, news reached the Byzantine king about the capture of Corfu, about the attacks of the Norman king on the coastal Byzantine possessions, about the alliance of Roger II with the Egyptian Muslims.

Under the influence of danger threatening from all sides, Manuel took a step that fundamentally undermined the tasks and goals set by the Second Crusade - he entered into an alliance with the Seljuk Turks; True, this was not an offensive alliance, it had the goal of securing the empire and threatening the Latins in case the latter took it into their head to threaten Constantinople. Nevertheless, this union had a very importance in the sense that he made it clear to the Seljuks that they would have to reckon with only one western militia. Concluding this alliance with the Iconian sultan, Manuel made it clear that he did not look at the Seljuks as enemies. Protecting his personal interests, he washed his hands, leaving the crusaders to act at their own risk. on your own and means. Thus, two Christian-Muslim alliances were formed against the crusade militia: one - directly hostile to the crusader militia - is the alliance of Roger II with the Egyptian sultan; the other - the union of the Byzantine king with the Iconian sultan - was not in the interests of the crusade. All this was the cause of the failures that ended the Second Crusade.



Manuel hurried to satisfy Konrad and moved the Germans to the opposite bank of the Bosphorus. The Crusaders gave themselves their first rest in Nicaea, where there were already serious misunderstandings. A 15,000-strong detachment separated from the German militia and, at its own peril, headed along the seaside route to Palestine. Conrad with the rest of the army chose the path followed by the first crusader militia - through Dorilei, Iconium and Heraclea.

In the first battle (October 26, 1147), which took place in Cappadocia, near Dorileus, the German army, taken by surprise, was completely defeated, most of the militia died or were taken prisoner, very few returned with the king to Nicaea, where Conrad began to wait for the French .

Almost at the same time that Conrad suffered a terrible defeat, Louis VII was approaching Constantinople. There were the usual skirmishes between the French army and the Byzantine government. Knowing the sympathy between Louis VII and Roger II, Manuel did not consider it safe for the French to stay in Constantinople for a long time. In order to quickly get rid of them and force the knights to take a fealty oath, King Manuel used a trick. A rumor was circulated among the French that the Germans, who crossed over to Asia, were rapidly advancing, step by step, winning brilliant victories; so the French will have nothing to do in Asia. French competition was aroused; they demanded that they be sent as soon as possible across the Bosphorus. Here, on the Asian coast, the French learned about the unfortunate fate German troops; in Nicaea, both kings, Louis and Conrad, met, and decided to continue the journey together, in a faithful alliance.

Since the path from Nicaea to Dorileus was covered with corpses and drenched in Christian blood, both kings wanted to save the army from a difficult spectacle and therefore set off by a detour, to Adramitium, Pergamum and Smyrna. This path was extremely difficult, slowing down the movement of the troops; choosing this path, the kings hoped to meet here less danger from the Muslims. However, their hopes were not justified: the Turkish riders kept the crusading army in constant tension, slowed down the path, robbed, beat off people and carts. In addition, the lack of food and fodder forced Louis to abandon a lot of pack animals and luggage. The French king, not foreseeing all these difficulties, took with him a large retinue; his train, in which his wife Eleanor also took part, was extremely brilliant, magnificent, not corresponding to the importance of the enterprise, connected with such difficulties and dangers. The crusader militia moved very slowly, losing a lot of people, pack animals and luggage on its way.

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade (1189-1192) was initiated by Popes Gregory VIII and (after the death of Gregory VIII) Clement III. Four of the most powerful European monarchs took part in the Crusade - the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French King Philip II Augustus, the Austrian Duke Leopold V and the English King Richard I the Lionheart. The Third Crusade was preceded by Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in October 1187.

In March 1190, Frederick's troops crossed into Asia, moved to the southeast and, after terrible hardships, made their way through all of Asia Minor; but shortly after crossing the Taurus, the emperor drowned in the river Salef. Part of his army dispersed, many died, Duke Frederick led the rest to Antioch, and then to Acre. In January 1191 he died of malaria. In the spring, the French (Philip II Augustus) and English (Richard the Lionheart) and Duke Leopold of Austria arrived. On the way, Richard the Lionheart defeated the Emperor of Cyprus, Isaac, who was forced to surrender; he was imprisoned in a Syrian castle, where he was kept almost until his death, and Cyprus fell into the power of the crusaders. The siege of Acre went badly, due to strife between the French and English kings, as well as between Guy de Lusignan and the Margrave Conrad of Montferrat, who, after the death of Guy's wife, claimed the crown of Jerusalem and married Isabella, sister and heiress of the deceased Sibylla. It was not until July 12, 1191 that Acre surrendered after an almost two-year siege. Conrad and Guy reconciled after the capture of Acre; the former was recognized as Guy's heir and received Tyre, Beirut and Sidon. Shortly thereafter, Philip II sailed home with part of the French knights, but Hugh of Burgundy, Henry of Champagne and many other noble crusaders remained in Syria. The crusaders managed to defeat Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf, but due to lack of water and constant skirmishes with Muslim troops, the Christian army failed to recapture Jerusalem - King Richard approached the city twice and both times did not dare to storm. Finally, in September 1192, a truce was concluded with Saladin: Jerusalem remained in the power of the Muslims, Christians were only allowed to visit the holy city. After that, King Richard sailed to Europe.

A circumstance that somewhat eased the position of the crusaders was the death of Saladin in March 1193: the division of his possessions between his many sons became a source of civil strife among the Muslims. Soon, however, Saladin's brother, al-Malik al-Adil, came forward and took possession of Egypt, southern Syria and Mesopotamia and assumed the title of sultan. After the failure of the third crusade, Emperor Henry VI began to gather in the Holy Land, accepting the cross in May 1195; but he died in September 1197. Some detachments of the crusaders who set off earlier nevertheless arrived in Acre. Somewhat earlier than the emperor, Henry of Champagne died, who was married to the widow of Conrad of Montferrat and therefore wore the crown of Jerusalem. Amaury II (brother of Guy de Lusignan), who married Henry's widow, was now chosen king. Meanwhile, military operations in Syria were not going well; a significant part of the crusaders returned to their homeland. Around this time, the German hospital fraternity of St. Mary, founded during the 3rd Crusade, was transformed into the Teutonic Spiritual and Knightly Order.



Philip, who arrived in France, began to take revenge on the English king in his French possessions. The English kingdom was then ruled by Richard's brother John (the future English king John the Landless), with whom Philip entered into a relationship. Philip's actions to harm Richard were in direct violation of the agreement they had made during the preparations for the crusade. According to this agreement, the French king, during the absence of the English king, did not have the right to attack his possessions and could declare war on him only 40 days after Richard returned from the campaign. Needless to say, Philip's breach of treaty and his encroachment on Richard's French dominions must have had a detrimental effect on the spirit of the English king.


Levant after the Third Crusade.
Richard, remaining in Acre, expected Saladin to fulfill the remaining points of the peace treaty. Saladin refused to recapture Jerusalem, did not release the captives, and did not pay the military costs. Then Richard took one step which frightened all Muslims and which must be considered the most characteristic of the sad fame that Richard acquired in the East. Richard ordered to kill up to 2 thousand noble Muslims who were in his hands as hostages. Such facts were an unusual phenomenon in the East and caused only bitterness on the part of Saladin. Saladin was not slow to respond in kind.

Richard did not take any decisive and correct action against Saladin, but limited himself to small attacks. True, these raids for the purpose of robbery characterize the time of chivalry, but in addition to the head of the crusader militia, which represents the interests of all Christian Europe, they denounced only the inability to get down to business. Since Saladin sacrificed Acre, the Christians should not have allowed him to fortify elsewhere, but should have immediately marched on Jerusalem. But Guido Lusignan, that nominal king without a kingdom, whose enmity towards Conrad of Montferrat can only be explained by envy, urged Richard to clear the coastal strip of Muslims first of all; Guido Lusignan was also supported by the Venetians, who pursued commercial goals: it was more convenient for them that the coastal cities were owned by Christians, and not by Muslims. Richard, succumbing to this influence, moved from Acre to Ascalon - an enterprise completely useless, which was inspired by the commercial interests of the Italian cities and the ambition of Guido.



