Let's try to give a general description of the Crusades, describing the main features of their military strategy, the features of the states created in the East as a result of them, and the influence that Christians were subjected to in Muslim Asia.
The Crusades were military expeditions of Christians, organized by the Pope, the head of the entire Catholic world; every crusader was an armed pilgrim, to whom the church, as a reward for this pilgrimage, forgave all the church punishments he deserved. Participants in the crusades gathered in large militias around a king, a powerful lord or even a papal legate, but they were not subject to any discipline, they freely moved from one militia to another or even completely left the expedition when they considered their vow fulfilled. Thus, the crusader army was nothing more than a collection of troops that chose the same path. They advanced in disorder and slowly, mounted on heavy horses, burdened with baggage trains, many servants and marauders, forced to put on heavy chain mail before each battle.
Participants in the Crusades spent entire months traversing the Byzantine Empire and fighting the Turkic horsemen of Asia Minor. In the steppes and deserts, where there was no water or where food could not be obtained, people and horses died from hunger, thirst and fatigue. At the sites, lack of care, deprivation and fasting, often replaced by excesses in the consumption of food and drinks, gave rise to infections that exterminated thousands of crusaders. Only a tiny fraction of those who went on the crusade reached Syria. Thus, on the way to the Holy Land, especially in the 12th century, a huge number of people died. Ultimately, the crusaders abandoned this disastrous land route; in the 13th century everyone was already going by sea; Italian ships transported them to St. for several months. the land where the real war began. This change of path radically changed the very nature of the Crusades.
In battles with Muslims, the crusaders, with equal numbers, usually prevailed: on their large horses and in impenetrable armor, they formed dense battalions, which the Saracens, on their small horses and armed with bows and sabers, could not break through. True, the victories of the crusaders did not have lasting results; the victors returned to Europe, and the Muslims again became masters of the country.
The armies of the Crusades, which appeared from time to time in the Holy Land, could conquer it, but they were not able to retain it. But together with the crusaders going to St. the land only to worship the holy places, both knights seeking to acquire money and merchants seeking profit came here; for them it was important to retain the country. To them the Crusades owe all their success, since they took advantage of the momentary strength represented by the masses of pilgrims for lasting conquests. They led military operations, built siege engines, took cities and fortified them in order to be able to repel the enemy when he returned. The crusaders themselves were completely incapable of waging war in distant countries; the magnificent expeditions led by the sovereigns, every one of them ended in the most deplorable way. The only crusader armies that were truly successful (the First Crusade, which led to the conquest of Syria, and the Fourth, which resulted in the conquest of Byzantium), were led - one by Italian Normans, the other by Venetians. The enthusiasm and courage of the crusaders was a blind force that needed the guidance of experienced men. Thus the religious enthusiasts of the Crusades were only instruments; the true founders of Christian states were adventurers and merchants who, like the emigrants of our time, went to the East to firmly settle there.
These emigrants were never sufficiently numerous to populate the country; they represented a military camp among the natives. In each of the Christian principalities, the ruling class until the end consisted of several thousand French knights and Italian merchants. Principalities created as a result of the Crusades, could never achieve the strength of European states that contained an entire nation. They resembled those states founded by Arab or Turkish leaders, where the population remained indifferent to who ruled them, and where the state merged with the army and perished with it. These principalities existed for about two centuries, that is, longer than many of the eastern states. Only powerful emigration could give them the strength to hold out in the fight against Muslim Asia and Byzantium; but medieval Europe could not harbor such emigration.
Crusader states in the East
For half a century, the Christian states created as a result of the crusades had to fight only with the petty princes of Syria and Atabek of Mosul; Egyptian Muslims lived in peace with them. This was their heyday. But when the place Cairo Caliphate, destroyed Saladin, occupied by the military state of the Mamelukes, Christians, pressed by Egypt, could not resist for long, as the victories of Saladin prove. If the remnants of the crusader states held out for another century, it was only because the sultans made no attempts to destroy them. For both Muslims and Christians, this war was undoubtedly a holy one, which was often interrupted by truces of several years. One should also not think that all Christian princes rallied against all Muslim princes. Political interests usually trumped religious hatred. There were constant wars between Christians against Christians and Muslims against Muslims. Often even a Christian prince entered into an alliance with a Muslim leader against another Christian prince.
