DeCarlo, Carolyn. The Crusades. Part of the Empires in the Middle Ages series. 48p. ISBN 978-1-68048-781-7. Available at 909.07 DEC on the library shelves.
Christianity claims to be a religion of peace, but in its name many atrocities have been committed. During the Middle Ages, Islam had spread and conquered the birthplace of Christianity, and was confronting the Byzantine Empire, heir to the Roman Empire. In Europe, religious revivals emphasized piety and holy war to spread the name of Christ throughout the world.
When the Byzantine Empire requested military help from the Pope to push back against invading Seljuq Turks, which had already conquered Jerusalem and Antioch, the Pope agreed to help. At a Council in 1095, it was agreed to come to the aid of fellow Christians and fight against the Muslims as well as seize the holy places. Thus the First Crusade got started in August 1096, and successfully captured Antioch and Jerusalem, setting up what became the Latin Kingdoms and the Knight orders, such as the Templars and the Knights Hospitallers. These orders in particular were very successful in accumulating money and power, and spread throughout Europe before they were decimated by European kings interested in seizing their assets.
The Second Crusade, in 1145, led by European nobility, failed spectacularly to meet its objectives and made the political situation in the Middle East even worse. The Third Crusade, in 1189, was moderately more successful but failed to accomplish its main goal of capturing Jerusalem, which had fallen back into Muslim hands. Several other crusades took place over the following century, none of them meeting with much success. Despite the horrors of war and the lack of success, the Crusades transformed European society by providing new contacts and opportunities for people, as well as increasing the sharing of knowledge and unifying kingdoms and states. This led the way to European colonization a few centuries later.
Titles in the Empires in the Middle Ages series include:
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