Saladin himself did not expect such a senseless move on the part of Richard; he decided on an emergency remedy; ordered to tear down the strong walls of Ascalon and turn the city itself into a pile of stones. Throughout the autumn of 1191 and the spring of 1192, Richard stood at the head of the crusader militia. All this time he lost in the pursuit of false plans and unnecessary tasks and made it clear to his talented opponent that he was dealing with a very short-sighted person. More than once, the task seemed quite clear to Richard - to go straight to Jerusalem; his army itself was aware that it had not yet fulfilled its task and encouraged the king to do the same. Three times he was already on his way to Jerusalem, three times wild ideas forced him to stop the march and move back.

By the beginning of 1192, news from France had come to Asia, which had a strong effect on Richard. At the same time, a fact was taking place in the East which made Richard apprehensive about the outcome of the undertaking. Conrad of Montferrat understood that with Richard's tactlessness, the Christians would hardly be able to defeat Saladin, began negotiations with the latter, spoke out Tire and Acre from him and promised to unite with him and destroy Richard with one blow.



Then Richard, placed in the highest degree of embarrassment by affairs in the East, and worrying about his English possessions, which were threatened by the French king, used all means to enter into relations with Saladin. In dreamy self-deception, he drew up a completely unworkable plan. He invited Saladin to connect with him by ties of kinship: offering to marry his sister Joanna to Saladin's brother Malek-Adel. The idea is dreamy in the highest degree and cannot satisfy anyone. Even if such a marriage could take place, it would not satisfy Christians; the lands sacred to them would still remain in the hands of the Muslims.

Finally, Richard, who risked losing his crown by staying in Asia, made a treaty with Saladin on September 1, 1192. This world, shameful for the honor of Richard, left behind the Christians a small coastal strip from Jaffa to Tire, Jerusalem remained in the power of the Muslims, the Holy Cross was not returned. Saladin gave the Christians peace for three years. At this time, they could freely come to worship holy places. Three years later, the Christians were obliged to enter into new agreements with Saladin, which, of course, were supposed to be worse than the previous ones. This inglorious world was a heavy accusation against Richard. Contemporaries even suspected him of treason and betrayal; Muslims reproached him for excessive cruelty.

In October 1192, Richard left Syria. For him, however, returning to Europe presented considerable difficulties, since he had enemies everywhere. After much hesitation, he decided to land in Italy, from where he planned to make his way to England. But in Europe, he was guarded by all the enemies, whom he had made a lot of. Near Vienna in the Duchy of Austria, he was recognized. By order of Leopold V, he was captured by the knight Georg Roppelt and imprisoned in Dürnstein Castle, where he was kept for about two years. Only under the influence of the pope and the strong excitement of the English nation, he received freedom. For his freedom, England paid Leopold V up to 23 tons of silver.

Fourth Crusade

Soon, Pope Innocent III began to preach a new 4th crusade. The fiery preacher Fulk of Negli persuaded Count Thibaut of Champagne, Louis of Blois and Chartres, Simon of Montfort and many knights to accept the cross. In addition, Count Baldwin of Flanders and his brothers, Eustachius and Heinrich, made a vow to go to the Holy Land. Count Thibaut soon died, but Boniface of Montferrat also took part in the crusade.

While the crusaders were about to sail to Egypt, in the summer of 1201, Tsarevich Alexei, the son of the Byzantine emperor Isaac Angelos, who was deposed and blinded in 1196, arrived in Italy. He asked the pope and the Hohenstaufen for help against his uncle, the usurper Alexei III. Philip of Swabia was married to the sister of Tsarevich Alexei, Irina, and supported his request. Intervention in the affairs of the Byzantine Empire promised great benefits to the Venetians; therefore, Doge Enrico Dandolo also took the side of Alexei, who promised the Crusaders a generous reward for their help. The crusaders, having taken the city of Zadar for the Venetians in November 1202 (in exchange for underpaid money for transportation), sailed to the East, in the summer of 1203 they landed on the banks of the Bosphorus and began to storm Constantinople. After several setbacks, Emperor Alexei III fled, and the blind Isaac was again proclaimed emperor, with his son co-emperor.



Soon strife began between the crusaders and Alexei, who was unable to fulfill his promises. Already in November of the same year, this led to hostilities. On January 25, 1204, a new revolution in Constantinople overthrew Alexei IV and elevated Alexei V (Murzufla) to the throne. The people were dissatisfied with the new taxes and the taking away of church treasures to pay the agreed reward to the crusaders. Isaac is dead; Alexei IV and Kanabus, who had been chosen by the emperor, were strangled on the orders of Murzufla. The war with the Franks was unsuccessful even under the new emperor. On April 12, 1204, the crusaders took Constantinople, and many monuments of art were destroyed. Alexei V and Theodore Laskaris, son-in-law of Alexei III, fled (the latter to Nicaea, where he established himself), and the victors formed the Latin Empire. For Syria, the immediate consequence of this event was the diversion of the western knights from there. In addition, the power of the Franks in Syria was weakened by the struggle between Bohemond of Antioch and Leo of Armenia. In April 1205, King Amalrich of Jerusalem died; Cyprus was given to his son Hugo, and the crown of Jerusalem was inherited by Mary of Jerusalem, daughter of Margrave Conrad of Montferrat and Elizabeth. For her infancy, Jean I Ibelin ruled. In 1210 Mary Iolanthe was given in marriage to the brave John of Brienne. With the Muslims, the crusaders lived at that time for the most part in peace, which was very beneficial to Almelik-Aladil: thanks to him, he strengthened his power in Asia Minor and Egypt. In Europe, the success of the 4th Crusade revived crusading zeal again.

Children's Crusade (1212)

In 1212, the so-called Children's Crusade took place, an expedition led by a young seer named Stephen, who inspired the faith in French and German children that with his help, as poor and devoted servants of the Lord, they could restore Jerusalem to Christianity. Children went to the south of Europe, but many of them did not even reach the shores mediterranean sea and died along the way. Some historians believe that the Children's Crusade was a provocation arranged by slave traders in order to sell the participants in the campaign into slavery. In May 1212, when the German people's army passed through Cologne, there were about twenty-five thousand children and adolescents in its ranks, heading to Italy in order to reach Palestine by sea from there. In the chronicles of the 13th century, this campaign is mentioned more than fifty times, which was called the “children's crusade”. The crusaders boarded ships in Marseilles and partly died from the storm, partly, as they say, the children were sold into Egypt into slavery. A similar movement swept through Germany, where the boy Nikolai gathered a crowd of children of about 20 thousand people. Most of them died or scattered along the way (especially many of them died in the Alps), but some reached Brindisi, from where they were supposed to return; most of them also died. Meanwhile, the English king John, the Hungarian king Andras and, finally, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, who accepted the cross in July 1215, responded to the new call of Innocent III. The start of the crusade was scheduled for June 1, 1217.

Pope Gregory X tried, but without success, to organize a new crusade. Many promised to go to the Holy Land (including Rudolf of Habsburg, Philip of France, Edward of England, Jaime of Aragon and others), but no one fulfilled the promise. Baibars died in 1277, and the struggle for his inheritance began. There were troubles among Christians as well. In 1267, with the death of King Hugo II of Jerusalem (son of Henry I of Cyprus), the male line of the Lusignans ceased; power passed to Hugh III, Prince of Antioch. Mary of Antioch, believing herself heir to the crown of Jerusalem, yielded her claims to Charles of Anjou, who took possession of Acre and demanded to be recognized as king. Hugh III died in 1284; in Cyprus he was succeeded by his son John, but he died already in 1285. His brother Henry II expelled the Sicilians from Acre and received the crowns of Cyprus and Jerusalem. Meanwhile, hostilities against the Muslims resumed. Sultan Calaun took Markab, Maracia, Laodicea, Tripoli (Bohemond VII died in 1287). The crusading sermon no longer produced the former effect in the West: the monarchs, under the influence of the crusades themselves, lost faith in the possibility of further successful struggle for the Holy Sepulcher and lands in the East; the former religious mood weakened, secular aspirations developed, new interests arose. The son of Qalawn, Malik-al-Ashraf, took Acre (May 18, 1291). King Henry left the besieged city and sailed to Cyprus. After Acre fell Tire, Sidon, Beirut, Tortosa; the Christians lost all their conquests on the Syrian coast. The mass of the crusaders died, the rest moved out, mainly to Cyprus. After the fall of Acre, the Johnites also retired to Cyprus. The Templars also moved first to Cyprus, then to France; the Teutons found a new field of action even earlier in the north, among the Prussians (see: The Teutonic Order). The last Crusader outpost on the coast of the Levant, the island of Ruad, was taken by the Mamluks in 1303, after which Europeans never again occupied more territory in the Holy Land until the First World War.

