Chivalry and the Crusades. Abstract: Medieval culture and the Crusades The time of the Crusades

CRUSADES
(1095-1291), a series of military campaigns in the Middle East undertaken by Western European Christians in order to liberate the Holy Land from Muslims. The Crusades were the most important stage in the history of the Middle Ages. All social strata of Western European society were involved in them: kings and commoners, the highest feudal nobility and clergy, knights and servants. People who took the crusader vow had different motives: some sought to get rich, others were attracted by a thirst for adventure, and others were driven solely by religious feelings. The Crusaders sewed red breast crosses onto their clothes; when returning from a campaign, the signs of the cross were sewn onto the back. Thanks to legends, the Crusades were surrounded by an aura of romance and grandeur, knightly spirit and courage. However, stories about gallant crusader knights are replete with exaggerations beyond measure. In addition, they overlook the “insignificant” historical fact that, despite the valor and heroism shown by the crusaders, as well as the appeals and promises of the popes and confidence in the rightness of their cause, Christians were never able to liberate the Holy Land. The Crusades only resulted in Muslims becoming the undisputed rulers of Palestine.
Causes of the Crusades. The crusades began with the popes, who were nominally considered the leaders of all enterprises of this kind. The popes and other instigators of the movement promised heavenly and earthly rewards to all those who would put their lives in danger for the holy cause. The campaign to recruit volunteers was particularly successful due to the religious fervor that reigned in Europe at the time. Whatever their personal motives for participating (and in many cases they played a vital role), the soldiers of Christ were confident that they were fighting for a just cause.
Conquests of the Seljuk Turks. The immediate cause of the Crusades was the growth of the power of the Seljuk Turks and their conquest of the Middle East and Asia Minor in the 1070s. Coming from Central Asia, at the beginning of the century the Seljuks penetrated into Arab-controlled areas, where they were initially used as mercenaries. Gradually, however, they became more and more independent, conquering Iran in the 1040s, and Baghdad in 1055. Then the Seljuks began to expand the borders of their possessions to the west, leading an offensive mainly against the Byzantine Empire. The decisive defeat of the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071 allowed the Seljuks to reach the shores of the Aegean Sea, conquer Syria and Palestine, and take Jerusalem in 1078 (other dates are also indicated). The threat from the Muslims forced the Byzantine emperor to turn to Western Christians for help. The fall of Jerusalem greatly disturbed the Christian world.
Religious motives. The conquests of the Seljuk Turks coincided with a general religious revival in Western Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, which was largely initiated by the activities of the Benedictine monastery of Cluny in Burgundy, founded in 910 by the Duke of Aquitaine, William the Pious. Thanks to the efforts of a number of abbots who persistently called for the purification of the church and the spiritual transformation of the Christian world, the abbey became a very influential force in the spiritual life of Europe. At the same time in the 11th century. the number of pilgrimages to the Holy Land increased. The “Infidel Turk” was portrayed as a desecrator of shrines, a pagan barbarian, whose presence in the Holy Land is intolerable for God and man. In addition, the Seljuks posed an immediate threat to the Christian Byzantine Empire.
Economic incentives. For many kings and barons, the Middle East seemed like a world of great opportunity. Lands, income, power and prestige - all this, they believed, would be the reward for the liberation of the Holy Land. Due to the expansion of the practice of inheritance based on primogeniture, many younger sons of feudal lords, especially in the north of France, could not count on participating in the division of their father's lands. By taking part in the crusade, they could hope to acquire the land and position in society that their older, more successful brothers enjoyed. The Crusades gave peasants the opportunity to free themselves from lifelong serfdom. As servants and cooks, peasants formed the convoy of the Crusaders. For purely economic reasons, European cities were interested in the crusades. For several centuries, the Italian cities of Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa and Venice battled Muslims for dominance over the western and central Mediterranean. By 1087, the Italians had driven the Muslims out of southern Italy and Sicily, founded settlements in North Africa, and took control of the western Mediterranean. They launched sea and land invasions of Muslim territories in North Africa, forcing trade privileges from local residents. For these Italian cities, the Crusades only meant a transfer of military operations from the western Mediterranean to the eastern.
THE BEGINNING OF THE CRUSADES
The beginning of the Crusades was proclaimed at the Council of Clermont in 1095 by Pope Urban II. He was one of the leaders of the Cluny reform and devoted many meetings of the council to discussing the troubles and vices that hindered the church and clergy. On November 26, when the council had already completed its work, Urban addressed a huge audience, probably numbering several thousand representatives of the highest nobility and clergy, and called for a war against infidel Muslims in order to liberate the Holy Land. In his speech, the pope emphasized the sanctity of Jerusalem and the Christian relics of Palestine, spoke of the plunder and desecration to which they were subjected by the Turks, and outlined the numerous attacks on pilgrims, and also mentioned the danger facing Christian brothers in Byzantium. Then Urban II called on his listeners to take up the holy cause, promising everyone who went on the campaign absolution, and everyone who laid down their lives in it - a place in paradise. The pope called on the barons to stop destructive civil strife and turn their ardor to a charitable cause. He made it clear that the crusade would provide the knights with ample opportunities to gain lands, wealth, power and glory - all at the expense of the Arabs and Turks, whom the Christian army would easily deal with. The response to the speech was the shouts of the listeners: “Deus vult!” (“God wants it!”). These words became the battle cry of the crusaders. Thousands of people immediately vowed that they would go to war.
The first crusaders. Pope Urban II ordered the clergy to spread his call throughout Western Europe. Archbishops and bishops (the most active among them was Adhemar de Puy, who took the spiritual and practical leadership of the preparations for the campaign) called on their parishioners to respond to it, and preachers like Peter the Hermit and Walter Golyak conveyed the pope’s words to the peasants. Often the preachers aroused such religious fervor in the peasants that neither their owners nor the local priests could restrain them; they took off in thousands and set off on the road without supplies and equipment, without the slightest idea of ​​the distance and hardships of the journey, in naive confidence, that God and the leaders will take care of both that they do not get lost and their daily bread. These hordes marched across the Balkans to Constantinople, expecting to be treated with hospitality by fellow Christians as champions of a holy cause. However, the local residents greeted them coolly or even with contempt, and then the Western peasants began to loot. In many places, real battles took place between the Byzantines and the hordes from the west. Those who managed to get to Constantinople were not at all welcome guests of the Byzantine Emperor Alexei and his subjects. The city temporarily settled them outside the city limits, fed them and hastily transported them across the Bosporus to Asia Minor, where the Turks soon dealt with them.
1st Crusade (1096-1099). The 1st Crusade itself began in 1096. Several feudal armies took part in it, each with its own commander-in-chief. They arrived in Constantinople by three main routes, by land and sea, during 1096 and 1097. The campaign was led by feudal barons, including Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, Count Raymond of Toulouse and Prince Bohemond of Tarentum. Formally, they and their armies obeyed the papal legate, but in fact they ignored his instructions and acted independently. The crusaders, moving overland, took food and fodder from the local population, besieged and plundered several Byzantine cities, and repeatedly clashed with Byzantine troops. The presence of a 30,000-strong army in and around the capital, demanding shelter and food, created difficulties for the emperor and the inhabitants of Constantinople. Fierce conflicts broke out between the townspeople and the crusaders; At the same time, disagreements between the emperor and the military leaders of the crusaders worsened. Relations between the emperor and the knights continued to deteriorate as the Christians moved east. The crusaders suspected that the Byzantine guides were deliberately luring them into ambushes. The army turned out to be completely unprepared for sudden attacks by enemy cavalry, which managed to hide before the knightly heavy cavalry rushed in pursuit. The lack of food and water aggravated the hardships of the campaign. Wells along the way were often poisoned by Muslims. Those who endured these most difficult trials were rewarded with their first victory when Antioch was besieged and taken in June 1098. Here, according to some evidence, one of the crusaders discovered a shrine - a spear with which a Roman soldier pierced the side of the crucified Christ. This discovery is reported to have greatly inspired the Christians and contributed greatly to their subsequent victories. The fierce war lasted another year, and on July 15, 1099, after a siege that lasted little more than a month, the Crusaders took Jerusalem and put its entire population, Muslims and Jews, to the sword.