Complete agreement has never prevailed in the Christian camp. The religious enthusiasm that united the participants in the crusades did not drown out either trade rivalry or racial hatred; between the princes of different states, between the French, Germans and English, between Genoese and Venetian merchants, between the Templars and Hospitallers There were eternal disputes, which more than once led to armed clashes. In 1256, in Saint-Jean d'Acre, a war broke out between the Venetians and the Genoese over a monastery built on a hill that separated their quarters. Hospitallers, Catalans, Anconans and Pisans took the side of the Genoese; Templars, Teutonic Knights, Provencals, The Patriarch of Jerusalem and the King of Cyprus supported Venice. The Genoese destroyed the tower of the Pisans, the Venetians burned the Genoese ships and stormed their quarter. This war lasted two years.
The same eternal quarrels went on between the crusaders coming from Europe and the Syrian Franks. Living among the Saracens, the Franks who settled in the East after the Crusades adopted their customs, baths, flowing clothes; they organized light cavalry, armed in Turkish style, and recruited Muslim soldiers (Turkopols); they tended to treat Muslim princes as neighbors and not attack them without cause. The Western knights, who brought with them from Europe an inveterate hatred against the infidels, would like to exterminate them all and were indignant at this tolerance. As soon as the troops of the new crusade landed on the shore, they rushed into Muslim territory, eager for battle and plunder, often against the advice of the native Christians, who were better acquainted with the nature of eastern warfare. Western writers of the Middle Ages look at the Christians of the Holy Land as traitors, and attribute to them the blame for the destruction of the Syrian states.
Are these accusations true? No doubt these Frankish adventurers, having quickly become rich and living in luxury among a corrupt population, must have been infected with many of their vices, especially those born in Syria (they were called poulains). But it was not for the European crusaders to judge them. They themselves, through their short-sightedness and lack of discipline, did more harm than the Syrian Christians through their effeminacy.
Crusader states
Between 1098 and 1109 The Crusaders founded four states in the Eastern Mediterranean: the County of Edessa (County of Edessa), the Principality of Antioch (Principality of Antioch), the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the County of Tripoli.
The King of Jerusalem was considered the first among the rulers of the other Latin states, but in reality he did not have any advantages over the other three sovereigns. The rulers of Tripoli, Antioch and Edessa were de facto independent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By and large, they could not even be called his vassals, although they took a vassal oath (homage) to the king. In reality, the king of Jerusalem was more of a nominal head of a confederation of crusader states: in their countries, the princes of Antioch, the counts of Tripoli and Edessa had the same power as their “suzerain” had in the kingdom of Jerusalem.
In accordance with medieval orders, these feudal states were divided into smaller units of fiefdom - baronies; these latter, in turn, were split into even smaller ones - knightly fiefs, or fiefs, and so on.
The situation with the subjects of these rulers was also noteworthy. Here is what the famous Russian researcher Olga Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya writes in her work “The Age of the Crusades”: “With the exception of a small number of acclimatized families, the population of Palestine was fluctuating and changeable. Until the very end of the 12th century. and partly back in the 13th century. New inhabitants flocked here, carried away by religious inspiration, the desire to arrange their destiny, or the thirst for adventure. The reverse wave carried the satisfied or disillusioned to Europe. With the continuously renewed population, morals, concepts and habits were renewed; the changes that took place on the soil of Europe were absorbed into the eastern soil.”
County of Edessa (Northwestern Mesopotamia). Before the appearance of the Crusaders, the Armenian principality of Edessa existed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In 1031, Edessa became part of Byzantium, and in 1071, after the defeat of the Byzantine troops at Manzikert, Edessa found itself cut off from the territory of the empire by the Seljuks who invaded Asia Minor. At the same time, the Byzantine administration headed by Duka remained in the city. The basis of the economy of Edessa was caravan trade.
At the end of the 11th century. Edessa ruled by Kuropalat? Toros, was able to achieve autonomy. However, the position of the principality was extremely precarious, which required either a strong ally or a powerful patron. During this difficult time, the younger brother of Godfrey of Boulogne, Baldwin of Boulogne, appears in the Euphrates region with his knights. Matthew of Edessa in his Chronography describes these events as follows:
“A certain count named Baldwin came and with a hundred horsemen took a city called Tilbashar. Having learned about this, the Roman prince Toros, who was in the city of Edessa, was very happy. He turned to the Count of the Franks in Tilbashar with a call to come to the aid against his enemies, for he was being pressed by neighboring emirs. Count Baldwin came to Edessa with sixty horsemen. The city crowd came out to meet him and brought him into the city with great joy. All the believers rejoiced. Kuropalat Toros concluded great love and alliance with the count, and gave him many gifts.”