The idea of ​​returning the Holy Land was not, however, finally abandoned in the West. In 1312, Pope Clement V preached a crusade at the Council of Vienne. Several sovereigns made a promise to go to the Holy Land, but no one went. A few years later, the Venetian Marino Sanuto drafted a crusade and presented it to Pope John XXII; but the time of the crusades has passed irrevocably. The Cypriot kingdom, reinforced by the Franks who fled there, retained its independence for a long time. One of its kings, Peter I (1359-1369), traveled all over Europe in order to start a crusade. He managed to conquer and rob Alexandria, but he could not keep it behind him. The wars with Genoa finally weakened Cyprus, and after the death of King James II, the island fell into the hands of Venice: the widow of James, the Venetian Caterina Cornaro, was forced to cede Cyprus to her hometown (1489) after the death of her husband and son. Republic of St. Marka owned the island for almost a century, until the Ottoman Turks recaptured it. Cilician Armenia, whose fate from the time of the first crusade was closely connected with the fate of the crusaders, defended its independence until 1375, when the Mamluk sultan Ashraf subjugated it to his power. Having established themselves in Asia Minor, the Ottoman Turks transferred their conquests to Europe and began to threaten the Christian world with a serious danger, and the West tried to organize crusades against them.


The Crusades had important repercussions throughout Europe. Their unfavorable result was the weakening of the eastern empire, which gave it to the power of the Turks, as well as the death of countless people. But much more significant were the consequences beneficial for Europe. For the East and Islam, the crusades were far from having the significance that belongs to them in the history of Europe: they changed very little in the culture of the Muslim peoples and in their state and social system. The crusades undoubtedly had a certain influence (which, however, should not be exaggerated) on the political and social system of Western Europe: they contributed to the downfall of medieval forms in it. The numerical weakening of the baronial knightly class, which was a consequence of the ebb of knights to the East, which lasted almost continuously for two centuries, made it easier for the royal power to fight against the representatives of the feudal aristocracy who remained in their homeland. The hitherto unprecedented development of trade relations contributed to the enrichment and strengthening of the urban class, which in the Middle Ages was the mainstay of royal power and the enemy of the feudal lords. Then, the crusades in some countries facilitated and accelerated the process of freeing the villans from serfdom: the villans were freed not only as a result of leaving for the Holy Land, but also by redeeming freedom from the barons, who needed money when going on a crusade and therefore willingly entered into such deals. Representatives of all those groups into which the population of medieval Western Europe was divided, from the largest barons to the masses of simple villans, took part in the crusades; therefore, the crusades contributed to the rapprochement of all classes among themselves, as well as the rapprochement of various European nationalities. The Crusades for the first time united in one cause all the social classes and all the peoples of Europe and awakened in them the consciousness of unity.



On the other hand, bringing the various peoples of Western Europe into close contact, the crusades helped them to understand their national characteristics. By bringing Western Christians into close contact with the foreign and heterodox peoples of the East (Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and so on), the Crusades contributed to the weakening of tribal and religious prejudices. Having closely familiarized themselves with the culture of the East, with the material situation, customs and religion of Muslims, the crusaders learned to see in them themselves people like that began to appreciate and respect their opponents. Those whom they first considered semi-savage barbarians and rude pagans turned out to be culturally superior to the crusaders themselves. The Crusades left an indelible mark on the knightly class; war, which previously served the feudal lords only as a means to achieve selfish goals, acquired a new character in the crusades: the knights shed their blood for ideological and religious motives. The ideal of a knight as a fighter for the highest interests, a fighter for truth and religion, was formed precisely under the influence of the Crusades. The most important consequence of the Crusades was the cultural influence of the East on Western Europe. From the contact in the East of Western European culture with Byzantine and especially Muslim culture, extremely beneficial consequences for the former emerged. In all areas of material and spiritual life, in the era of the Crusades, either direct borrowings from the East are encountered, or phenomena that owe their origin to the influence of these borrowings and those new conditions in which Western Europe then became.

During the Crusades, seafaring reached unprecedented development: most of the crusaders went to the Holy Land by sea; Almost the entire vast trade between Western Europe and the East was carried out by the sea route. The main figures in this trade were Italian merchants from Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi and other cities. Lively trade relations brought to the West. Europe a lot of money, and this, together with the development of trade, led to the decline in the West of subsistence farming and contributed to the economic upheaval that is seen at the end of the Middle Ages. Relations with the East brought to the West many useful objects, until then either not known there at all, or were rare and expensive. Now these products began to be brought in in greater quantities, became cheaper and came into general use. So the carob tree, saffron, apricot (Damascus plum), lemon, pistachio (the very words denoting many of these plants are Arabic) were transferred from the East. Sugar began to be imported on a large scale, and rice became widely used. Works of a highly developed oriental industry were also imported in significant quantities - paper fabrics, chintz, muslin, expensive silk fabrics (satin, velvet), carpets, jewelry, paints, and the like. Acquaintance with these items and with the way they were made led to the development of similar industries in the West (in France, those who made carpets according to oriental patterns were called "Saracens"). From the East, many items of clothing and home comforts were borrowed, which bear evidence of their origin in the very names (Arabic) (skirt, burnus, alcove, sofa), some weapons (crossbow) and the like.



A significant number of oriental, predominantly Arabic words, which entered the Western languages ​​during the era of the Crusades, usually indicates a borrowing of what is denoted by these words. These are (other than those mentioned above) Italian. dogana, fr. douane - customs - admiral, talisman, etc. The Crusades introduced Western scientists to Arabic and Greek science (for example, to Aristotle). Geography made especially a lot of acquisitions at this time: the West became closely acquainted with a number of countries that were little known before; the wide development of trade relations with the East made it possible for Europeans to penetrate into such remote and then little-known countries as Central Asia (travels of Plano Carpini, Wilhelm of Rubruk, Marco Polo). Mathematics, astronomy, natural sciences, medicine, linguistics, and history also made significant progress then. In European art since the era of the Crusades, a certain influence of Byzantine and Muslim art has been noticed.


Arabesque
Such borrowings can be traced in architecture (horseshoe-shaped and complex arches, shamrock-shaped arches and pointed, flat roofs), in sculpture (“arabesques” - the very name indicates borrowing from the Arabs), in artistic crafts. Poetry, spiritual and secular crusades provided rich material. Strongly influencing the imagination, they developed it among Western poets; they introduced Europeans to the treasures of the poetic creativity of the East, from where a lot of poetic material and many new plots passed to the West. In general, the acquaintance of Western peoples with new countries, with political and political public forms, with a multitude of new phenomena and products, with new forms in art, with different religious and scientific views, should have tremendously broadened the mental horizons of Western peoples, imparted to them an unprecedented breadth. Western thought began to break free of the vise in which the Catholic Church had until then held all spiritual life, science and art. The authority of the Roman Catholic Church was greatly undermined by the failure of those aspirations and the collapse of the hopes with which she led the West into the crusades. The extensive development, under the influence of the Crusades and through the Syrian Christians, of trade and industry contributed to the economic prosperity of the countries that took part in this movement, and gave scope to various worldly interests, and this further undermined the building of the medieval church and its ascetic ideals. By bringing the West closer to the new culture, making available to it the treasures of thought and artistic creativity of the Greeks and Muslims, developing worldly tastes and views, the Crusades prepared the so-called Renaissance, which chronologically directly adjoins them and is largely their consequence. In this way, the crusades indirectly contributed to the development of a new direction in the spiritual life of mankind and prepared, in part, the foundations of a new European civilization.

There was also an increase in European trade: due to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the domination of Italian merchants in the Mediterranean began.