Kingdom of Jerusalem. After much debate, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected king of Jerusalem, who, however, unlike his not so modest and less religious successors, chose the unassuming title of “Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.” Godfrey and his successors were given control of a power united only nominally. It consisted of four states: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem itself. The King of Jerusalem had rather conditional rights in relation to the other three, since their rulers had established themselves there even before him, so they fulfilled their vassal oath to the king (if they performed) only in the event of a military threat. Many sovereigns made friends with the Arabs and Byzantines, despite the fact that such a policy weakened the position of the kingdom as a whole. Moreover, the king's power was significantly limited by the church: since the Crusades were carried out under the auspices of the church and nominally led by the papal legate, the highest cleric in the Holy Land, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, was an extremely influential figure there.

Population. The kingdom's population was very diverse. In addition to the Jews, there were many other nations present here: Arabs, Turks, Syrians, Armenians, Greeks, etc. Most of the crusaders came from England, Germany, France and Italy. Since there were more French, the crusaders were collectively called Franks.
Coastal cities. At least ten important centers of commerce and trade developed during this time. Among them are Beirut, Acre, Sidon and Jaffa. In accordance with privileges or grants of powers, Italian merchants established their own administration in coastal cities. Usually they had their own consuls (heads of administration) and judges here, acquired their own coins and a system of weights and measures. Their legislative codes also applied to the local population. As a rule, the Italians paid taxes on behalf of the townspeople to the king of Jerusalem or his governors, but in their daily activities they enjoyed complete independence. Special quarters were allocated for the residences and warehouses of the Italians, and near the city they planted gardens and vegetable gardens in order to have fresh fruits and vegetables. Like many knights, Italian merchants made friends with Muslims, of course, in order to make a profit. Some even went so far as to include sayings from the Koran on coins.
Spiritual knightly orders. The backbone of the crusader army was formed by two orders of chivalry - the Knights Templar (Templars) and the Knights of St. John (Johnnites or Hospitallers). They included predominantly the lower strata of the feudal nobility and the younger scions of aristocratic families. Initially, these orders were created to protect temples, shrines, roads leading to them and pilgrims; provision was also made for the creation of hospitals and care for the sick and wounded. Since the orders of the Hospitallers and Templars set religious and charitable goals along with military ones, their members took monastic vows along with the military oath. The orders were able to replenish their ranks in Western Europe and receive financial assistance from those Christians who were unable to take part in the crusade, but were eager to help the holy cause. Due to such contributions, the Templars in the 12-13th centuries. essentially turned into a powerful banking house that provided financial intermediation between Jerusalem and Western Europe. They subsidized religious and commercial enterprises in the Holy Land and gave loans to the feudal nobility and merchants here in order to obtain them in Europe.
SUBSEQUENT CRUSADES
2nd Crusade (1147-1149). When Edessa was captured by the Muslim ruler of Mosul, Zengi, in 1144 and news of this reached Western Europe, the head of the Cistercian monastic order, Bernard of Clairvaux, convinced the German Emperor Conrad III (reigned 1138-1152) and King Louis VII of France (reigned 1137-1180) to undertake a new crusade. This time, Pope Eugene III issued a special bull on the Crusades in 1145, which contained precisely formulated provisions that guaranteed the families of the crusaders and their property the protection of the church. The forces that were able to attract participation in the campaign were enormous, but due to the lack of cooperation and a well-thought-out campaign plan, the campaign ended in complete failure. Moreover, he gave the Sicilian king Roger II a reason to raid Byzantine possessions in Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea.

3rd Crusade (1187-1192). If Christian military leaders were constantly in discord, then Muslims under the leadership of Sultan Salah ad-din united into a state that stretched from Baghdad to Egypt. Salah ad-din easily defeated the divided Christians, took Jerusalem in 1187 and established control over the entire Holy Land, with the exception of a few coastal cities. The 3rd Crusade was led by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (reigned 1152-1190), the French king Philip II Augustus (reigned 1180-1223) and the English king Richard I the Lionheart (reigned 1189-1199). The German emperor drowned in Asia Minor while crossing a river, and only a few of his warriors reached the Holy Land. Two other monarchs who competed in Europe took their disputes to the Holy Land. Philip II Augustus, under the pretext of illness, returned to Europe to try, in the absence of Richard I, to take away the Duchy of Normandy from him. Richard the Lionheart remained the only leader of the crusade. The exploits he accomplished here gave rise to legends that surrounded his name with an aura of glory. Richard recaptured Acre and Jaffa from the Muslims and concluded an agreement with Salah ad-din on unimpeded access for pilgrims to Jerusalem and some other shrines, but he failed to achieve more. Jerusalem and the former Kingdom of Jerusalem remained under Muslim rule. Richard's most significant and lasting achievement in this campaign was his conquest of Cyprus in 1191, where as a result the independent Kingdom of Cyprus arose, which lasted until 1489.