Thoros of Edessa, apparently under pressure from 12 Ishkhans - representatives of the city elite, not only invites Baldwin to the city, but also soon adopts him, sharing power with him.
Regarding further events, let us again give the floor to Matthew of Edessa:
“After Count Baldwin arrived in Edessa, insidious and malicious people entered into an agreement with the count to kill the Kuropalat Thoros. This was not befitting of Thoros, who had shown so many benefits [to the city], for thanks to his intelligence and wisdom, his skillful ingenuity and great courage, Edessa was delivered from the position of a tributary and servant of the greedy and cruel tribe of Arabs. These days, forty people entered into a Judaic conspiracy among themselves. At night they went to Count Baldwin, brother of Duke Godfrey, and involved [him] in their evil intentions and promised to give him Edessa. The latter approved of their evil intention. They also involved the Armenian prince Constantine [in this matter] and in the fifth week of Lent they roused the entire city crowd against the Kuropalat Toros. On Sunday they destroyed the houses of all his nobles, captured the upper fortress, on Monday they attacked the lower fortress where [Thoros] was located and gave him a fierce battle. Being in a hopeless situation, [Toros] asked them to swear that they would not touch him, and promised to surrender the fortress and city to them and retire with his wife to the city of Samosata. He gave them the holy crosses [of the monasteries] Varag and Makenots, on which the count swore in the Church of the Apostles that he would not touch him. He also swore in the name of angels, archangels, prophets, holy apostles, holy patriarchs, the host of all martyrs; Thoros sent the [text] of this oath in writing to the count, who swore by all the saints, after which Thoros surrendered the fortress to him. Baldwin and all the nobles of the city entered the fortress. On Tuesday, the feast of the Holy Forty Martyrs, the townspeople brutally attacked [Toros], threw him from the wall [of the fortress] with swords and clubs into a huge crowd, which all attacked him as one, inflicted many blows on him with swords, and killed him with a painful death. They committed a great sin before God. They tied his legs with a rope and shamefully dragged him around the city square. On this day they became oathbreakers. And after that they gave Edessa to Baldwin."
In March 1098, Baldwin declared himself Count of Edessa and subjugated most of the cities and fortresses of Osroene, thus creating the first of four Latin states in the East. The County of Edessa was landlocked and bordered on the west by the Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Cilicia, on the north and south by the Seljuk state. The county was inhabited by Christian Armenians and Syrians; Orthodox Greeks and Muslims were significantly inferior to them in number. In 1100, after the death of Godfrey of Boulogne, the ruler of Edessa, Baldwin of Boulogne, inherited the title of ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Edessa passed to his cousin, Baldwin de Burke (Baldwin the Second). In total, five rulers and two regents managed to sit on the throne of Edessa.
Josselin III became the last Count of Edessa. In 1144, taking advantage of Josselin's absence, Zengi (nickname of the famous Seljuk commander Emad ad-Din, 1084–1145) took the city after a month of siege. Preventing the sack of Edessa, he gave the Latin churches to the Christians of the East. On September 15, 1146, Zengi was killed during the siege of the Syrian fortress, and in the same year the Armenians and Europeans remaining in Edessa rebelled. The city was taken by Nur ad-Din, son of Zengi, the Armenians were expelled or killed, and the County of Edessa ceased to exist.
Principality of Antioch (Northern Syria). The second most established state of the Crusaders was located on the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and bordered on Edessa, Tripoli, the Kingdom of Cilicia and the Seljuk state.
In October 1097, the “pilgrims” besieged Antioch. Many Christians lived in the city - Armenians and Syrians. Antioch was one of the most powerful strongholds in the Mediterranean: the city was surrounded by a powerful wall with 450 towers, the length of which exceeded 10 kilometers. The thickness of the wall was such that four horses could easily ride along it. Inside, behind the wall, was the fortress itself, whose walls, more than 400 meters long, towered over the city.
The unsuccessful siege continued for seven months. Hunger and strife settled among the crusaders: it was not possible to take Antioch with the help of military force alone. “While it was besieged by us,” one of the leaders of the First Crusade, Bohemond, Prince of Tarentum, reported to Urban II in a letter dated September 11, 1098, “we suffered many disasters from the battles [that took place] near the city with the Turks and pagans , who often attacked us in large numbers, so that we can hardly say that they themselves were rather besieged by those who were kept locked up in Antioch. In the end... I, Bohemond, came to an agreement with one Turk who betrayed this city to me.”
