3/1 Lecture

Crusader Jerusalem (1099-1187)

Factors contributing to Crusades

·      political: divisions in Christianity

·      religious: late reaction to persecution of Christian population of Jerusalem (Holy Sepulcher destroyed, difficulty of Christian pilgrimage, massacre)

What is a crusade?

·      Authorized by the Pope Urban II (1095), crusaders take vows and receive protection & Indulgence (remission of the penalties for sins that was granted to crusaders)

Crusade routes

·      peasants’ routes: poor, ill-equipped peasants, very gung-ho, but get slaughtered by the Turks

·      nobles and elites wait to prepare militarily and strategically. more successful

·      several sets of crusade with miniature waves

Crusader Jerusalem

·      Jerusalem conquered 1099 by Godfrey of Bouillon

·      4 principalities: Antioch, Edessa, Tripoli, Jerusalem

·      4 quarters in Jerusalem

o   Patriarch’s quarter: contains Holy Sepulcher (Romanesque architecture, tension among different Christian sects -> Muslim doorkeeper)

o   Templar’s quarter: contains Temple Mount. Order of Knights Templar founded 1118. Purpose was to secure place and protect&encourage pilgrims.

o   Syrian quarter

o   Armenian quarter: Armenians had settled in Jerusalem for a long time

·      existing Islamic monuments modified: Dome of the Rock, al-Aqsa Mosque

·      rebuilding of ruined Byzantine churches

·      building of other new churches

o   St. Anne’s Church: Romanesque architecture

o   Citadel: palace for Crusader Kings

Remaking Jerusalem Christian

·      1^st Crusade, 1095-1099, preached by Pope Urban II

·      2^nd Crusade, 1147-114, preached by St. Bernard at Vezelay

·      July 4, 1187: Salah ah-din routs crusaders at Horns of Hattin -> Jerusalem surrender

o   Battle of Hattin: Jerusalem stranded without water

o   Saladin brought all Muslim factions together -> unification. took several decades

o   Saladin gives Holy Sepulcher to Greeks. truce, sharing,…

This was the first time I learned about the Crusades after elementary school, so I felt that the lecture wasn’t detailed enough in outlining the different crusades. I was able to understand the important events during the First Crusade and its significance, but what happened after the First Crusade until the Second Crusade? If Christians conquered Jerusalem in 1099, why was there a need for the Second Crusade? And how successful was the Second Crusade? Also, why did Christians eventually fail and had to succumb to the Muslim forces? As mentioned in lecture, the Crusader period lasted less than 100 years… So what impacts had this period left to makes this such a significant part of our history?