4th Crusade (1202-1204). The 4th Crusade, announced by Pope Innocent III, was mainly carried out by the French and Venetians. The vicissitudes of this campaign are described in the book of the French military leader and historian Geoffroy Villehardouin, The Conquest of Constantinople - the first lengthy chronicle in French literature. According to the initial agreement, the Venetians undertook to deliver the French crusaders by sea to the shores of the Holy Land and provide them with weapons and provisions. Of the expected 30 thousand French soldiers, only 12 thousand arrived in Venice, who, due to their small numbers, could not pay for the chartered ships and equipment. Then the Venetians proposed to the French that, as payment, they would assist them in an attack on the port city of Zadar in Dalmatia, which was the main rival of Venice in the Adriatic, subject to the Hungarian king. The original plan - to use Egypt as a springboard for an attack on Palestine - was put on hold for the time being. Having learned about the plans of the Venetians, the pope forbade the expedition, but the expedition took place and cost its participants excommunication. In November 1202, a combined army of Venetians and French attacked Zadar and thoroughly plundered it. After this, the Venetians suggested that the French once again deviate from the route and turn against Constantinople in order to restore the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus to the throne. A plausible pretext was also found: the crusaders could count on the emperor giving them money, people and equipment for an expedition to Egypt in gratitude. Ignoring the pope's ban, the crusaders arrived at the walls of Constantinople and returned the throne to Isaac. However, the question of payment of the promised reward hung in the air, and after an uprising occurred in Constantinople and the emperor and his son were removed, hopes for compensation melted away. Then the crusaders captured Constantinople and plundered it for three days starting on April 13, 1204. The greatest cultural values ​​were destroyed, and many Christian relics were plundered. In place of the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire was created, on the throne of which Count Baldwin IX of Flanders was placed. The empire that existed until 1261 of all the Byzantine lands included only Thrace and Greece, where the French knights received feudal appanages as a reward. The Venetians owned the harbor of Constantinople with the right to levy duties and achieved a trade monopoly within the Latin Empire and on the islands of the Aegean Sea. Thus, they benefited the most from the crusade, but its participants never reached the Holy Land. The pope tried to extract his own benefits from the current situation - he lifted the excommunication from the crusaders and took the empire under his protection, hoping to strengthen the union of the Greek and Catholic churches, but this union turned out to be fragile, and the existence of the Latin Empire contributed to the deepening of the schism.

Children's Crusade (1212). Perhaps the most tragic of attempts to return the Holy Land. The religious movement, which originated in France and Germany, involved thousands of peasant children who were convinced that their innocence and faith would achieve what adults could not achieve by force of arms. The religious fervor of the teenagers was fueled by their parents and parish priests. The pope and the higher clergy opposed the enterprise, but were unable to stop it. Several thousand French children (possibly up to 30,000), led by the shepherd Etienne from Cloix near Vendôme (Christ appeared to him and handed him a letter to give to the king), arrived in Marseilles, where they were loaded onto ships. Two ships sank during a storm in the Mediterranean Sea, and the remaining five reached Egypt, where the shipowners sold the children into slavery. Thousands of German children (estimated at up to 20 thousand), led by ten-year-old Nicholas from Cologne, headed to Italy on foot. While crossing the Alps, two-thirds of the detachment died from hunger and cold, the rest reached Rome and Genoa. The authorities sent the children back, and on the way back almost all of them died. There is another version of these events. According to it, French children and adults, led by Etienne, first arrived in Paris and asked King Philip II Augustus to organize a crusade, but the king managed to persuade them to go home. The German children, under the leadership of Nicholas, reached Mainz, here some were persuaded to return, but the most stubborn continued their journey to Italy. Some arrived in Venice, others in Genoa, and a small group reached Rome, where Pope Innocent released them from their vow. Some children showed up in Marseille. Be that as it may, most of the children disappeared without a trace. Perhaps in connection with these events, the famous legend about the rat catcher from Hammeln arose in Germany. The latest historical research casts doubt on both the scale of this campaign and its very fact in the version as it is usually presented. It has been suggested that the “Children’s Crusade” actually refers to the movement of the poor (serfs, farm laborers, day laborers) who had already failed in Italy and gathered for a crusade.
5th Crusade (1217-1221). At the 4th Lateran Council in 1215, Pope Innocent III declared a new crusade (sometimes it is considered as a continuation of the 4th campaign, and then the subsequent numbering is shifted). The performance was scheduled for 1217, it was led by the nominal king of Jerusalem, John of Brienne, the king of Hungary, Andrew (Endre) II, and others. In Palestine, military operations were sluggish, but in 1218, when new reinforcements arrived from Europe, the crusaders shifted the direction of their attack to Egypt and captured the city of Damiettu, located on the seashore. The Egyptian Sultan offered the Christians to cede Jerusalem in exchange for Damietta, but the papal legate Pelagius, who was expecting the approach of the legendary Christian “King David” from the east, did not agree to this. In 1221, the crusaders launched an unsuccessful assault on Cairo, found themselves in a difficult situation and were forced to surrender Damietta in exchange for an unhindered retreat.
6th Crusade (1228-1229). This crusade, sometimes called "diplomatic", was led by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, grandson of Frederick Barbarossa. The king managed to avoid hostilities; through negotiations, he (in exchange for a promise to support one of the parties in the inter-Muslim struggle) received Jerusalem and a strip of land from Jerusalem to Acre. In 1229 Frederick was crowned king in Jerusalem, but in 1244 the city was again conquered by the Muslims.
7th Crusade (1248-1250). It was headed by the French king Louis IX the Saint. The military expedition undertaken against Egypt turned into a crushing defeat. The crusaders took Damietta, but on the way to Cairo they were completely defeated, and Louis himself was captured and forced to pay a huge ransom for his release.
8th Crusade (1270). Not heeding the warnings of his advisers, Louis IX again went to war against the Arabs. This time he targeted Tunisia in North Africa. The crusaders found themselves in Africa during the hottest time of the year and survived a plague epidemic that killed the king himself (1270). With his death, this campaign ended, which became the last attempt of Christians to liberate the Holy Land. Christian military expeditions to the Middle East ceased after the Muslims took Acre in 1291. However, in the Middle Ages, the concept of "crusade" was applied to various kinds of religious wars of Catholics against those whom they considered enemies of the true faith or the church that embodied this faith, in including the Reconquista - the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslims that lasted seven centuries.
RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES
Although the Crusades did not achieve their goal and, begun with general enthusiasm, ended in disaster and disappointment, they constituted an entire era in European history and had a serious impact on many aspects of European life.
Byzantine Empire. The Crusades may have indeed delayed the Turkish conquest of Byzantium, but they could not prevent the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Byzantine Empire was in a state of decline for a long time. Its final death meant the emergence of the Turks on the European political scene. The sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 and the Venetian trade monopoly dealt the empire a mortal blow, from which it could not recover even after its revival in 1261.
Trade. The biggest beneficiaries of the Crusades were the merchants and artisans of the Italian cities, who provided the crusader armies with equipment, provisions and transport. In addition, Italian cities, especially Genoa, Pisa and Venice, were enriched by a trade monopoly in the Mediterranean countries. Italian merchants established trade relations with the Middle East, from where they exported various luxury goods to Western Europe - silks, spices, pearls, etc. The demand for these goods brought super profits and stimulated the search for new, shorter and safer routes to the East. Ultimately, this search led to the discovery of America. The Crusades also played an extremely important role in the emergence of the financial aristocracy and contributed to the development of capitalist relations in Italian cities.
Feudalism and the Church. Thousands of large feudal lords died in the Crusades, in addition, many noble families went bankrupt under the burden of debt. All these losses ultimately contributed to the centralization of power in Western European countries and the weakening of the system of feudal relations. The impact of the Crusades on the authority of the church was controversial. If the first campaigns helped strengthen the authority of the Pope, who took on the role of spiritual leader in the holy war against Muslims, then the 4th Crusade discredited the power of the Pope even in the person of such an outstanding representative as Innocent III. Business interests often took precedence over religious considerations, forcing the crusaders to disregard papal prohibitions and enter into business and even friendly contacts with Muslims.
Culture. It was once generally accepted that it was the Crusades that brought Europe to the Renaissance, but now such an assessment seems overestimated to most historians. What they undoubtedly gave the man of the Middle Ages was a broader view of the world and a better understanding of its diversity. The Crusades were widely reflected in literature. A countless number of poetic works were composed about the exploits of the crusaders in the Middle Ages, mostly in Old French. Among them there are truly great works, such as the History of the Holy War (Estoire de la guerre sainte), describing the exploits of Richard the Lionheart, or the Song of Antioch (Le chanson d'Antioche), supposedly composed in Syria, dedicated to the 1st Crusade . New artistic material born of the Crusades also penetrated into ancient legends. Thus, the early medieval cycles about Charlemagne and King Arthur were continued. The Crusades also stimulated the development of historiography. The conquest of Constantinople by Villehardouin remains the most authoritative source for the study of the 4th Crusade. The best medieval work in the genre of biography is considered by many to be the biography of King Louis IX, created by Jean de Joinville.One of the most significant medieval chronicles was the book written in Latin by Archbishop William of Tyre, History of Deeds in Overseas Lands (Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum), lively and reliable recreating the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1144 to 1184 (the year of the author's death).
LITERATURE
The era of the Crusades. M., 1914 Zaborov M. Crusades. M., 1956 Zaborov M. Introduction to the historiography of the Crusades (Latin chronography of the 11th-13th centuries). M., 1966 Zaborov M. Historiography of the Crusades (XV-XIX centuries). M., 1971 Zaborov M. History of the Crusades in documents and materials. M., 1977 Zaborov M. With a cross and a sword. M., 1979 Zaborov M. Crusaders in the East. M., 1980