On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II delivered a sermon to those gathered at the cathedral in the French city of Clermont. He called on the audience to take part in a military expedition and free Jerusalem from the "infidels" - the Muslims, who in 638 conquered the city. As a reward, future crusaders were given the opportunity to atone for their sins and increase their chances of getting into paradise. The desire of the pope to lead a charitable cause coincided with the desire of his listeners to be saved - this is how the era of the Crusades began.

1. The main events of the Crusades

Capture of Jerusalem in 1099. Miniature from the manuscript of William of Tyre. XIII century

On July 15, 1099, one of the key events of the event, which would later become known as the First Crusade, took place: the crusader troops, after a successful siege, took Jerusalem and began to exterminate its inhabitants. Most of the Crusaders who survived this battle returned home. Those who remained formed four states in the Middle East - the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch, the county of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Subsequently, eight more expeditions were sent against the Muslims of the Middle East and North Africa. For the next two centuries, the flow of crusaders into the Holy Land was more or less regular. However, many of them did not stay in the Middle East, and the states of the crusaders experienced a constant shortage of defenders.

In 1144, the county of Edessa fell, and the goal of the Second Crusade was the return of Edessa. But during the expedition, plans changed - the crusaders decided to attack Damascus. The siege of the city failed, the campaign ended in nothing. In 1187, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria took Jerusalem and many other cities of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the richest of them - Acre (modern Acre in Israel). During the Third Crusade (1189-1192), which was led by King Richard the Lionheart of England, Acre was returned. It remained to return Jerusalem-lim. At that time, it was believed that the keys to Jerusalem were in Egypt and therefore the conquest should begin with it. This goal was pursued by the participants of the Fourth, Fifth and Seventh campaigns. During the Fourth Crusade, Christian Constantinople was conquered, during the Sixth, Jerusalem was returned - but not for long. Campaign after campaign ended unsuccessfully, and the desire of Europeans to participate in them weakened. In 1268 the principality of Antioch fell, in 1289 the county of Tripoli fell, in 1291 the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Acre.

2. How campaigns changed attitudes towards war

Norman horsemen and archers at the Battle of Hastings. Fragment of a tapestry from Bayeux. 11th century Wikimedia Commons

Before the First Crusade, the conduct of many wars could be approved by the church, but none of them was called sacred: even if the war was considered just, participation in it was harmful to the salvation of the soul. So, when in 1066 at the battle of Hastings the Normans defeated the army of the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold II, the Norman bishops imposed a penance on them. Now, participation in the war was not only not considered a sin, but allowed to atone for past sins, and death in battle practically guaranteed the salvation of the soul and provided a place in paradise.

This new attitude towards war is illustrated by the history of the monastic order that arose shortly after the end of the First Crusade. At first, the main duty of the Templars - not just monks, but monk-knights - was to protect Christian pilgrims who went to the Holy Land from robbers. However, very quickly their functions expanded: they began to protect not only pilgrims, but also the Kingdom of Jerusalem itself. The Templars passed many castles in the Holy Land; thanks to the generous gifts of Western European Crusade supporters, they had enough funds to keep them in good condition. Like other monks, the Templars took vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, but, unlike members of other monastic orders, they served God by killing enemies.

3. How much did it cost to participate in the hike

Gottfried of Bouillon crosses the Jordan. Miniature from the manuscript of William of Tyre. XIII century Bibliothèque nationale de France

For a long time it was believed that the main reason for participating in the Crusades was a thirst for profit: allegedly, in this way, the younger brothers, deprived of their inheritance, corrected their position at the expense of the fabulous riches of the East. Modern historians reject this theory. Firstly, among the crusaders there were many rich people who left their possessions for many years. Secondly, participation in the Crusades was quite expensive, and almost never brought profit. The costs corresponded to the status of the participant. So, the knight had to fully equip himself and his companions and servants, as well as feed them during the entire journey there and back. The poor hoped for the opportunity to earn money on the campaign, as well as for alms from the more wealthy crusaders and, of course, for booty. What was stolen in a major battle or after a successful siege was quickly spent on provisions and other necessary things.

Historians have calculated that a knight who gathered for the First Crusade had to collect an amount equal to his income for four years, and the whole family often took part in the collection of these funds. I had to mortgage, and sometimes even sell my possessions. For example, Gottfried of Bouillon, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, was forced to lay a family nest - Bouillon Castle.

Most of the surviving crusaders returned home empty-handed, unless, of course, you count the relics from the Holy Land, which they then donated to local churches. However, participation in the Crusades greatly raised the prestige of the whole family and even its next generations. A bachelor crusader who returned home could count on a profitable party, and in some cases this made it possible to correct the shaken financial situation.

4. What did the Crusaders die from?

Death of Frederick Barbarossa. Miniature from the Saxon World Chronicle manuscript. Second half of the 13th century Wikimedia Commons

It is difficult to calculate how many crusaders died in the campaigns: the fates of very few participants are known. For example, of the companions of Conrad III, King of Germany and leader of the Second Crusade, more than a third did not return home. They died not only in battle or subsequently from their wounds, but also from disease and hunger. During the First Crusade, the shortage of provisions was so severe that it came to cannibalism. Kings also had a hard time. For example, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa drowned in a river, Richard the Lionheart and King Philip II Augustus of France barely survived a serious illness (apparently, a type of scurvy), from which hair and nails fell out. Another French king, Saint Louis IX, had such severe dysentery during the Seventh Crusade that he had to cut out the seat of his pants. And during the Eighth Campaign, Louis himself and one of his sons died.

5. Did women participate in campaigns

Ida Austrian. Fragment of the genealogical tree of the Babenbergs. 1489-1492 years Participated with her own army in the Crusade of 1101.
Stift Klosterneuburg/Wikimedia Commons

Yes, although their number is difficult to count. It is known that in 1248, on one of the ships that carried the crusaders to Egypt during the Seventh Crusade, there were 42 women for 411 men. Some women participated in the Crusades with their husbands; some (usually widows, who enjoyed relative freedom in the Middle Ages) traveled by themselves. Like men, they went on campaigns to save their souls, pray at the Holy Sepulcher, look at the world, forget about domestic troubles, and also become famous. Poor or impoverished women during the expedition earned their living, for example, as laundresses or lice seekers. In the hope of earning God's favor, the crusaders tried to maintain chastity: extramarital affairs were punished, and prostitution, apparently, was less common than in the usual medieval army.

Women took an active part in the fighting. One source mentions a woman who was killed by gunfire during the siege of Acre. She participated in filling the moat: this was done in order to roll up the siege tower to the walls. Dying, she asked to throw her body into the ditch in order to help the crusaders besieging the city in death. Arab sources mention female crusaders who fought in armor and on horseback.

6. What board games did the Crusaders play?

Crusaders play dice near the walls of Caesarea. Miniature from the manuscript of William of Tyre. 1460s DIOMEDIA

Board games, which were almost always played for money, were one of the main entertainments of both aristocrats and commoners in the Middle Ages. The crusaders and settlers of the crusader states were no exception: they played dice, chess, backgammon and windmill (a logic game for two players). According to the author of one of the chronicles, William of Tire, King Baldwin III of Jerusalem liked to play dice more than befits royal honor. The same Wilhelm accused Raymond, prince of Antioch, and Joscelin II, count of Edessa, that during the siege of the castle of Shaizar in 1138 they only did what they played dice, leaving their ally, the Byzantine emperor John II , to fight one, - and in the end, Shaizar could not be taken. The consequences of the games could be much more serious. During the siege of Antioch in 1097-1098, two crusaders, a man and a woman, played dice. Taking advantage of this, the Turks made an unexpected sortie out of the city and took both prisoners. The severed heads of the unfortunate players were then thrown over the wall into the camp of the crusaders.

But the games were considered unholy business - especially when it came to holy war. King Henry II of England, having gathered in the Crusade (as a result, he never took part in it), forbade the crusaders to swear, wear expensive clothes, indulge in gluttony and play dice (in addition, he forbade women to participate in campaigns, for except for laundresses). His son, Richard the Lionheart, also believed that games could interfere with the successful outcome of the expedition, so he set strict rules: no one had the right to lose more than 20 shillings in a day. True, this did not concern the kings, and the commoners had to receive a special permit for the right to play. The rules that limited the games were also among members of the monastic orders - the Templars and the Hospitallers. The Templars could only play at the mill and only for fun, not for money. Hospitallers were strictly forbidden to play dice - "even at Christmas" (apparently, some used this holiday as an excuse to relax).