As a result of the betrayal, Antioch was taken, robbed, and the non-Christian inhabitants were massacred. The despair of the Muslims was all the greater because Antioch fell just two days before the arrival of the huge army of the Mosul emir Kerboghi, who came to the rescue.
After a short dispute between the leaders of the crusaders, the city was given into the possession of Bohemond. The second state of the Crusaders was formed - the Principality of Antioch.
Before the crusaders had time to strengthen themselves properly, on June 5, 1098, the second siege of Antioch began. The approaching Muslim army completely blocked the city. The position of the defenders became critical, and famine began. And then, according to the chronicles, a miracle happened. Provençal Pierre Barthelemy reported that he had a vision - it was necessary to begin excavations in the Temple of St. Peter. They believed him, began to dig, and soon, on June 14, 1098, they found a relic - the spear with which Jesus Christ was wounded while crucified on the cross. The find inspired the crusaders. On June 28, the Frankish army made a victorious sortie from the fortress. The enemy was defeated, rich trophies were captured - provisions for the army of Emir Kerboga.
Crusaders at the found sacred relic - the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Artist Gustave Dore
Despite the stabilization of the situation, the position of the Principality of Antioch was difficult: from the east it was threatened by the Emirate of Aleppo, and in the north by Byzantium, which was trying to regain Antioch. The Antiochian princes drove back the Byzantines and occupied lands beyond the Orontes River, and also imposed tribute on their neighbors - Aleppo, Shaizar, Hama and Homs. In 1118, they even imposed an unfavorable agreement on the emir of Aleppo, which gave the Franks, in return for fees, the preferential right to escort and protect caravans with pilgrims going from Aleppo to Mecca.
The history of the Principality of Antioch is a history of constant struggle for existence, a history of diplomatic compromises, dynastic alliances, open struggle for the throne among heirs, armed confrontation with Byzantium and the Seljuks.
In the middle of the 13th century. A conflict broke out over Syria between the Mamluks, who then ruled Egypt, and the Mongols. The rulers of the Principality of Antioch placed their bets on the Mongols, even entered into a vassal alliance with them and... lost. The Principality of Antioch ceased to exist in 1268, capitulating to the troops of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars.
Kingdom of Jerusalem (Southern Syria and Palestine). Initially, the new state, in addition to Jerusalem, included only Jaffa and Bethlehem with districts; later it included Haifa, Caesarea, Acre, Sidon, Beirut, and Tire.
After the capture of the city by the crusaders and the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher, the nominal head of the First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon, was elected head of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. True, Gottfried flatly refused to be crowned, declaring that he did not want to wear an earthly crown where Jesus Christ was crowned with a crown of thorns. Therefore, the first king of Jerusalem was only a de facto king, but de jure he bore the title “Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.” However, this did not last long - Godfrey of Boulogne died a year after the capture of Jerusalem, and his younger brother and successor Baldwin of Boulogne (by that time already Baldwin of Edessa) took the title “King of Jerusalem”.
Baldwin I, who by that time had already created the County of Edessa, did not disgrace his reputation and became king. He significantly expanded the territory, conquering the seaside cities of Acre, Beirut and Sidon, and under him, in general, all the features of this very atypical monarchy were formed.
Here is how the famous Soviet researcher M. Zaborov describes its device:
“In the Kingdom of Jerusalem there were four large possessions: in the north of Palestine - the principality of Galilee (with its center in Tiberias), in the west - the lordship of Saida [Sidon], Caesarea and Beisan, as well as the county of Jaffa and Ascalon (it was conquered from Egypt in 1153 .), in the south - the seigneury of Krak de Montreal and Saint-Abraham. The lords of these domains were considered direct vassals of the crown. Each of them had their own vassals in the person of smaller rulers, who received from them their estates (fiefs) as hereditary holdings: the vassal of the Count of Jaffa and Ascalon was the lord of Ramla, and so on.”
The peculiarity of this vassal service was that, unlike Europe, the lord had the right to demand its fulfillment not for a limited number of days, but throughout the year - due to the fact that the kingdom waged essentially continuous wars, any knight should at any time be ready to go on a campaign by order of the king.