Collier's Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .

The Crusades are a series of military campaigns in the 11th-15th centuries. from Western Europe against Muslims. In the narrow sense - campaigns of 1095-1290. to Palestine, aimed at capturing primarily Jerusalem (with the Holy Sepulcher), against the Seljuk Turks. In a broader sense - also other campaigns proclaimed by the popes, including later ones, carried out with the goals of converting the pagans of the Baltic states 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 the numerous and well-armed militia were Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse (he led troops from southern France and was joined by the papal legate), Hugo de Vermandois (brother of the French king Philip I), Etienne (Stephen) II, Count of Blois and Chartres, Duke of Normandy Robert III of Courtghose, Count of Flanders Robert II, Godfrey 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. In Constantinople, most of the crusader 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 behind them came peasants who had escaped from their homes.

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 Dorileum and thus paved their way through Asia Minor. Moving further, the crusaders found precious allies against the Turks in the princes of Lesser Armenia, whom they began to support in every possible way. Baldwin, having separated from the main army, established himself in Edessa. For the crusaders this was very important due to 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 from hunger, were in great danger; They managed, however, to leave the city and defeat Kerboga. After a long feud 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 transfer this important city to him. While there were disputes over Antioch, an unrest occurred in the army, dissatisfied with the delay, which forced the princes, stopping the strife, to move on. The same thing was repeated later: while the army was rushing towards Jerusalem, the leaders argued over each captured city.

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 Muslims. Godfrey of Bouillon received power in Jerusalem. Having defeated the Egyptian army near Ascalon, he ensured the conquest of the crusaders on this side for some time. After the death of Godfrey, Baldwin the Elder became king of Jerusalem, and transferred Edessa to Baldwin the Younger. In 1101, the second large crusader 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 arriving almost continuously), had to wage a difficult struggle with the neighboring Muslim rulers. Bohemond was captured by one of them and ransomed by the Armenians. In addition, the crusaders had been waging war with the Greeks over the coastal cities since the spring of 1099. In Asia Minor, the Byzantines managed to regain significant territory; their successes could have been even greater here if they had not wasted their strength in the fight against the crusaders from beyond 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. The soon-to-be-formed spiritual and knightly orders of the Templars and Hospitallers (Johannites) provided significant support to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The crusaders began to face serious danger when Imad ad-Din Zangi gained 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 preaching of Bernard of Clairvaux raised, first of all, the mass of French knights, led by King Louis VII; Then Bernard managed to attract the German Emperor Conrad III to the crusades. His nephew Frederick of Swabia and many German princes went with Conrad.

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 creation 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 existed until 1268. The Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted until the fall of Acre in 1291. The kingdom was subordinate to several vassal lordships, including the four largest: 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 the Count of Toulouse, Raymond IV. The county existed until 1289.



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Rice. 31. Map of the Crusader States.

The Crusader states completely covered the territory through which Europe traded with India and China at that time, without occupying any extra territory. Egypt found itself 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 type 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 rivers flowing into the Baltic, and the Volga-Don route. In this one can see the reasons for the shift in the political center of Rus' 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 Volga Bulgaria. The subsequent seizure by the Crusaders of the mouth of the Western Dvina and the Neman, their capture of Constantinople, through which the cargo of the Volga-Don route and the route along the Kura River passed, as well as the attempt of the Swedes to capture the mouth of the Neva, can also be regarded as an attempt to establish control over the trade routes of this type of trade. The economic rise at that time in 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 Rus' became more economically profitable. Perhaps it was in this regard 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 Zangi's troops.

The French nation, led by its king, fielded significant forces. Both King Louis VII himself and the feudal French princes showed sympathy for the cause of the Second Crusade; a detachment of up to 70 thousand gathered. 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 could have been successfully completed by a single French army, consisting of a well-armed army, which along the way was doubly enlarged by the arrival of volunteers. If the crusader militia of 1147 had consisted only of the French, it would have taken a different route, shorter and safer than the one it chose under the influence of the Germans.

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

When the question of the route and means of movement arose, the German king proposed choosing the path that the first German crusaders followed - to Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Thrace and Macedonia. The Germans insisted that the French king also move this way, motivating their proposal by the fact that it was better to avoid a division of forces, that the movement through the possessions of an allied and even related sovereign with the German king was completely protected from all kinds of accidents and surprises, and that with the Byzantine king they had begun negotiations on this issue, the favorable outcome of which Conrad had no doubt.



In the summer of 1147, the Crusaders began moving through Hungary; Conrad III led the way, followed a month later by Louis.

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, his position would become isolated. He equipped ships and armed himself, but not in order to assist the general movement. He began to act in accordance with the Norman policy regarding the East: the Sicilian fleet began to plunder the islands and coastal lands belonging to Byzantium, the shores 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 African Muslims, he concluded an alliance with the latter.