7. With whom did the Crusaders fight?

Albigensian Crusade. Miniature from the manuscript "Great French Chronicle". Mid 14th century The British Library

From the very beginning of their military expeditions, the crusaders attacked not only Muslims and fought battles not only in the Middle East. The first campaign began with mass beatings of Jews in northern France and Germany: some were simply killed, others were offered the choice of death or conversion to Christianity (many preferred suicide rather than death at the hands of the crusaders). This did not contradict the idea of ​​the Crusades - most of the crusaders did not understand why they had to fight against some infidels (Muslims) and spare other infidels. Violence against the Jews accompanied other crusades. For example, during the preparations for the third pogrom, we took place in several cities in England - more than 150 Jews died in York alone.

From the middle of the XII century, the popes began to declare Crusades not only against Muslims, but also against pagans, heretics, Orthodox and even Catholics. For example, the so-called Albigensian Crusades in the southwest of modern France were directed against the Cathars, a sect that did not recognize the Catholic Church. Their Catholic neighbors stood up for the Cathars - they basically fought with the crusaders. So, in 1213, King Pedro II of Aragon died in a battle with the Crusaders, who was nicknamed the Catholic for his success in the fight against the Muslims. And in the "political" Crusades in Sicily and southern Italy, the enemies of the crusaders from the very beginning were Catholics: the pope accused them of behaving "worse than infidels" because they did not obey his orders.

8. What was the most unusual hike

Frederick II and al-Kamil. Miniature from the manuscript of Giovanni Villani "New Chronicle". 14th century Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana / Wikimedia Commons

Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II vowed to take part in the Crusade, but he was in no hurry to fulfill it. In 1227, he finally sailed for the Holy Land, but fell seriously ill and turned back. For breaking his vow, Pope Gregory IX immediately excommunicated him from the church. And even a year later, when Friedrich boarded the ship again, the pope did not cancel the punishment. At this time, internecine wars were going on in the Middle East, which began after the death of Saladin. His nephew al-Kamil entered into negotiations with Friedrich, hoping that he would help him in the fight against his brother al-Mu'azzam. But when Frederick finally recovered and sailed again to the Holy Land, al-Muazzam died - and al-Kamil's help was no longer needed. Nevertheless, Frederick succeeded in persuading al-Kamil to return Jerusalem to the Christians. The Muslims had the Temple Mount with Islamic shrines - the "Dome of the Rock" and the al-Aqsa mosque. This treaty was achieved in part because Frederick and al-Kamil spoke the same language, both literally and figuratively. Frederick grew up in Sicily, most of whose population was Arabic-speaking, spoke Arabic himself and was interested in Arabic science. In correspondence with al-Kamil, Friedrich asked him questions on philosophy, geometry and mathematics. The return of Jerusalem to Christians through secret negotiations with the "infidels", and not open battle, and even an excommunicated crusader, seemed suspicious to many. When Frederick came from Jerusalem to Acre, he was pelted with giblets.

Sources

• Brundage J. Crusades. Holy Wars of the Middle Ages.
• Luchitska S. Image of the Other. Muslims in the Chronicles of the Crusades.
• Philips J. Fourth Crusade.
• Flory J. Bohemond of Antioch. Fortune knight.
• Hillenbrand K. Crusades. View from the East. Muslim perspective.
• Asbridge T. Crusades. Wars of the Middle Ages for the Holy Land.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Theme: Knighthood and the Crusades

Introduction

The Middle Ages is usually called the period from I century. BC. according to the XIV century. AD This era has no clear time limits, and historians define the time frame of this period in different ways.

Opinions about the origin of chivalry are quite different: some attribute the emergence of chivalry to Homer and ancient Hellas, others to the early Middle Ages.

A lot of literature and Internet sites are devoted to this topic. But the opinions of historians of different times are different.

In Soviet historiography, the opinion was more often held about the almost complete failure of chivalry. The author's main argument was usually "the monstrous weight of armor" in which it is impossible to fight. If a knight was sitting on a horse, then he was still worth something as a fighter, but as soon as he was thrown off, he could not fight.

Modern domestic and foreign historiography considers chivalry to be the strongest force in Europe. Rare modern historians consider chivalry untenable and cite the Battle of the Ice and other battles in the Baltic as an example.

1. Chivalry

1.1 Chivalry in the history of western and central Europe

Chivalry is a special privileged social stratum of medieval society. Traditionally, this concept is associated with the history of the countries of Western and Central Europe, where in the heyday of the Middle Ages, in fact, all secular feudal warriors belonged to chivalry. But more often this term is used in relation to medium and small feudal lords, as opposed to the nobility. The 9th and 10th centuries were harsh times in the life of all countries of Western Europe. None of them was a cohesive strong whole. France, Germany, Italy were divided into thousands, and even tens of thousands of small and large estates, the owners of which - dukes, counts, barons - were almost independent sovereigns of their estates. They did judgment and reprisals against the serfs and free population of their lands, disposing of their life and death, imposed taxes and taxes on them, gathered troops, declared war and made peace. The peasants, of course, were not able to carry out horse service, and therefore it was carried by vassals who received land from their lord under the condition of military service. Such armed riders, who were obliged to appear at the request of their lord on a horse in heavy armor and accompanied by a certain number of foot and horse soldiers recruited from dependent people of their estate, bore the name of knights.

At this time, conditional forms of feudal landownership became widespread, first for life, later hereditary. When land was transferred to a feud, its complainant became a signor (suzerain), and the recipient became a vassal of the latter, which involved military service (obligatory military service did not exceed 40 days a year) and the performance of some other duties in favor of the seigneur. These included monetary "assistance" in the event of a son's knighting, the wedding of his daughter, the need to ransom a seigneur who was captured. According to custom, the vassals participated in the court of the lord, were present in his council. The ceremony of registration of vassal relations was called homage, and the oath of allegiance to the lord was called foie. If the size of the land received for the service allowed, the new owner, in turn, transferred part of it as fiefs to his vassals. This is how a multi-stage system of vassalage ("suzerainty", "feudal hierarchy", "feudal ladder") developed from the supreme overlord to the knights who did not have their own vassals. For the continental countries of Western Europe, the rules of vassal relations reflected the principle "the vassal of my vassal is not my vassal", while, for example, in England, direct vassal dependence of all feudal landowners on the king was introduced with compulsory service in the royal army.

The hierarchy of vassal relations repeated the hierarchy of land holdings and determined the principle of the formation of the military militia of the feudal lords. So, along with the establishment of feudal relations, the formation of chivalry as a service military-feudal class, which flourished in the 11th-14th centuries, went on. Military affairs became its main social function. The military profession gave rights and privileges, determined special estate views, ethical norms, traditions, and cultural values.

The military duties of the knights included protecting the honor and dignity of the suzerain, and most importantly, his land from encroachment both by neighboring feudal rulers in internecine wars and by troops of other states in the event of an external attack. In the context of civil strife, the line between defending one's own possessions and seizing foreign lands was rather shaky, and a champion of justice in words often turned out to be an invader in deed, not to mention participation in conquest campaigns organized by the royal government, such as, for example, numerous campaigns of German emperors in Italy, or by the Pope himself, like the Crusades.

1.2 Knight's army and its weapons

The knightly army in those days, when there was no gunpowder and firearms, was a powerful, hard to crush force. Combat armor made the knight almost invulnerable. Mail with mittens and a hauberg tightly fitted the body, reaching to the very knees, leggings covered his legs, a helmet (tophelm), worn over a ringed hood, protected him from enemy blows to the head. To repel blows, a wooden shield upholstered in leather was used, in the middle of which there was a plaque made of gilded iron, and to attack the enemy - a wide, short sword with a flat handle, which was attached to the belt and a long spear with an iron tip. The infantry and arrows tried to kill the horses in order to dismount the horsemen in this way, but the knights always had a fresh horse in reserve. They never went to battle alone, but always took one or two squires with them, who remained behind the battle line during the fights with two or three horses and spare weapons. These squires were recruited either from dependent people or from knightly sons who had not yet received the rank of knights. Its weapons and tactics corresponded to military tasks, the scale of military operations and the technical level of its time. The knightly army consisted of detachments that were built in a “wedge” in battle, that is, in such a way that no more than 5 people entered the tip of the column - in the 1st row, and then went 2 rows of 7 - then rows of 9, 11, 13 human; as for the rest of the knightly cavalry, it lined up in a regular quadrangle. The purpose of the wedge was to break through the closed formation of the enemy, and then fight each one individually.