However, this was not enough - another feature of the Latin states was the virtual absence of a Christian peasant population. Unlike European monarchies, whose economic and administrative basis were peasant villages, the newly formed crusader states were based on cities and fortresses, where the Europeans were concentrated. The peasant population remained almost exclusively Muslim, and life in rural areas changed little. And although the headman of the village - rais - was considered a subject of some knight to whom this land was granted, the ruler usually lived somewhere in the city, without particularly interfering in anything. Muslim peasants paid taxes and supplied food, but for obvious reasons were exempt from military service. Numerous Italians who settled in coastal cities were not required to serve either.
Because of this, the Kingdom of Jerusalem experienced a chronic lack of military strength - the army of the kingdom, recruited from the Franks living in the cities, was always very small, and this deficit was not always covered by warriors from knightly orders and knights arriving from Europe. The kings of Jerusalem never had more than 600 mounted knights, and the changing composition of the crusaders and the constant infighting among their leaders made the defense of the Holy Land extremely difficult.
Due to the fact that most of the influential barons did not sit on their estates at all, but permanently resided in Jerusalem, their influence on the king was much stronger compared to Europe. Royal power was greatly limited by the “High Assembly” - a council consisting of bishops and influential barons, which was one of the early forms of parliament. It was they who chose the king, decided on issues of providing him with money, starting military operations, and the like. In addition to the administrative ones, there were also legal restrictions - a set of laws called the “Jerusalem Assizes”, the code of feudal law of the crusader states.
De facto, the king had to coordinate all his actions with the lieutenants of the crown and had no right to make decisions without their sanction. Things got ridiculous - Baldwin I once had to cancel an order to clean up the streets of Jerusalem, because it was given without the consent of the barons.
In general, it is no coincidence that the French historian Maurice Granclaude defined the political system of the Kingdom of Jerusalem this way: “A peculiar feudal republic led by a king who existed only insofar as the feudal pyramid needed a top.”
Battle of Arsuf. Artist Gustave Dore
The church played the most important role in the Crusader state. Five archbishoprics and nine bishoprics were created in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The former possessions of the Orthodox Church of the Jerusalem and Antioch Patriarchates passed to them, in addition, the crusaders themselves founded many monasteries (Zion Monastery, the Abbey of St. Mary in the Valley of Jehoshaphat and others). Church properties were exempt from taxes. In addition to the usual duties, church feudal lords collected “tithes” from their domains. It is interesting that the archbishops and bishops, like the barons, had to field military detachments by order of the king, and considerable ones at that: the kings demanded 500 soldiers from the Jerusalem patriarchs, and 150 from the archbishops of Nazareth, Tire and Caesarea.
After the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin? October 2, 1187 (Ascalon, Tiberias, Sidon, Beirut and some other points were lost by the crusaders even earlier) The Kingdom of Jerusalem actually ceases to exist. True, in 1191 the crusaders regained the port of Acre, which became the capital of the kingdom, but this narrow coastal strip from Tire to Jaffa was all that remained of the once vast state. And exactly one hundred years later, in 1291, the Mamluks, led by Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil, captured Acre, and the remaining Christians were evacuated to Cyprus. This will be the end of the Crusader states.
County of Tripoli (Western Syria). Neighbors bordering Tripoli were Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Seljukid state. In the east, the county was surrounded by mountains - the Ansaria and Lebanon ranges. The mountain range provided reliable protection, but on the Homs side the county was completely open.
Tradition names the founder of the county as Raymond of Toulouse, who died during the siege of Tripoli in 1105, before receiving real power over the city. The first truly ruling Count of Tripoli was Count of Cerdani, Guillaume Jordan, nephew of Raymond of Toulouse. At the time when William Jordan declared himself Count of Tripoli, the county consisted of the cities of Tortosa (Tartus) and Jebeil, and the city of Tripoli was in the hands of the Seljuks. And only in the summer of 1109 the crusaders managed to take the city with the help of King Baldwin the First of Jerusalem and the Genoese fleet. Both Guillaume Jordan and Raymond’s eldest son, Bertrand, who joined the crusaders in 1108, took part in the assault. During the battle, Guillaume Jordan was wounded.
Meanwhile, Bertrand of Toulouse laid claim to his father's inheritance. The lawsuit was to be resolved by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who proposed dividing the county into two parts. While the proceedings were ongoing, William Jordan died, and Bertrand of Toulouse became the sole ruler of Tripoli.
