NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Occur Paper II Despite of the fact that eyewitness accounts, speeches and chronicles of the Crusades contain subjective information, they, fist of all, are much more reliable that any other books on history and can provide us with important information that cannot be found somewhere else. The theory and practice of Crusades depended on the construction of categories of people whose difference from the Western and Latin Christian society demanded intervention. Lets compare the level of development of Arab and Christian civilization. It is difficult to compare them because they differ rather in a qualitative than in a quantitative sense. Western/Latin Christian Society considered the Crusades as a holy war against the Muslims. On the other hand, from the very beginning of the religious war the Muslims were more tolerant in relation to Christians.
According to Islam religion, Christians together with Jews are the people of Holy Writ. It means that they are representatives of religious communities, who received the Holy Writ earlier than the Muslims. According to Muslims, Christians and Jews distorted the Holy Writ and the covenants of the God. However, in case Christians live as righteous people, they still have chances to be saved during the Doomsday. From the very beginning religious Muslims were quite tolerant to Christians. The Christians and Jews were allowed to make their devotions, to have churches and synagogues.
This fact supports the supposition that Christians and Jews were under the special patronage of Muslims. According to various historical sources, Muslims didnt put the obstacles on the way of Christian pilgrims to the Lords grave. However, in the course of continuous conflicts between the Christian and Islamic nations, the Muslims started to treat Christians with great animosity, comparing them with animals. For example, Usmah Ibn Munqidh, the warrior who fought against the Christians during the Crusades, said that when he hears somebody speaking about the Franks he cannot do nothing but glorify Allah (exalted is he! ) and sanctify him, for he sees them as animals possessing the virtues of courage and fighting, but nothing else; just as animals have only the virtues of strength and carrying loads (Medieval Sourcebook n. p. ) From Christian point of view, the Muslims were unfaithful people who didnt whitewash the original sin. Consequently, the Muslims were doomed to sufferings in hell.
They were considered the enemies of the God, and Christian society couldnt even admit the thought to make peace with Muslims. According to Christian society, the Muslims were under-people. Naturally, the kindling Catholic fanaticism during the course of preparation to the First Crusade favored to religious intolerance of the Gods servants. For example, the chronicle of the First Crusade tells the story of Fall of Jerusalem.
There the priests call Muslims the enemies of the God, and, therefore, the enemies of the Christian society. The priests ardently asked soldiers to capture the Holy City and said that the God will come to their aid and will give them judgment upon His enemies and theirs, who now with unjust possession contaminate the place of His suffering and burial, the enemy who seek to deny us the great blessing of the place of God's humiliation and [our] redemption (The Fall of Jerusalem, n. p. ) Difference between Islam and the Western/Latin Christian societies contributed to the complex of demographic, social-economic, political, religious and psychological motives that resulted in crusading. The participants of crusading often didnt realize the entire totality of these reasons. First of all, the demographic growth in XI century faced scantiness of natural resources (the territory, etc). Demographic pressure worsened in relation to the progress of commodity-money relations that made people more dependent on market conditions and their position became less stable.
Crusading also was understood as the remedy for overpopulation of the Western/Latin Christian society. Besides, the Muslims traditionally belonged to the rich nations and Christians dreamt about the fertile territories and riches (gold, silver, precious jewels, elegant clothes, etc). Demographic pressure heightened political tension. Feudal wars, internal wars, peasant rebels became the usual event for European life. The Crusades could be considered a perfect opportunity to direct negative energy of frustrated social groups into a just war with the unfaithful. This can be illustrated by words of Urban II, who appealed: Let those who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives now fight in a proper way against the barbarians (Further of Chartres n.
p. ). Urban II dweller on necessity to help brethren who live in the east are in urgent need of [your] help and claimed that Christ commanded it. In this relation, the differences between Islamic and the Western/Latin Christian society helped to assure consolidation of the Christian world. The political conflicts were aggravated by the series of acts of God (severe winters, floods, etc) and epidemics (fever, plague, etc). These events were conductive to religious exaltation, asceticism, hermits, etc. Necessity in religious feat and even in self-sacrifice that guaranteed expiation of sins and attainment of eternal salvation found its adequate reflection in the idea of special kind of pilgrimage to the Holy Land aimed to release the Lords Grave from the hands of unfaithful.
In its psychological relation the desire to gain the wealth of Islamic nation and the hope for eternal salvation merged with thirst for adventures and travels. The travel to the unknown lands gave opportunity to loose from usual monotonous world and to get rid of severities. The expectation of blissful life after death whimsically combined with search for Earthly heaven. The Christians tried to get control over entire Islamic territories but the Eastern territories were more difficult to conquer. The crusading and the war against pagans, heretics and other unfaithful were aimed to retain the authority of the Holy Church. The papacy confirmed its status of leader for the Western/Latin Christian countries.
At the same time, focusing attention on differences between the Islamic and Christian worlds, the Crusades contributed to unbridgeable, wide gap between Christianity and Islam, and, consequently, increased irreconcilability to any other form of religious dissent. References: D'Aguiliers, Raymond. 11. The Fall of Jerusalem from Historia franco rum qui capering Jerusalem. Retrieved November 4, 2006.
web Joinville, J. , & Villehardouin, G. (1963). Chronicles of the Crusades, Margaret Shaw (Trans. ) Penguin Classics Medieval Sourcebook: Urban II (1088 - 1099): Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095, Five versions of the Speech... Retrieved November 4, 2006. web Medieval Sourcebook: Usmah Ibn Munqidh (1095 - 1188): Autobiography, excerpts on the Franks.
Retrieved November 4, 2006. web
Free research essays on topics related to: n p, urban ii, november 4, first crusade, christian society
Research essay sample on Christian Society Urban Ii