Feudal wars did not exhaust the social role of chivalry. Under the conditions of feudal fragmentation, with the relative weakness of royal power, chivalry, fastened by a system of vassalage into a single privileged corporation, protected the feudal lords' property rights to land, the basis of their dominance. A striking example of this is the history of the suppression of the largest peasant uprising in France - Jacquerie (1358-1359), which broke out during the Hundred Years War. At the same time, the knights representing the warring parties, the British and French, united under the banner of the Navarrese king Charles the Evil and turned their weapons against the rebellious peasants, solving a common social problem. Chivalry also influenced the political processes of the era, since the social interests of the feudal class as a whole and the norms of knightly morality to a certain extent restrained centrifugal tendencies and limited the feudal freemen. During the process of state centralization, chivalry (medium and small feudal lords) constituted the main military force of the kings in their opposition to the nobility in the struggle for territorial unification and real power in the state. This was the case, for example, in France in the 14th century, when, in violation of the old norm of vassal law, a significant part of the chivalry was recruited into the army of the king on terms of monetary payment.

Participation in the knightly army required a certain security, and the land award was not only a reward for the service, but also a necessary material condition for its implementation, since the knight acquired both a war horse and expensive heavy weapons (spear, sword, mace, armor, armor for a horse) on own funds, not to mention the maintenance of the corresponding retinue. Knightly armor included up to 200 parts, and the weight of the military equipment of a heavily armed warrior reached 50 kg, not counting the armor intended for the horse. Over time, the complexity and price of armor grew. The training of future warriors was served by the system of knightly training and education. In Western Europe, boys up to the age of 7 grew up in a family and usually remained in female hands, and after 7, his knightly upbringing began. But it did not consist in teaching any sciences. Few people cared about the development of the mind at that time. Few of the knights knew how to write and read: literacy and needlework were considered rather the property of women. Thus, from a very young age, the son of a knight was trained in knightly pursuits: he disappeared in the forest for days on end, learned to handle a falcon, carry it on his arm, tame it on a bird, hunt with dogs, fight with swords and spears. That was the whole science. When he turned 12-13 years old, he was sent to the lord's court, where he completed his education as a page, then as a squire. The lord entrusted him with various branches of his economy: taking care of horses and dogs, meeting his guests, helping to get off the horses, setting the table, and so on. When the youth reached the age of 15, finally, the ceremony of consecrating them to the knights was performed. However, often the initiation took place sometimes later, sometimes earlier. In particular, by the 13th century, the desire to push it back to the 21st century is noticeable. Sometimes it was not there at all, because not everyone could withstand the catastrophic expenses that accompanied this rite.

In the XII-XIII centuries, specific concepts of honor and duty were developed, which idealized chivalry and were used by the ruling class primarily for class purposes: to oppose the "noble" chivalry supposedly intended for dominance, the common people, to strengthen the estate organization of feudal lords, and so on. Devotion to religion, devotion to one's lord, militancy were declared the highest virtues of a knight. In relation to persons below him on the social ladder, the knight was often a rude rapist. In the process of the formation of a feudal centralized monarchy, small and medium chivalry became the main pillar of royal power. Tradition required a knight to be knowledgeable in matters of religion, to know the rules of court etiquette, to possess the "seven knightly virtues": horseback riding, fencing, skillful handling of a spear, swimming, hunting, playing checkers, writing and singing poems in honor of the lady of the heart. The most favorite pleasure was tournaments, which were arranged constantly and everywhere by kings, and sovereign princes, and simple barons, sometimes in order to adequately celebrate some event, the wedding of a daughter, the knighting of a son, the conclusion of peace with the enemy, and sometimes simply, meaning only fun. The news of the upcoming pleasure was quickly spread by rumors and messengers, who were sent with letters to the most noble persons. Then in all the castles hasty preparations began.

1.3 Rite of passage and moral and ethical standards

Not every feudal lord could be a knight at the same time. Knightly dignity was communicated only through a special rite of passage. On the other hand, it was not necessary to own flax in order to become a knight. For special merits, a simple peasant who did not own a feud could also be consecrated to this dignity. However, as a general rule, knighthood was an institution for feudal lords. Knighting symbolized entry into the privileged class, familiarization with its rights and duties, and was accompanied by a special ceremony. According to European custom, the knight initiating the rank struck the initiate with a sword on the shoulder, pronounced the initiation formula, put on a helmet and golden spurs, presented a sword - a symbol of knightly dignity - and a shield with a coat of arms. The initiate, in turn, took an oath of allegiance and an obligation to uphold the code of honor. The ritual of knightly virtues attributed military courage and contempt for danger, pride, a noble attitude towards a woman, attention to members of knightly families in need of help. Avarice was subject to condemnation, betrayal was not forgiven.

But the ideal was not always in harmony with reality. As for predatory campaigns in foreign lands (for example, the capture of Jerusalem or Constantinople during the Crusades), the knightly "exploits" brought grief, ruin, reproach and shame to more than one common people. The brutal exploitation of the peasants, the seizure of booty in feudal wars, the robbery of merchants on the roads were the main sources of knightly income. In an effort to seize foreign lands and wealth, the chivalry took an active part in predatory predatory enterprises - the crusades.

2. Crusades

There were about 54 crusades against the Gentiles. Campaigns in the Holy Land, which had greatest influence on history, there were 7.

2.1 First crusade 1095-1099.

The campaign, led by Duke Gottfried of Bouillon, Count Raymond of Toulouse, Duke Bohemond of Tarentum, Duke Robert of Normandy and Count Robert of Flanders, was the most successful and ended with the conquest of Palestine and the capture of Jerusalem and the foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

According to legend, 100,000 knights and 600,000 foot soldiers took part in the campaign; the Pope in one of his letters speaks of 300,000 people. Chronicles give the same figures for Muslims - for example, in the army of the Mosul Emir Kerbogi, who tried to unblock Antioch besieged by the Crusaders in 1098, there were allegedly 200 thousand people. Modern historians reduce the original crusader army to 4,500 knights, 30,000 infantry and an unknown number of servants. By the time of the siege of Jerusalem in 1099, their number had decreased to 1200 knights and 12 thousand foot soldiers (both due to losses and due to the garrisons left in the previously conquered lands). After the victory at Ascalon over the Egyptians and the dissolution of the crusaders, Gottfried of Bouillon had only 300 knights and 2,000 foot soldiers left in Jerusalem.

In April 1097, the crusaders crossed the Bosphorus. Soon, Nicaea surrendered to the Byzantines, and on July 1, the crusaders defeated Sultan Kilij-Arslan at Dorilei and thus paved their way through Asia Minor. Moving on, the crusaders found precious allies against the Turks in the princes of Lesser Armenia, whom they began to support in every possible way. Baldwin, separated from the main army, established himself in Edessa. For the crusaders, this was very important, given the position of the city, which has since constituted their extreme eastern outpost. In October 1097, the crusaders besieged Antioch, which they managed to take only in June of the following year. In Antioch, the crusaders, in turn, were besieged by the emir of Mosul Kerboga and, suffering hunger, were in great danger; they managed, however, to get out of the city and defeat Kerboga. After a long quarrel with Raymond, Antioch was taken over by Bohemond, who, even before its fall, managed to force the rest of the crusader leaders to agree to the transfer of this important city to him. While disputes were going on over Antioch, an unrest occurred in the army, dissatisfied with the delay, which forced the princes, ending the strife, to move on. The same thing happened later: while the army was rushing towards Jerusalem, the leaders were arguing over each city taken.