As they moved to the Holy Land, the crusaders plundered the territories that lay on their way and attacked local residents. The Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos was afraid that Conrad III would not be able to curb the violent and rebellious crowd, that this crowd, greedy for profit, could begin robberies and violence in the sight 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; in two or three weeks it was necessary to expect the arrival of the French crusaders; 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 the danger threatening on 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 decided to threaten Constantinople. Nevertheless, this alliance was very important in the sense that it made it clear to the Seljuks that they would have to reckon with only one Western militia. By concluding this alliance with the Iconian Sultan, Manuel made it clear that he did not view the Seljuks as enemies. Protecting his personal interests, he washed his hands, allowing the crusaders to act at their own risk with their own forces and means. Thus, two Christian-Muslim alliances were formed against the crusader militia: one, directly hostile to the crusader militia, was the alliance of Roger II with the Egyptian Sultan; the other - the alliance of the Byzantine king with the Iconian sultan - was not in the interests of the crusade. All this was the reason for the failures that ended the Second Crusade.



Manuel hastened to satisfy Conrad and transported the Germans to the opposite bank of the Bosphorus. The crusaders gave themselves their first rest in Nicaea, where serious misunderstandings had already occurred. A detachment of fifteen thousand separated from the German militia and, at their own peril, headed along the seaside route to Palestine. Conrad and the rest of the army chose the path taken by the first crusader militia - through Dorylaeum, Iconium and Heraclea.

In the first battle (October 26, 1147), which took place in Cappadocia, near Dorylaeum, the German army, taken by surprise, was completely defeated, most of the militia died or were captured, 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. The usual clashes took place between the French army and the Byzantine government. Knowing the sympathies between Louis VII and Roger II, Manuel did not consider it safe for the French to remain in Constantinople for a long time. In order to quickly get rid of them and force the knights to take the feudal oath, Tsar Manuel used a trick. A rumor was spread among the French that the Germans, who had crossed into Asia, were rapidly moving forward, step by step winning brilliant victories; so the French will have nothing to do in Asia. The competition of the French was excited; they demanded that they be transported as quickly as possible across the Bosphorus. Here already, on the Asian coast, the French learned about the unfortunate fate of the German army; In Nicaea, both kings met, Louis and Conrad, and decided to continue their journey together, in a faithful alliance.

Since the path from Nicaea to Dorylaeum was covered with corpses and drenched in Christian blood, both kings wanted to spare the army from the painful spectacle and therefore set off by a roundabout route to Adramytium, Pergamon and Smyrna. This path was extremely difficult, slowing down the movement of the army; By choosing this path, the kings hoped to encounter less danger from the Muslims here. Their hopes, however, were not justified: the Turkish riders kept the crusader army in constant tension, slowed down the journey, robbed, and repulsed people and convoys. In addition, the lack of food supplies 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 Alienor also participated, 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 along the 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 soon after crossing the Taurus, the emperor drowned in the Saleph River. 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 kings of France (Philip II Augustus) and England (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 discord between the French and English kings, as well as between Guy de Lusignan and Margrave Conrad of Montferrat, who, after the death of Guy's wife, declared a claim to the Jerusalem crown and married Isabella, sister and heiress of the deceased Sibylla. Only on July 12, 1191, Acre surrendered after almost two years of siege. Conrad and Guy were reconciled after the capture of Acre; the first was recognized as Guy's heir and received Tire, Beirut and Sidon. Soon after this, Philip II sailed home with part of the French knights, but Hugo of Burgundy, Henry of Champagne and many other noble crusaders remained in Syria. The Crusaders managed to defeat Saladin in the Battle of Arsuf, but due to lack of water and constant skirmishes with Muslim troops, the Christian army was unable 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 this, 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 among his many sons became a source of civil strife among Muslims. Soon, however, Saladin's brother, al-Malik al-Adil, advanced, 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 crusader detachments that had 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 Jerusalem crown. Amaury II (brother of Guy de Lusignan), who married Henry's widow, was now chosen as king. Meanwhile, military operations in Syria were going poorly; a significant part of the crusaders returned to their homeland. Around this time, the German hospital brotherhood of St. Mary, founded during the 3rd Crusade, was transformed into the Teutonic Spiritual 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, aimed at harming Richard, were a direct violation of the agreement they concluded during 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’s return from the campaign. Needless to say, Philip's violation of the treaty and his encroachments on Richard's French possessions must have had a harmful 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 return Jerusalem, did not release captives and did not pay military costs. Then Richard took one step that frightened all Muslims and which must be considered most characteristic of the sad fame that Richard acquired in the East. Richard ordered the slaughter of up to 2 thousand noble Muslims who were in his hands as hostages. Facts of this kind were an unusual occurrence in the East and only caused anger 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 minor attacks. These raids for the purpose of robbery, it is true, characterize the time of knighthood, but when applied to the head of the crusader militia, who represented the interests of all Christian Europe, they exposed only the inability to get down to business. Since Saladin sacrificed Acre, the Christians should not have allowed him to strengthen himself in another place, but should have immediately marched on Jerusalem. But Guido Lusignan, this nominal king without a kingdom, whose enmity towards Conrad of Montferrat can only be explained by envy, persuaded Richard to clear the Muslims, first of all, from the coastal strip; Guido Lusignan was also supported by the Venetians, who pursued trade goals: it was more convenient for them for the coastal cities to be owned by Christians rather than 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 step on Richard's part; 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 spring of 1192, Richard stood at the head of the crusader militia. He lost all this time in 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 presented itself quite clearly to Richard - to go straight to Jerusalem; his army itself was aware that it had not yet completed its task and encouraged the king to do the same. Three times he was already on the way to Jerusalem, three times extravagant ideas forced him to stop the march and move back.

By the beginning of 1192, news from France arrived in Asia, which greatly affected Richard. At the same time, one fact took place in the East that made Richard fearful for the outcome of the enterprise. Conrad of Montferrat understood that given Richard’s tactlessness, it was unlikely that Christians would be able to defeat Saladin, he began negotiations with the latter, reprimanded Tire and Acre for himself and promised to unite with him and destroy Richard with one blow.



Then Richard, placed in a highly difficult situation by affairs in the East and worried 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 impracticable plan. He invited Saladin to unite with him through ties of kinship: offering to marry his sister Joanna to Saladin’s brother Malek-Adel. The idea is highly dreamy and cannot satisfy anyone. Even if this kind of marriage could take place, it would not satisfy Christians; the lands sacred to them would still remain in Muslim hands.

Finally, Richard, who, by remaining in Asia, risked losing his crown, concluded an agreement with Saladin on September 1, 1192. This peace, shameful for Richard’s honor, left for Christians a small coastal strip from Jaffa to Tire, Jerusalem remained in the power of Muslims, the Holy Cross was not returned. Saladin granted peace to Christians for three years. At this time, they could freely come to worship holy places. Three years later, Christians pledged to enter into new agreements with Saladin, which, of course, had to be worse than the previous ones. This inglorious world fell heavily on 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 get to England. But in Europe he was guarded by all the enemies, of whom he made many. 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 Durnstein Castle, where he was kept for about two years. Only under the influence of the Pope and the strong excitement of the English nation did he gain 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 Fulco of Nelly persuaded Count Thibault of Champagne, Louis of Blois and Chartres, Simon of Monfort and many knights to accept the cross. In addition, Count Baldwin of Flanders and his brothers, Eustachius and Henry, made a vow to go to the Holy Land. Count Thibault soon died, but Boniface of Montferrat also took part in the crusade.