Sandwiched between Antioch and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Tripoli was the smallest possession of the Crusaders in the Middle East and followed in the wake of the policies of one or another strong state, primarily the Principality of Antioch, on which the county was dependent for most of its history. Nevertheless, it was the last to fall, having existed a quarter of a century longer than its overlord.
The last ruler of the County of Tripoli was Lucia of Tripoli, the second daughter of Bohemond VI. The county ceased to exist in 1289, submitting to the Egyptian Sultan Qalaun al-Alfi.
This text is an introductory fragment.On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II delivered a sermon to those gathered at the cathedral in the French city of Clermont. He called on his listeners to take part in a military expedition and liberate Jerusalem from the “infidels” - the Muslims who conquered the city in 638. As a reward, future crusaders received the opportunity to atone for their sins and increase their chances of going to heaven. The pope's desire to lead a godly cause coincided with the desire of his listeners to be saved - this is how the era of the Crusades began.
On July 15, 1099, one of the key events of the event took place, which would later become known as the First Crusade: the crusader troops, after a successful siege, took Jerusalem and began to exterminate its inhabitants. Most of the crusaders who survived this battle returned home. Those who remained formed four states in the Middle East - the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Subsequently, eight more expeditions were sent against Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa. For the next two centuries, the flow of crusaders into the Holy Land was more or less regular. However, many of them did not stay in the Middle East, and the crusader states experienced a constant shortage of defenders.
In 1144, the County of Edessa fell, and the goal of the Second Crusade was the return of Edessa. But during the expedition, plans changed - the crusaders decided to attack Damascus. The siege of the city failed, the campaign ended in nothing. In 1187, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria took Jerusalem and many other cities of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the richest of them, Acre (modern Acre in Israel). During the Third Crusade (1189-1192), led by King Richard the Lionheart of England, Acre was returned. All that remained was to return Jerusalem. At that time it was believed that the keys to Jerusalem were in Egypt and therefore the conquest should begin there. This goal was pursued by the participants of the Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Campaigns. During the Fourth Crusade, Christian Constantinople was conquered, and during the Sixth Crusade, Jerusalem was returned - but not for long. Campaign after campaign ended unsuccessfully, and the desire of the Europeans to participate in them weakened. In 1268, the Principality of Antioch fell, in 1289 - the County of Tripoli, in 1291 - the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Acre.
Norman horsemen and archers at the Battle of Hastings. Fragment of the Bayeux Tapestry. 11th century Wikimedia Commons Before the First Crusade, the conduct of many wars could be approved by the church, but none of them was called sacred: even if the war was considered just, participation in it was harmful to the salvation of the soul. So, when in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings the Normans defeated the army of the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold II, the Norman bishops imposed penance on them. Now, participation in the war was not only not considered a sin, but made it possible to atone for past sins, and death in battle practically guaranteed the salvation of the soul and ensured a place in heaven.
This new attitude to war is demonstrated by the history of the monastic order that arose shortly after the end of the First Crusade. At first, the main duty of the Templars - not just monks, but monastic knights - was to protect Christian pilgrims who went to the Holy Land from robbers. However, very quickly their functions expanded: they began to protect not only pilgrims, but also the Kingdom of Jerusalem itself. Many castles in the Holy Land passed to the Templars; Thanks to generous gifts from Western European supporters of the Crusades, they had enough money to keep them in good condition. Like other monks, the Templars took vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, but, unlike members of other monastic orders, they served God by killing their enemies.
Godfrey of Bouillon crosses the Jordan. Miniature from the manuscript of William of Tire. XIII century Bibliothèque nationale de France For a long time it was believed that the main reason for participation in the Crusades was the thirst for profit: supposedly this was how the younger brothers, deprived of an inheritance, improved their position at the expense of the fabulous riches of the East. Modern historians reject this theory. Firstly, among the crusaders there were many rich people who left their possessions for many years. Secondly, participation in the Crusades was quite expensive, and almost never brought profit. Costs were consistent with participant status. So, the knight had to fully equip himself and his companions and servants, as well as feed them during the entire journey there and back. The poor hoped for the opportunity to earn extra money on the campaign, as well as for alms from wealthier crusaders and, of course, for loot. Loot from a major battle or after a successful siege was quickly spent on provisions and other necessary items.