On June 7, 1099, the holy city finally opened before the eyes of the crusaders, and on July 15 they took it, and carried out a terrible massacre among the Muslims. Gained power in Jerusalem Gottfried of Bouillon. Having defeated the Egyptian army near Ascalon, he ensured for some time the conquest of the crusaders from this side. After the death of Gottfried, Baldwin the Elder became king of Jerusalem, who handed over Edessa to Baldwin the Younger. In 1101, a second large crusading army from Lombardy, Germany and France came to Asia Minor, led by many noble and wealthy knights; but most of this army was destroyed by the combined forces of several emirs. Meanwhile, the crusaders who had established themselves in Syria (their number increased with new pilgrims who arrived almost continuously) had to wage a hard struggle with the neighboring Muslim rulers. Bohemond was taken prisoner by one of them and ransomed by the Armenians. In addition, since the spring of 1099, the crusaders have been at war with the Greeks because of the coastal cities. In Asia Minor, the Byzantines managed to regain a significant territory; their successes here could have been even more significant if they had not spent their forces in the fight against the crusaders because of the remote Syrian and Cilician regions.

2.2 Second Crusade 1145-1149

The campaign, led by the French king Louis VII and the German king Conrad III, was organized after the conquest of Edessa by the Seljuks. It ended in a terrible defeat of the crusaders, who lost tens of thousands of dead and died of disease and hunger.

Conrad arrived in Constantinople by land (through Hungary), and in mid-September 1147 he sent troops to Asia, but after a clash with the Seljuks at Dorilei, he returned to the sea. The French, frightened by the failure of Conrad, went along the western coast of Asia Minor; then the king and noble crusaders sailed on ships to Syria, where they arrived in March 1148. The rest of the crusaders wanted to break through by land and for the most part died. In April Konrad arrived in Akka; but the siege of Damascus, undertaken together with the Jerusalemites, failed, due to the selfish and short-sighted policy of the latter. Then Conrad, and in the fall of the following year, Louis VII returned to their homeland. Edessa, taken after the death of Imadeddin-Tsenki by the Christians, but soon again taken from them by his son Nureddin, was now forever lost to the crusaders. The 4 decades that followed were a difficult time for Christians in the East. In 1176, the Byzantine emperor Manuel suffered a terrible defeat from the Seljuk Turks at Miriokefal. Nureddin took possession of the lands lying NE from Antioch, took Damascus and became a close and extremely dangerous neighbor for the crusaders. His commander Shirku (of Kurdish origin) established himself in Egypt. The crusaders, as it were, were surrounded by enemies. Upon the death of Shirku, the title of vizier and power over Egypt passed to his famous nephew Saladin, son of Eyyub.

2.3 Third Crusade 1189-1192

It began after the Egyptian sultan Salah ad-din (Saladin) conquered Jerusalem. The campaign was led by the German emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French king Philip II and the English king Richard I the Lionheart. On June 10, 1190, Frederick Barbarossa fell off his horse while crossing the river and choked. His death became a harbinger (and possibly the cause) of future defeat. The victories of Richard the Lionheart extended the existence of the crusader states in Palestine, but Jerusalem could not be returned. However, as a result of the peace agreement, Christian pilgrims were given free access to Jerusalem.

In March 1190, Frederick's troops crossed into Asia, moved to the southeast and with difficulty made their way through all of Asia Minor. When crossing the river Salef the emperor drowned. Part of his army dispersed, many died, the rest came to Antioch, and then to Akka. In the spring of 1191 the kings of France (Philip II Augustus) and English (Richard the Lionheart) and Duke Leopold of Austria arrived. On the way, Richard the Lionheart defeated the Emperor of Cyprus, Isaac Komnenos, who was forced to surrender; he was imprisoned in a Syrian castle, where he was kept to death, and Cyprus fell into the power of the crusaders. The siege of Akka went badly, due to strife between the French and English kings, as well as between Guido of Lusignan and the Margrave Conrad of Montferrat, who, after the death of Guido's wife, claimed the crown of Jerusalem and married Elizabeth, sister and heiress of the deceased Sibylla. Only on July 12, 1191, Akka surrendered after almost two years of siege. Conrad and Guido reconciled after the capture of Akka; the former was recognized as Guido's heir and received Tyre, Beirut and Sidon. Shortly thereafter, Philip II sailed home with part of the French knights, but Hugh of Burgundy, Henry of Champagne and many other noble crusaders remained in Syria. And after the capture of Akka, the crusaders acted sluggishly and did not dare to decisively attack Jerusalem, although they made weak attempts to do so. Finally, in September 1192, a truce was concluded with Saladin: Jerusalem remained in the power of the Muslims, Christians were only allowed to visit St. city. After that, King Richard sailed to Europe. A circumstance that somewhat alleviated the position of the crusaders was the death of Saladin in March 1193: the division of his possessions between his numerous sons became a source of civil strife among the Muslims. Soon, however, Saladin's brother, Almelik-Aladil (El-Melik-el-Adil), came forward, who took possession of Egypt, southern Syria and Mesopotamia and took the title of sultan. After the failure of the third crusade, Emperor Henry VI began to gather in the Holy Land, accepting the cross in May 1195; but he died in September 1197. Some detachments of the crusaders who had set off earlier nevertheless arrived in Akka. Somewhat earlier than the emperor, Henry of Champagne died, who was married to the widow of Conrad of Montferrat and therefore wore the Jerusalem crown. Amalrich of Cyprus (brother of Guido of Lusignan), who married Henry's widow, was now chosen king. Meanwhile, military operations in Syria were not going well; a significant part of the crusaders returned to their homeland. Around this time, the German hospital fraternity of St. Mary, founded during the 3rd crusade, was transformed into a Teutonic spiritual and knightly order.

Salah ad-din (Saladin)

Ruler of Egypt from 1171, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Kurdish by origin. The son of Ayyub ibn Shadi, one of the commanders of the Syrian Sultan Nur-ad-din, who successfully fought the crusaders. In 1164-69 he participated in military campaigns against Egypt. In 1169 he was appointed vizier of Egypt, and in 1171, after the death of the last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, he seized power in Egypt and proclaimed the suzerainty of the Abbasids, receiving from them in 1174 the title of sultan. After the death of Nur-ad-din in 1174-86, he subjugated his Syrian possessions and some possessions of minor Iraqi rulers. On July 3-4, 1187, the army of Salah ad-Din defeated the crusaders near Hittin (Palestine), took Jerusalem on October 2, 1187, then expelled the crusaders from most of Syria and Palestine. The internal policy of Salah ad-din was characterized by the development of the military system, some tax cuts.

2.4 Fourth Crusade 1201-1204

Organized for a campaign against Egypt - the basis of Arab power. A victory in Egypt could rid the Holy Land of the Muslim threat. However, Venice took advantage of the situation to send the crusaders not to Egypt, but to Byzantium. Venice needed this because they had established strong trade ties with Egypt and its ruin by the crusaders would have brought losses to Venice. When the knights were transported by Venetian ships, they were offered to go to Constantinople (the capital of Byzantium), to reach the riches of which the knights had long dreamed of - they were angry that this city was so rich, and its inhabitants imagined themselves to be descendants of the Great Roman Empire. The siege of Constantinople lasted for a long time. In 1204, the crusaders led by Boniface of Montferrat and Enrico Dandolo took Constantinople, and the European territories of the Byzantine Empire were divided among the European feudal lords into several states: Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, Jerusalem. In its place, the Latin Empire arose, which lasted until 1261, when the Greeks regained Constantinople.

As a result, instead of getting rid of the Muslim threat, this crusade was the catalyst for the expansion of Muslim influence in the Mediterranean, since Byzantium was the strongest deterrent against the Saracens.

During the assault on Constantinople, the greatest values ​​of world culture were irretrievably destroyed or lost, since since the fall of the Roman Empire, it was Constantinople that was the only link between ancient culture and modernity, and subsequently the main cultural center Christianity.

Despite the colossal negative consequences inflicted by this crusade; it was a very logical step from the point of view of the organizers, since the destruction of Byzantium was very beneficial for Venice and Rome both politically and economically, and, no less important, from a spiritual point of view (since Orthodoxy, professed for centuries in Byzantium, argued about the discrepancy between the Catholic dogma concerning the secular and spiritual authority of the Pope, the spirit and dogmas of true Christianity).