While the crusaders were preparing to sail to Egypt, in the summer of 1201, Tsarevich Alexei, the son of the Byzantine emperor Isaac Angelus, deposed and blinded in 1196, arrived in Italy. He asked the pope and the Hohenstaufens for help against his uncle, the usurper Alexei III. Philip of Swabia was married to Tsarevich Alexei's sister, 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 return for underpaid money for transportation), sailed to the East, in the summer of 1203 they landed on the shores of the Bosphorus and began to storm Constantinople. After several failures, Emperor Alexei III fled, and the blind Isaac was again proclaimed emperor, and his son as co-emperor.



Soon, discord began between the crusaders and Alexei, who was not able to fulfill his promises. Already in November of the same year this led to hostile actions. On January 25, 1204, a new revolution in Constantinople overthrew Alexios IV and elevated Alexios V (Murzufla) to the throne. The people were dissatisfied with the new taxes and the confiscation of church treasures to pay the agreed reward to the crusaders. Isaac died; Alexei IV and Canabus, who was chosen by the emperor, were strangled by order of Murzufla. The war with the Franks was unsuccessful even under the new emperor. On April 12, 1204, the crusaders took Constantinople, and many art monuments were destroyed. Alexius V and Theodore Lascaris, 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 distraction of 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 received by his son Hugo, and the crown of Jerusalem was inherited by Mary of Jerusalem, daughter of Margrave Conrad of Montferrat and Elizabeth. During her childhood, Jean I of Ibelin ruled. In 1210, Maria Iolanta was married to the brave John of Brienne. At that time, the crusaders lived with the Muslims for the most part in peace, which was very beneficial to Almelik-Aladil: thanks to him, he strengthened his power in Western Asia and Egypt. In Europe, the success of the 4th Crusade reignited crusading zeal.

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 belief in French and German children that with his help, as poor and devoted servants of God, they could return Jerusalem to Christianity. The children went to the south of Europe, but many of them did not even reach the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, but died along the way. Some historians believe that the Children's Crusade was a provocation staged by slave traders in order to sell 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 teenagers in its ranks, heading for Italy in order to reach Palestine by sea. 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 some died from a storm, while others, as they say, sold their children to Egypt as slaves. A similar movement spread to Germany, where the boy Nikolai gathered a crowd of about 20 thousand children. Most of them died or scattered along the road (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. In 1277, Baibars died, and the struggle for his inheritance began. There were also troubles among Christians. 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 Hugo III, Prince of Antioch. Mary of Antioch, considering herself the heir to the Jerusalem crown, ceded her claims to Charles of Anjou, who took possession of Acre and demanded to be recognized as king. Hugo 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 Muslims resumed. Sultan Kalaun took Markab, Marakia, Laodicea, Tripoli (Bohemond VII died in 1287). Crusader preaching no longer had the same 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 old religious mood weakened, secular aspirations developed, and new interests arose. Qalaun's son, Malik al-Ashraf, took Acre (18 May 1291). King Henry left the besieged city and sailed to Cyprus. After Acre fell Tire, Sidon, Beirut, Tortosa; Christians lost all their conquests on the Syrian coast. A lot of the crusaders died, the rest moved out, mainly to Cyprus. After the fall of Acre, the Johannites also retired to Cyprus. The Templars also moved first to Cyprus, then to France; The Teutons had previously found a new field of action in the north, among the Prussians (see: Teutonic Order). The last Crusader outpost on the Levant coast, the island of Ruadh, was taken by the Mamluks in 1303, after which Europeans never occupied more territory in the Holy Land until the First World War.

The idea of ​​returning the Holy Land, however, was not completely abandoned in the West. In 1312, Pope Clement V preached the crusade at the Council of Vienne. Several sovereigns promised 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 passed irrevocably. The Kingdom of Cyprus, 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 with the aim of starting a crusade. He managed to conquer and rob Alexandria, but he could not keep it for himself. Cyprus was finally weakened by the wars with Genoa, and after the death of King James II, the island fell into the hands of Venice: Jacob’s widow, the Venetian Caterina Cornaro, after the death of her husband and son, was forced to cede Cyprus to her hometown (1489). Republic of St. The Marches controlled the island for almost a century until it was recaptured by the Ottoman Turks. Cilician Armenia, whose fate since the first crusade was closely connected with the fate of the crusaders, defended its independence until 1375, when the Mameluke Sultan Ashraf subjugated it to his rule. Having established themselves in Asia Minor, the Ottoman Turks transferred their conquests to Europe and began to threaten the Christian world with serious danger, and the West tried to organize crusades against them.


The Crusades had important consequences throughout Europe. Their unfavorable result was the weakening of the eastern empire, which gave it over 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 did not have the same significance that they had in the history of Europe: they changed very little in the culture of 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 fall of medieval forms in it. The numerical weakening of the baronial knightly class, which was a consequence of the outflow of knights to the East, which lasted almost continuously for two centuries, made it easier for the royal authorities to fight against the representatives of the feudal aristocracy who remained in their homeland. The previously unprecedented development of trade relations contributed to the enrichment and strengthening of the urban class, which in the Middle Ages was the support of royal power and the enemy of the feudal lords. Then, the crusades in some countries facilitated and accelerated the process of liberating the villans from serfdom: the villans were freed not only as a result of leaving for the Holy Land, but also by purchasing their freedom from the barons, who needed money when going on a crusade and therefore willingly entered into such transactions. Representatives of all those groups into which the population of medieval Western Europe was divided took part in the crusades, starting from the largest barons and ending with the masses of simple villans; Therefore, the Crusades contributed to the rapprochement of all classes among themselves, as well as to 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, by bringing the various peoples of Western Europe into close contact, the Crusades helped them understand their national characteristics. By bringing Western Christians into close contact with the foreign and other religious peoples of the East (Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and so on), the Crusades helped to weaken tribal and religious prejudices. Having become closely acquainted with the culture of the East, with the material situation, morals and religion of Muslims, the crusaders learned to see in them similar people and began to appreciate and respect their opponents. Those whom they at first considered half-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; the war, which previously served the feudal lords only as a means to achieve selfish goals, received a new character in the Crusades: knights shed their blood for ideological and religious reasons. The ideal of the knight, as a fighter for higher 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 flowed for the first. In all areas of material and spiritual life, during the era of the Crusades, one encounters either direct borrowings from the East, or phenomena that owe their origin to the influence of these borrowings and the new conditions in which Western Europe then became.

