Crusades briefly describe quite difficult.They were not united by any one military campaign, and continued for two centuries of European history, when Christian knights, commoners and even individual children to go camping in the eastern lands.
Crusades: a brief account of how it all began
A start has been made in the autumn of 1095, when Pope Urban preached his famous sermon.He called on the Christian soldiers to liberate the Holy Land and the Holy Sepulchre, located in Jerusalem and occupied at the time the Muslims.Actually, it was first and foremost a declarative goal of the Crusades.Of course, basically they had more important reasons than just the desire to liberate the Holy Sepulchre.
Crusades: briefly about the prerequisites
Territory Jerusalem and Palestine were in the hands of the Muslims even from the VII century.However, several centuries is not particularly bother the Europeans Christian.The fact that up to the XI century, these lands were under the control of Arab caliphs, who are not only not prevented, but also encouraged travel Christian pilgrims in their Holy Land
.Among other things, it is beneficial to trade and cultural exchange between the two civilizations.However, in 1076, Syria and Palestine were captured by the Seljuk Turks - more barbaric compared to the Arabs the people and less reasonable.Very soon in Europe began to wander rumors about the desecration of the Temple of the Lord.Moreover, the growing power of the Seljuk state was to endanger the safety of Byzantium - the eastern bulwark of Christianity.Thus, the Crusades, to some extent become a defensive reaction of the Europeans.Actually, it requested the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus for help and protection, and anticipated the Crusades.Briefly on the premises of these campaigns, it is also important to mention the fact that they contributed to the economic and political processes within Europe.The feudal struggle resulted in a significant number of landless lords (younger sons), who sought to win a land in the far east countries.The townspeople and peasants also drove these campaigns overall deterioration of the mob (serfdom, and so on. D.)
Bicentennial Campaign religious adventures
First Crusade was launched in 1096.In 1099 Jerusalem was taken, and in the occupied territories were first Crusader state.Over the next two centuries, there were eight campaigns.Often, they were led by the European kings.Perhaps the most famous to the general public is an English king, Richard the Lionheart.Often hikes were predatory nature.With varying degrees of success the Crusaders extended and lost estates knightly orders in Palestine.However, two hundred years of confrontation over the fact that in 1291 fell last knightly fortress on the east of Acre.One of the most important factors was the final defeat of the Crusaders and the rigid policy of constant attempts to impose on local populations alien to them feudal socio-economic system, which caused constant opposition from the latter and deprive the Europeans needed to consolidate the economic base.
