The Crusades Essay, Research Paper

In the beginning of the thirteenth century most people were Roman Catholic. The church

was the center of life and it was very important to them to pilgrimage to the Holy Lands.

By 1212 Christians were not allowed into the Holy Lands. The Moslems controlled those

lands and would not let them in. The crusades were a series of wars, that were fought in

order to attain control over the Holy Lands. Some of the crusades were successful and

some of them were not successful.

The first crusade was led by Pope Urban then second in 1096. It took the over two

years to reach the Holy Lands. They had started with over six-hundred thousand men and

by the time they reached the Holy Lands they were down to a mere twenty-five thousand

men. This was a successful crusade, and they gained control over the Holy Lands for fifty

years.

The Second Crusade took place in 1145 and was led by Louis the Seventh of

France . However, this crusade ended up being unsuccessful because everything just fell

apart for them.

The Third Crusade had many important leaders that started out. King Richard, the

lionhearted, Phil Augustas, and Fredrick Barbossa all helped lead it. However, only

King Richard reached the Holy Lands. The other two unfortunately drowned. King

Richard managed to get a treaty with the Moslems to have a safe passage through the Holy

Lands.

The Children’s crusade took place in 1212, when a twelve year old boy had a

vision that Jesus called him to have a crusade. Thirty-thousand children went, only a few

adults went with them. Many of the children died. When they got to Italy the ships

captains sold them into slavery.

The crusades were very important for many reasons. It brought forth new ideas,

words, and products. Commerce then came from the new products, and money and coins

developed from commerce. There was decline of feudalism and they gained new

knowledge about medicine. There was also a growth of towns and of the middle class.