Navigation reached unprecedented development during the Crusades: most of the crusaders went to the Holy Land by sea; Almost all of the extensive trade between Western Europe and the East was carried out by sea. 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 had a lot of money, and this, together with the development of trade, led to the decline of forms of subsistence farming in the West and contributed to the economic revolution that was noticed at the end of the Middle Ages. Relations with the East brought many useful items to the West, which until then were either completely unknown there, or were rare and expensive. Now these products began to be imported in larger quantities, became cheaper and came into general use. This is how carob, saffron, apricot (Damascus plum), lemon, pistachios (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 came into widespread use. Works of highly developed eastern industry were also imported in significant quantities - paper materials, chintz, muslin, expensive silk fabrics (satin, velvet), carpets, jewelry, paints, and the like. Familiarity with these objects and the method of their manufacture led to the development of similar industries in the West (in France, those who made carpets based on eastern models were called “Saracens”). Many items of clothing and home comfort were borrowed from the East, which bear evidence of their origin in their names (Arabic) (skirt, burnous, alcove, sofa), some weapons (crossbow) and the like.



A significant number of eastern, mainly Arabic words that entered Western languages ​​during the era of the Crusades usually indicate the borrowing of what is denoted by these words. These are (except for those mentioned above) Italian. dogana, fr. douane - customs, - admiral, talisman, etc. The Crusades introduced Western scientists to Arab and Greek science (for example, Aristotle). Geography made especially many acquisitions at this time: the West became closely acquainted with a number of countries little known before; the widespread development of trade relations with the East made it possible for Europeans to penetrate such remote and then little-known countries as Central Asia (the travels of Plano Carpini, William of Rubruk, Marco Polo). Mathematics, astronomy, natural sciences, medicine, linguistics, and history also made significant progress at that time. 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, trefoil-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. Having a strong effect on 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 subjects were transferred to the West. In general, the acquaintance of Western peoples with new countries, with political and social forms different from those in the West, with many new phenomena and products, with new forms in art, with other religious and scientific views - should have enormously expanded the mental horizons of Western peoples, informed to him a hitherto unprecedented breadth. Western thought began to break free from the grip in which the Catholic Church had hitherto 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 hopes with which it led the West into the Crusades. The widespread development of trade and industry under the influence of the Crusades and through the mediation of Syrian Christians 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 structure of the medieval church and its ascetic ideals. Having familiarized the West more closely with the new culture, making accessible 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 dominance of Italian merchants in the Mediterranean began.

The era of the Crusades of the Middle Ages, which lasted from the end of the 11th to the end of the 13th century, is very surprising in its scope, grandeur and strength.

The Crusades were military in nature. Western European Christians organized them to liberate the Holy Land from Muslims. All social strata of the Western European population participated in them: from kings to servants.

The reasons for the start of the crusades were:

• the capture of Jerusalem by the Seljuk Turks in 1071 and the blocking of access to the Holy Places;
• a request for help from the Pope by the Emperor of Byzantium - Alexei 1st Komnenos.

There were eight crusades. The first campaign of 1096 ended with the capture of Jerusalem and the creation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The second crusade was organized in 1147, the reason for which was the capture of the city of Edessa by the Muslim emir Zangi (it was considered the center of early Christianity). It was the liberation of Edessa and the weakening of Zangi’s forces that became the main goal of the second crusade.

The participants in this crusade were mainly knights and peasants from Germany and France, whose number reached 140 thousand people. This army was led by the kings of their countries - Conrad 3rd and Louis 7th.

The Second Crusade failed, accelerating the process of strengthening the Seljuk states. Subsequently, Saladin, who became the head of this state, defeated the royal army of Jerusalem, capturing the city.

Further crusades lasted until 1291, until the existence of the crusader states in the East was put to an end. Many of the campaigns ended in failure. One of the reasons for the failures that influenced the course of the crusades is considered to be the rivalry between priests and emperors.

According to Russian historiography, at the beginning of the 13th century. The Catholic Church allegedly carried out a crusade against Rus'. The moment for the offensive was chosen after the Russian lands, but despite this, the Russian people, led by them, were able not only to repel aggression from the West, but also to defeat them on the banks of the Neva and Lake Peipsi. However, this information is controversial.

Let's look at the pros and cons of the Crusades.

The positive consequences of the Crusades include:

• the West's borrowing of culture and science from the East;
• opening new trade routes;
• changes in the way of life of the European population (change of clothing, personal hygiene).

Negative results of the Crusades:

• quite a lot of casualties on both sides;
• collapse of the Byzantine Empire;
• the power and influence of the Pope has decreased significantly due to his plans that were not implemented;
• destruction of many cultural monuments.

The historical significance of the Crusades, undoubtedly, was the influence they had on the political and social system of Western Europe. They played a major role in the formation of the financial aristocracy and helped the development of capitalist relations in the cities of Italy.

Despite the fact that the Crusades did not achieve their goal and ended in disaster, they created an entire era in European history and had a huge impact on many countries.

Byzantine Empire.

The Crusades were able to delay the Turkish conquest of Byzantium, but they were unable to prevent the fall of Constantinople in 1453. For a long time, the Byzantine Empire was in a state of decline. Its collapse is associated with the final appearance of the Turks in the political arena. The sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 and the Venetian trade monopoly dealt the empire a mortal blow, from which it could not recover even after its revival in 1261.

Trade

Merchants and artisans who supplied the Crusader army with equipment, transport, and provisions benefited enormously from the Crusades. Also, many foreign cities enriched themselves due to the trade monopoly in the Mediterranean.

Italian merchants established trade relations with the Middle East, from where they exported various luxury goods to Western Europe - silks, spices, pearls, etc. The demand for these goods brought super profits and stimulated the search for new, shorter and safer routes to the East. Ultimately, this search led to the discovery of America. The Crusades also played an extremely important role in the emergence of the financial aristocracy and contributed to the development of capitalist relations in Italian cities.

Feudalism and the Church

Thousands of large feudal lords died in the Crusades, in addition, many noble families went bankrupt under the burden of debt. All these losses ultimately contributed to the centralization of power in Western European countries and the weakening of the system of feudal relations.

The impact of the Crusades on the authority of the church was controversial. If the first campaigns helped strengthen the authority of the Pope, who took on the role of spiritual leader in the holy war against Muslims, then the 4th Crusade discredited the power of the Pope even in the person of such an outstanding representative as Innocent III. Business interests often took precedence over religious considerations, forcing the crusaders to disregard papal prohibitions and enter into business and even friendly contacts with Muslims.

Culture

It was once generally accepted that it was the Crusades that brought Europe to the Renaissance, but now such an assessment seems overestimated to most historians. What they undoubtedly gave the man of the Middle Ages was a broader view of the world and a better understanding of its diversity.

The Crusades were widely reflected in literature. A countless number of poetic works were composed about the exploits of the crusaders in the Middle Ages, mostly in old French. Among them there are truly great works, such as the History of the Holy War, which describes the exploits of Richard the Lionheart, or the Song of Antioch, supposedly composed in Syria, dedicated to the 1st Crusade. New artistic material, born of the Crusades, penetrated into ancient legends. Thus, the early medieval cycles about Charlemagne and King Arthur were continued.