Historians have calculated that a knight going on the First Crusade had to raise an amount equal to his income for four years, and the whole family often took part in collecting these funds. They had to mortgage and sometimes even sell their possessions. For example, Godfrey of Bouillon, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, was forced to mortgage his family nest - Bouillon Castle.
Most of the surviving crusaders returned home empty-handed, unless, of course, you count the relics from the Holy Land, which they then donated to local churches. However, participation in the Crusades greatly increased the prestige of the entire family and even its next generations. A bachelor crusader who returned home could count on a profitable match, and in some cases this made it possible to improve his shaky financial situation.
Death of Frederick Barbarossa. Miniature from the Saxon World Chronicle manuscript. Second half of the 13th century Wikimedia Commons It is difficult to calculate how many crusaders died in the campaigns: the fates of very few participants are known. For example, of the companions of Conrad III, king of Germany and leader of the Second Crusade, more than a third did not return home. They died not only in battle or subsequently from wounds received, but also from disease and hunger. During the First Crusade, the shortage of provisions was so serious that it came to the point of cannibalism. The kings also had a hard time. For example, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa drowned in a river, Richard the Lionheart and King Philip II Augustus of France barely survived a serious illness (apparently a type of scurvy), which caused their hair and nails to fall out. Another French king, Louis IX the Saint, had such severe dysentery during the Seventh Crusade that he had to have the seat of his trousers cut out. And during the Eighth Campaign, Louis himself and one of his sons died.
_Gemahlin_Leopolds_II..PNG)
Ida of Austria. Fragment of the Babenberg family tree. 1489-1492 She took part with her own army in the Crusade of 1101. Yes, although their number is difficult to count. It is known that in 1248, on one of the ships that carried the crusaders to Egypt during the Seventh Crusade, there were 42 women for every 411 men. Some women took part in the Crusades together with their husbands; some (usually widows, who enjoyed relative freedom in the Middle Ages) traveled on their own. Like men, they went on hikes to save their souls, pray at the Holy Sepulcher, look at the world, forget about domestic troubles, and also become famous. Women who were poor or impoverished during the expedition earned their living, for example, as laundresses or lice finders. In the hope of earning God's favor, the crusaders tried to maintain chastity: extramarital affairs were punishable, and prostitution was apparently less common than in the ordinary medieval army.
Women participated very actively in hostilities. One source mentions a woman who was killed under fire during the siege of Acre. She took part in filling the ditch: this was done in order to roll the siege tower to the walls. Dying, she asked to throw her body into a ditch, so that in death she could help the crusaders besieging the city. Arab sources mention female crusaders who fought in armor and on horseback.
Crusaders play dice at the walls of Caesarea. Miniature from the manuscript of William of Tire. 1460s DIOMEDIA Board games, which were almost always played for money, were one of the main entertainments of both aristocrats and commoners in the Middle Ages. The Crusaders and settlers of the Crusader states were no exception: they played dice, chess, backgammon and mill (a logic game for two players). As the author of one of the chronicles, William of Tire, reports, King Baldwin III of Jerusalem loved to play dice more than befits royal honor. The same William accused Raymond, Prince of Antioch, and Josselin II, Count of Edessa, that during the siege of the castle of Shaizar in 1138, they did nothing but play dice, leaving their ally, the Byzantine Emperor John II , to fight alone - and in the end it was not possible to take Shaizar. The consequences of the games could be much more serious. During the siege of Antioch in 1097-1098, two crusaders, a man and a woman, played dice. Taking advantage of this, the Turks made an unexpected foray out of the city and took both of them prisoner. The severed heads of the unfortunate players were then thrown over the wall into the crusaders' camp.
But games were considered an undesirable activity - especially when it came to sacred war. King Henry II of England, having gathered for the Crusade (as a result, he never took part in it), forbade the crusaders to swear, wear expensive clothes, indulge in gluttony and play dice (in addition, he forbade women to participate in campaigns, for excluding laundresses). His son, Richard the Lionheart, also believed that games could interfere with the successful outcome of the expedition, so he established strict rules: no one had the right to lose more than 20 shillings in a day. True, this did not apply to kings, and commoners had to obtain special permission to play. Members of the monastic orders - the Templars and Hospitallers - also had rules that limited games. The Templars could only play the mill and only for fun, not for money. Hospitallers were strictly forbidden to play dice - “even on Christmas” (apparently some used this holiday as an excuse to relax).
