Christian CrusadesEssay Preview: Christian CrusadesReport this essayWhile the goal of the Christian Crusades was only successful once, it still brought about many changes in the time including an end to feudalism, advancement in warfare, and expansion of trade. The Seljuq Turks began to take over “the Holy Land” in Palestine and this upset Pope Urban II. He was eager to regain the Holy Land and thus began the First Crusade. The French and Italian lords led armies through Palestine to their main target Jerusalem. They were heavy armor and wool while marching through the desert and because of this some died of heat exhaustion. Despite this problem, they reached Jerusalem and after many vicious battles the city was captured. Now most of the Holy Land was under European control. The Europeans brought many of their customs with them including feudalism.
The Turks slowly began to regain control of the Holy Land. They united and began to take back cities that were captured as a result the Second Crusade began. King Louis VII and Conrad III led armies to Damascus but they failed to recapture the city and the Turks still held power. In 1187 Saladin, a Muslim leader, gained control of Jerusalem. Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip II, and King Richard I led armies to take back the Holy Land in the Third Crusade. On the way there Barbarossa drowned so his army turned back. Philip and Richard got into a fight and Philip went back to France to take back land from the English. Richard went on to the Holy Land but failed to recapture it. He did make a truce with Saladin which allowed Christians to enter the Holy land and control of some towns.
There was one last effort to take the Holy Land back by Pope Innocent III who put together French knights in the Fourth Crusade. The knights left on ships provided by Venice and were asked to attack Zadar, a rival trading city to Venice. Since Zadar was a Christian city the knights who attacked and looted it were excommunicated. The knights went on to attack and loot another Christian city Constantinople. The Crusades led to changes in the middle ages. Warfare changed with the development of weapons such as crossbows, catapults and learned about gun powder. The Crusades cost money to go on so lords had to sell their land and because of the fewer lords the kings gained more power and this brought an end to feudalism. All the traveling through the Holy Land led to exchange of ideas with one another and Italian cities became major trading cities. Unfortunately only the First
of the Spanish Inquisition was able to stop this by burning the book of the Second Temple and the Book of the Laws. This gave birth as the Church would later find itself in turmoil.
Eventually that was changed with the destruction of the Holy Land and that is the history of the church. There will be another history here after the Second Temple was burned this time to prevent war and wars.
The Spanish Inquisition was a power struggle between the Protestant and Catholic leaders and it became one of the major political issues in Spain between the two sides, even though the Spanish government was not the only political power in France.
Even more important was the rise of the Catholic church in France. The Spanish government and Catholic church are two sides of the same coin, which means it was not just about the fact that Catholic leaders had to defend the Catholic Church and the State. It was about the right to worship only at the same place. This was a civil war. This was not just a secular conflict, this was also about the government being above everyone else.
In the first few months of the Franco era, in the final months Spain and the rest of France suffered severe economic loss while the Catholic Church failed to grow as a powerful military force. The Catholic Church refused to participate of course on religious terms. However many of the bishops who ruled France had come from a Catholic family and wanted a strong Catholic military force with priests and bishops. They wanted to create an armed army capable of fighting off rival powers like the British Empire and the Protestant empire. The Catholic Church was the only political force in France. The Catholic Church could still support their military forces to defend the Catholic faith. The Catholic Church refused to agree to the French Empire because of their support for the British Empire so they wanted a strong military force capable of defeating the French Army. The Catholic Church could not win against the Protestant Empire. It had to prove its power by fighting Catholic forces when France was in power. Once the Catholic Church won the battle, it could use the Catholic Church’s support to force another war in order to defend the Holy Land.