The Crusades also stimulated the development of historiography. Villehardouin's Conquest of Constantinople remains the most authoritative source for the study of the 4th Crusade. Many consider the best medieval work in the biography genre to be the biography of King Louis IX, created by Jean de Joinville. One of the most significant medieval chronicles was the book “History of Deeds in Overseas Lands” written in Latin by Archbishop William of Tire, which vividly and accurately recreates the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1144 to 1184.

It is believed that on July 22, 1099, the first state of European knights was created in Crusader-occupied Palestine. On the 913th anniversary of this event, historian and publicist Andrei Zaitsev talks about who the crusaders were and what they were looking for in Palestine?

Crusaders. Engraving by Gustave Doré

At the very end of the 11th century, the poor hermit from Europe Peter the Hermit visited Golgotha ​​and the Holy Sepulcher. He saw how Muslims oppress Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. Having received letters from the local patriarch asking for help, Peter went to Pope Urban II. Having met with the Pope, Peter dressed in rags and began to go around European cities with an appeal to help Christians in the Holy Land. His preaching was such a resounding success that in 1095 Urban II convened a church council, the participants of which decided to help the Byzantine emperor Alexei Comnenus repel the attack of the Muslim Turks. All over Europe, poor people and knights begin to gather in troops, and one of the most significant eras in the history of the Middle Ages begins - the time of the Crusades. Impressed by the preaching of Urban II, people began to sew red crosses on their clothes, leave their homes and families and go to liberate the Holy Land unknown to them.

The spiritual impulse of the crusaders was often accompanied by complete ignorance of geography. Some peasants took a goose as their guide, believing that the bird would lead them to Jerusalem by the will of God. Coming to any city, such “warriors” asked: “Isn’t this Jerusalem” and could rob a populated area or, on the contrary, be captured by Muslims or slave traders. However, the desire to free the Holy Sepulcher was so great that others took the place of some crusaders. The enthusiasm was so great that the First Crusade ended with the capture of Jerusalem and the creation of the kingdom of the same name on July 22, 1099.

It is very difficult for a modern person to understand the reasons for such success, but for the Middle Ages at the turn of the millennium it is difficult to find something more tempting than the liberation of the Holy Land. The idea of ​​the crusades was supposed to help overcome one of the greatest psychological traumas of the medieval warrior.

A knight, trained in the art of war from birth, often suffered from the feeling of being a voluntary or involuntary killer. For centuries, the Church offered soldiers to atone for their sins, donate significant sums, or enter monasticism before death. Urban II was the first to declare the very idea of ​​war salutary. Participants in the crusades were forgiven their sins and promised salvation. Poor knights - younger sons who never inherited, could move from robbery and robbery on the roads of Europe to a campaign that, if successful, promised wealth, glory and honor. For the first time, a warrior could feel like a pious Christian while practicing his profession. Note that the crusaders did not call themselves warriors. They were considered pilgrims liberating the shrines for whom and with whom God was fighting. If you look at the notes of the participants of even the IV Crusade, who besieged Constantinople, you can see that the Orthodox Greeks and Catholic knights mutually considered each other non-Christians, and believed that God was fighting on their side.

This conviction of one's own chosenness often led to tragic consequences. During the First Crusade, the pilgrims allowed themselves unimaginable atrocities - breaking into an Islamic city, they killed adults and boiled and fried babies in cauldrons; the poor barbarously plundered Nicaea, despite the fact that it was a Christian city. During the capture of Jerusalem, the city was literally drowned in blood, and the killings did not stop even in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This was the other side of the religious ecstasy that gripped almost all the inhabitants of Europe.

Another reason for the amazing success of the crusaders was the economic situation in Europe. At the turn of the millennium, for the first time, enough food became available that the threat of famine, which constantly lived in the Middle Ages, briefly receded. The advent of wind and water mills, as well as the heavy plow, led to an increase in crop yields, and a population explosion occurred. Many poor people were still living from hand to mouth, but there were already too many people. There was not enough land for arable land, the number of forests sharply decreased, since firewood and coal were the main fuel and building materials. There were too many potential workers, and they could only be paid pennies. Peasants abandoned their farms and went in search of a better life. The Holy Land seemed to them like a paradise flowing with milk and honey. The desire to quickly get rich pushed forward not only impoverished knights, but also poor people looking for a better life. The Church also fueled the desire for a miracle, telling not only about how Christians suffer, but also about what riches await pilgrims in the Holy Land. The temptation to dramatically change their lives was too great, and many pilgrims set off on a dangerous journey, having neither money nor weapons with them. All this led to the fact that a very diverse crowd of pilgrims of 300 thousand people gathered under the walls of Constantinople in October 1097. The Byzantine emperor did not need such help, and he tried to transport the pilgrims across the Bosporus to Muslim lands as quickly as possible. Only a small part of them were professional warriors, but this did not prevent the crusaders from capturing Jerusalem in less than two years.

Here we must digress a little from military matters and talk about why medieval man turned out to be so easy-going. Without maps and compass, without money, without knowledge of geography and weapons, the poor rushed to distant lands. These movements were not unusual for that era. On the contrary, people were constantly on the move and easily changed their route. For a long time there were no normal roads in Europe; even before the Crusades, pilgrims with knapsacks on their shoulders moved from one Christian shrine to another. The Frenchman could take a long journey to Spain to Santiago de Compostela to the relics of the Apostle James. All day long he walked from one church of the apostle to another, and found shelter there. Travel was dangerous, in the forests and along the roads there were robbers and feudal lords who wanted to take money from the traveler for passage, but this did not stop people wanting to pray at the shrines. They walked no more than 20 kilometers a day, so the journeys were long. The fashion of taking luggage with you on a journey appeared a couple of centuries later, and this meant the end of the restless movement of pilgrims. In the 13th century, voices began to be heard in the Church that it was better not to go on pilgrimage to distant lands, but to work and pray where you live. But until that time, the man with the knapsack on his back remained a respectable member of society, performing a pious deed for the sake of Christ, and therefore most of the participants in the First Crusade perceived it as a pilgrimage that could change their lives.

Life turned out to be not like a pious fairy tale: the Byzantines and Franks did not trust each other, the leaders of the crusaders quarreled among themselves for the right to own one or another liberated city, the poor died of hunger and disease, and instead of liberating the Holy City, there was a bloody massacre.

In the Crusades, the Middle Ages for some time found the ideal and meaning of its existence, but it was an illusory hope - violence against people could not be justified by lofty goals. Relations between Christians and Muslims, Orthodox and Catholics began to deteriorate, and the idea of ​​Peter the Hermit and Pope Urban II, instead of improving society, led to the beginning of the most severe crises in the civilization of medieval Europe. Having shaken the usual way of medieval life, taking hundreds of thousands of lives, the crusaders not only failed to help Christians in the Holy Land, but also brought the spirit of war and disaster to the heart of Europe.