Albigensian Crusade. Miniature from the manuscript “The Great French Chronicles”. Mid-14th century The British Library From the very beginning of their military expeditions, the crusaders attacked not only Muslims and fought battles not only in the Middle East. The first campaign began with mass beatings of Jews in northern France and Germany: some were simply killed, others were given the choice of death or conversion to Christianity (many chose suicide rather than death at the hands of the crusaders). This did not contradict the idea of the Crusades - most of the crusaders did not understand why they should fight against some infidels (Muslims) and spare other infidels. Violence against Jews accompanied other Crusades. For example, during the preparation for the third, pogroms occurred in several cities in England - more than 150 Jews died in York alone.
From the middle of the 12th century, popes began to declare Crusades not only against Muslims, but also against pagans, heretics, Orthodox and even Catholics. For example, the so-called Albigensian Crusades in the southwest of modern France were directed against the Cathars, a sect that did not recognize the Catholic Church. Their Catholic neighbors stood up for the Cathars - they basically fought with the crusaders. Thus, in 1213, King Pedro II of Aragon, who received the nickname Catholic for his successes in the fight against Muslims, died in a battle with the crusaders. And in the “political” Crusades in Sicily and southern Italy, the enemies of the crusaders from the very beginning were Catholics: the pope accused them of behaving “worse than infidels” because they did not obey his orders.
Frederick II and al-Kamil. Miniature from the manuscript “New Chronicle” by Giovanni Villani. XIV century Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana / Wikimedia Commons The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II vowed to take part in the Crusade, but was in no hurry to fulfill it. In 1227 he finally sailed to the Holy Land, but became seriously ill and turned back. For violating his vow, Pope Gregory IX immediately excommunicated him from the church. And even a year later, when Frederick boarded the ship again, the pope did not cancel the punishment. At this time, internecine wars were raging in the Middle East, which began after the death of Saladin. His nephew al-Kamil entered into negotiations with Frederick, hoping that he would help him in the fight against his brother al-Muazza. But when Frederick finally recovered and sailed again to the Holy Land, al-Muazzam died - and al-Kamil no longer needed help. Nevertheless, Frederick managed to convince al-Kamil to return Jerusalem to the Christians. The Muslims still had the Temple Mount with Islamic shrines - the “Dome of the Rock” and the al-Aqsa Mosque. This agreement was reached in part because Frederick and al-Kamil spoke the same language, both literally and figuratively. Frederick grew up in Sicily, where most of the population was Arabic-speaking, spoke Arabic himself and was interested in Arabic science. In correspondence with al-Kamil, Frederick asked him questions on philosophy, geometry and mathematics. The return of Jerusalem to Christians through secret negotiations with the “infidels”, and not open battle, and even by an excommunicated crusader, seemed suspicious to many. When Frederick arrived in Acre from Jerusalem, he was pelted with guts.
Sources
Ultimately these lands were conquered by the Muslims.
The goal of the crusade was declared to be the fight against the infidels for the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem from their power, and the first victim of the crusaders was the ruler of Christian Edessa, Thoros, with whose overthrow and murder the counties of Edessa were formed - the first crusader state in the Middle East
During the 4th Crusade, the Byzantine Empire was partially conquered by the crusaders, who founded four states on its territory.
In addition, the Venetians founded the Duchy of the Archipelago (or Duchy of Naxos) on the islands of the Aegean Sea.
These states faced attacks from the Greek states - the successors of Byzantium.
Thessalonica and the Latin Empire were reconquered by the Greeks in 1261.
The heirs of the Crusaders continued to rule in Athens and the Peloponnese until these lands were captured in the 15th century.
The spiritual-knightly order of the Hospitallers settled in 1310 on the island of Rhodes and several other islands of the Aegean archipelago, and in 1522 was expelled by the Ottoman Turks to Malta.
However, the crusaders managed to create the most durable state not in Palestine, but in Eastern Europe.
In 1217, Pope Honorius III declared a campaign against the pagan Prussians, and in 1225, the Polish prince Konrad of Mazovia himself invited the knights of the Teutonic Order to help him in the fight against his troubled neighbors.
During the XIII century. The order captured not only the lands of the Prussians, but also part of the lands of its recent allies, the Poles.
A theocratic Catholic state was created on this territory with its capital first in Marienburg (now Malbork in Poland), later in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia).
In the 15th century the decline of the order began. In 1410, he was defeated by the united Polish-Lithuanian army (which included Russian squads from the Western Russian lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania).
