Category Archives: Crusades

The Norman lords of Boulogne

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Ruth

Nobility on crusade, pt. 2 During the same period that Norman knights were conquering Sicily and parts of Italy, the Duke of Normandy conquered the island nation of England. The Anglo-Saxons continued to use the traditional Germanic war method of … Continue reading →

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Nobility on crusade

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Ruth

Pope Urban II appointed a bishop, Adhemar of Monteil, Bishop of Le Puy, as his official legate, or representative on the official mission. Adhemar had been to the Holy Land before, and recently; he knew what Seljuk Muslim Palestine was … Continue reading →

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Clermont’s Council, the original Crusade

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Ruth

  There was a second reason for Pope Urban II to announce a new military adventure. We’ve seen the first reason: he was in a high-stakes battle against the kings of France and Germany to retain Europe’s allegiance, as they … Continue reading →

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Gossip at the Council of Piacenza

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Ruth

We remember the Council of Clermont, in 1095, as the launchpad of the First Crusade. But in order to understand why the Crusade was called, we need to look at the Council of Piacenza, held earlier in the same year. … Continue reading →

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1085: Toledo and the proto-Crusade

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Ruth

Before the First Crusade to the Holy Land, the idea of religious war was tried out in Spain. The Christian kingdoms in the north were, from west to east (left to right): Galicia with two Atlantic borders; Castile and Leon, … Continue reading →

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pre-Crusades: Church vs. State

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Ruth

We traced earlier how the rise of the Pope’s power was always tied into the military support of Charlemagne’s family. After the land of the Franks broke up for the last time in an inheritance distribution, separate branches of the … Continue reading →

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Pilgrims to the Holy Land

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Ruth

In the century before the First Crusade, a number of regions had adopted Christianity: Norway, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria. During this same time, an abbey of Benedictine monks at Cluny, in Aquitaine, encouraged many people to go on pilgrimages. The … Continue reading →

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Turkish Syria

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Ruth

Countdown to the First Crusade: In 1055, Seljuk Turks took over governance of Baghdad. The Abbasid Caliphate was utterly gone. Seljuk rulers spoke Persian and sometimes Arabic, and often they used Arabic names like Mohammed. However, the old Arabic titles … Continue reading →

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Rome vs. Eastern Rome: 1054

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Ruth

Countdown to the First Crusade: Church schism By the beginning of the Middle Ages (6th cent.), Christians had a general understanding that all theological disputes should be solved by representatives of the five major Christian regions: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople … Continue reading →

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Anti-Semitism begins in Europe

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Ruth

Part of the countdown to the First Crusade… Before the year 1000, there’s no clear evidence of anti-Jewish actions. A small community of Jews had settled along the Rhine River in Roman days; there were some other small historic communities … Continue reading →

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