On April 12, 1204, the crusaders took Constantinople, and many monuments of art were destroyed. Alexei V and Theodore Laskaris, son-in-law of Alexei III, fled (the latter to Nicaea, where he established himself), and the victors formed the Latin empire. For Syria, the immediate consequence of this event was the diversion of the western knights from there. In addition, the power of the Franks in Syria was weakened by the struggle between Bohemond of Antioch and Leo of Armenia.

2.5 Fifth Crusade 1217-1221

Pursued the goal - an attack on Egypt. The Austrian Duke Leopold VI and the King of Hungary Andras II took part in the campaign, but Frederick II, the grandson of Barbarossa, could not take part, which, apparently, had fatal consequences for the enterprise. The Muslims were alarmed by the preparations of the crusaders and entered into negotiations, offering to give up Jerusalem. But their very lucrative offers were rejected. Soon the crusaders became victims of the ambitions of their leaders and the waters of the Nile, which overflowed its banks and flooded their camp.

The case of Innocent III (d. July 1216) was continued by Honorius III. Although Frederick II postponed the Campaign, and John of England died, in 1217 significant detachments of crusaders went to the Holy Land, with Andrew of Hungary, Duke Leopold VI of Austria and Otto of Meran at the head. Military operations were sluggish, and in 1218 King Andrew returned home. Soon, new detachments of crusaders arrived in the Holy Land, led by George of Vidsky and William of Holland (on the way, some of them helped Christians in the fight against the Moors in Portugal). The crusaders decided to attack Egypt, which at that time was the main center of Muslim power in Asia Minor. The Europeans were offered an extremely advantageous peace: the return of Jerusalem to the Christians. But this proposal was rejected by the crusaders. In November 1219, after more than a year of siege, the crusaders took Damietta. The removal from the camp of the crusaders Leopold and King John of Brienne was partly offset by the arrival in Egypt of Louis of Bavaria with the Germans. Part of the crusaders, convinced by the papal envoy Pelagius, moved to Mansura, but the campaign ended in complete failure, and the crusaders concluded a peace with Alcamil in 1221, according to which they received a free retreat, but pledged to clear Damietta and Egnpet in general. Meanwhile, Isabella, daughter of Mary Iolanthe and John of Brienne, married Friedrich II Hohenstaufen. He pledged to the pope to launch the sixth crusade of 1228-1229, which is also known as the campaign of Emperor Frederick

2.6 Sixth Crusade 1228-1229

The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick II Hohenstaufen, the grandson of Barbarossa, who was critical of religion and called Christ, Moses and Mohammed the three great deceivers, headed. He preferred to believe only in what could be proved by common sense and the logic of things. Frederick achieved his goal not by war, but by diplomacy: he managed to negotiate with the Muslims and conclude an agreement under which they gave him Jerusalem, because they did not want to fight the crusaders in the face of a new formidable enemy - the Tatar-Mongols. But success was relative: in 1244, the Muslims again captured Jerusalem.

2.7 First Crusade of St. Louis (Seventh Crusade) 1248-1254

Organized and headed by King Louis IX of France (1215-1270). The situation in the Holy Land was critical, the crusader states in Palestine hung in the balance. In August 1248, he went to Egypt at the head of a fleet of hundreds of ships with 35,000 troops. His goal was simple: to land in Egypt, capture the main cities of the country and then exchange them for territories captured by the Muslims in the Holy Land. Initially, he was successful. Capturing the fortified port city of Damietta, he launched an offensive against Cairo. But the Nile flooded, stopping the movement of the army for several months. In addition, the path to Cairo was blocked by the most powerful fortress of Al-Mansura, standing on a narrow peninsula near a wide branch of the Nile. The months-long siege of the fortress ended in disaster. The Muslims defeated the crusaders, burned the fleet that supplied them with food, in addition, an epidemic of pestilence began in the crusader camp, as the waters of the Nile carried past thousands of bloated corpses. The case perished, and Louis, himself infected with the disease, had to retreat to Damietta, but was captured along with the miserable remnants of his army, for the release of which he had to pay a huge ransom.

In the summer of 1249 the king landed in Egypt. The Christians occupied Damietta, and in December they reached Mansoura. In February of the following year, Robert, recklessly breaking into this city, died; a few days later the Muslims nearly took the Christian camp. When the new sultan Eyub (d. late 1249) arrived in Mansura, the Egyptians cut off the retreat of the crusaders; famine broke out in the Christian camp. In April, the Muslims inflicted on the Crusaders complete defeat; the king himself was taken prisoner and bought his freedom by the return of Damietta and the payment of a huge sum. Most of the crusaders returned to their homeland; Louis stayed in the Holy Land for another four years, but could not achieve any serious results. Among the Christians, despite the extremely dangerous situation, endless strife continued: the Templars were at enmity with the Johnites, the Genoese - with the Venetians and Pisans (due to trade rivalry).

Conclusion

By the end of the XV century. the decline of chivalric ideology and chivalry began. Then gunpowder was invented. At first, it was used only to blow up the walls of fortresses. As a result, mighty knightly castles are no longer invulnerable. Then the use of gunpowder led both to a change in the methods of war and to a decrease in the role of cavalry. Chivalry ceases to play an important role in the life of society. At the same time, the knightly ideology also declined.

However, for many centuries, chivalry was an important life ideal of medieval society, and the chivalrous way of life and behavior was the most important moral standard of the medieval aristocracy. Knighthood, like other classes, was a necessary element of medieval society, providing the stability of a social structure in which "warring" were as important as "praying" or "working".

List of sources

1.www.withhistory.com

2. encyclopedic dictionary of the historian-M.: Pedagogy-Press, 1999.

3. History of the Knights Templar, Marion Melville, "Eurasia", St. Petersburg 2000

4.www.northrp.net

Crusades

Crusader states 1100

Similar Documents

Background and the beginning of the crusades. Chivalry as a privileged social stratum in Europe in the Middle Ages. Seven wonders of the world as famous monuments ancient world. The Battle of the Neva as a battle between Russian and Swedish troops on the Neva River.

test, added 01/14/2010


Causes of the Crusades - a series of military campaigns in the Middle East undertaken by Western European Christians in order to liberate the Holy Land from Muslims. Chronology of the crusades, their leaders and results, influence on the authority of the church.

abstract, added 10/16/2014


Background and reason for the crusades to the East and West, their course and order. The influence of the crusaders' campaigns on European trade, on the authority of the church, culture, and the development of historiography. Results and consequences of the Crusades. The fall of the crusaders.

abstract, added 01/22/2011


The concept and historical significance of the crusades as a series of military campaigns in the XI-XV centuries. from Western Europe against Muslims. Background and stages of the first two campaigns, the role of the Catholic Church in this process. Causes of the defeat of the Christian troops.

presentation, added 04/22/2015


Identification of the main reasons for the beginning of the crusades, their true and main idea and purpose. All aspects of the relationship and mutual influence of the Muslim and Christian worlds before, during and after the crusades, directions and main stages of their research.

term paper, added 05/10/2012


The development of the Middle Ages of the XI-XIII centuries. Description of the life and costume of this era. Conditions for the formation of worldview and traditions at this time. The role of the crusades in the formation of ideas, customs, morality of chivalry, the interaction of Western and Eastern traditions.

abstract, added 06/02/2016


Causes and Origins of the Crusades. Formation of the Jerusalem state. Conquest of Byzantium by the crusaders. The main spiritual and knightly orders and awards. The conquest of the island of Cyprus by Western Europeans. The last crusades and their aftermath.

term paper, added 02/09/2010


Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic world in the second half of the 11th century. Pilgrimage to the East. The beginning of the crusades, spiritual and knightly orders. Relations between the Byzantines, Muslims and Crusaders. The meaning and role of the Crusades in the West and East.

term paper, added 03/29/2014


Causes, goals and objectives of the crusades, their nature. The beginning, banners and slogans of the movement. Clermont Cathedral. Campaign of the poor. Religious background and essence of the crusades of the feudal lords, their results. Prerequisites for the creation of the states of the crusaders in the East.

abstract, added 05/15/2015


The concept and definition of chivalry. Knighthood is a social category in Western and Central Europe. The system of knightly education and training. Carolingian military reforms, the birth of a medieval knight. Armsmen, their duties and division into classes.