14.1 Church Reform and the Crusades

The Catholic Church underwent reform and launched Crusades

against Muslims.

The Age of Faith

• Spiritual Revival– Starting in the 900s,

monasteries help bring about a spiritual revival

– Reformers help restore and expand Church power

Founded in 910, this is the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny as it looked in 2004.

Coat of Arms of Cluny Abbey: "Gules two keys in saltire the wards upwards and outwards or overall a sword in pale argent".

Problems in the Church

• Some Church officials marry even though the Church objects

• Some officials practice simony—selling religious offices

• Kings use lay investiture to appoint bishops

• Reformers believe only the Church should appoint bishops

New Religious Orders

• Dominican and Franciscan orders form

• Friars in these orders vow poverty; travel and preach to the poor

• Some new orders for women are founded

Portrait of a Carmelite friar, about 1610, by Peter Paul Rubens

Cathedrals—Cities of God

• Early Cathedrals– Between 800-

1100, churches are built in Romanesque style

– Style includes thick walls and pillars, small windows, round arches

A New Style of Church Architecture

• Gothic style evolves around 1100; term from Germanic tribe, Goths

• Gothic style has large, tall windows for more light; pointed arches

• Churches have stained glass windows, many sculptures

• About 500 Gothic churches are built from 1170 to 1270

Gothic Architecture

The master builders in France, where the Gothic style originated, developed techniques of structural engineering that were key to Gothic architecture:

1. ribbed vaults that supported the roof’s weight

2. flying buttresses that transferred weight to thick, exterior walls

3. pointed arches that framed huge stained glass windows

4. tall spires that seemed to be pointing to heaven

The Crusades: The Beginning

• In 1093, Byzantine emperor asks for help fighting the Turks

• Pope Urban II issues a call for a Crusade—a “holy war”

Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos who asked Pope Urban II for help (left)

Artistic depiction of Pope Urban II (left), and him preaching the First Crusade (right)

Goals of the Crusades

• Pope wants to reclaim Jerusalem and reunite Christianity• Kings use Crusades to send away knights who cause

trouble• Younger sons hope to earn land or win glory by fighting

(although historian Rodney Stark in God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades disagrees with that theory because the first three crusades were led by the heads of the royal families of Europe).

• Later, merchants join Crusades to try to gain wealth through trade.

First Crusade: 1096-1099

• Pope promises Crusaders who die a place in heaven

• First Crusade: three armies gather at Constantinople in 1097

• Crusaders capture Jerusalem in 1099

• Captured lands along coast divided into four Crusader states

Second Crusade: 1147-1148

• Muslims take back Edessa in 1144; Second crusade fails to retake it

• In 1187, Saladin—Muslim leader and Kurdish warrior—retakes Jerusalem

Left: an artistic representation of Saladin

Right: Saladin the Victorious by Gustave Dore

The Third Crusade: 1189-1192

• The Third Crusade was led by three powerful rulers

Richard I of England—”The Lion-Hearted”

Phillip II of FranceFrederick I “Barbarossa” of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany)

The Third Crusade : 1189-1192

• One is Richard the Lion-Hearted—king of England

• The Robin Hood stories and legends often surround Richard I returning from the Third Crusade. 19th-century

portrait of Richard by Merry-Joseph Blondel

The Third Crusade: 1189-1192

• Phillip II of France abandons Crusade after arguing with Richard

• The argument was over Richard breaking off an engagement with Phillip’s sister.

The Third Crusade : 1189-1192

• Frederick I of Germany (Holy Roman Empire) drowns during the journey

Right: A depiction of Frederick I drowning in the Saleph River in Turkey from the Saxon Chronicle.

The Third Crusade : 1189-1192

• In 1192 Richard and Saladin make peace after many battles

• Saladin keeps Jerusalem but allows Christian pilgrims to enter the city

The Crusading Spirit Dwindles:The Later Crusades

• Fourth Crusade (1200-1204)– Crusaders sack the Christian

city Zara and are excommunicated by the pope for it.

– The Venetian leadership keeps their excommunication a secret. Then Crusaders sack Constantinople in 1204

• Two other Crusades strike Egypt, but fail to weaken the Muslims

Looting of Constantinople, painting by Eugene Delacroix, 1840

The Children’s Crusade

• The traditional story says that in 1212 thousands of children possibly die or are enslaved in a failed crusade.

• But these stories are surrounded by legend and fiction. The fact that this really happened is disputed.

The Children’s Crusade by Gustave Doré• This event may very well

merely be a legend embellished over time.

Two Stories about the Children’s Crusade

• Leader: Nicholas• Country: Germany• Purpose: intended to lead a crusade to

convert the Muslims to Christianity by the preaching of children. Nicholas promised a miracle that the waters of the Mediterranean would divide so they could walk to the Holy Land.

• Result: A following of about 7,000 people, both adults and children arrive in Genoa, Italy after preaching a crusade throughout Germany and crossing the Alps. The waters did not divide. The movement continues to Rome but begins to break up. The Pope instructs the group to return home. Nicholas does not survive the return home.

• Leader: Stephen• Country: France• Purpose: He claims Jesus

appeared to him and gave him a letter for the king of France.

• Result: Phillip II, king of France is unimpressed. Stephen, however, continues to preach and tries to lead a group to Marseilles. It seems like many surviving youths returned to their families.

A Spanish Crusade

• Most of Spain controlled by Moors, a Muslim people

• Christians fight Reconquista—drive Muslims from Spain, 1100-1492

• Spain has Inquisition—court to suppress heresy; expels non-Christians

Inquisition scene of people accused of heresy being tortured.

The Effects of the Crusades

• Crusades show power of Church in convincing thousands to fight

• Women who stay home manage the estate and business affairs

• Merchants expand trade, bring back many goods from Southwest Asia

• Failure of later crusades weakens pope and nobles, strengthens kings

• Crusades create lasting bitterness between Muslims and Christians