The Crusades

3 units

In 1095, Pope Urban II urged Christian princes to liberate the Holy Land from Muslim rule. Four years later, after enduring great hardships, the knights who had answered Urban's call conquered the city of Jerusalem. This first crusade and its accomplishments shaped the way future crusades were conducted as well as the way in which historians have both understood and framed the idea of a crusade as an armed pilgrimage to the holy land sanctioned by the papacy. However, the language of crusade was also invoked in campaigns against other enemies of Christendom: the long struggle to reconquer Spain from its Muslim rulers, the wars waged against pagan peoples along the Baltic Sea, and campaigns undertaken against Christian heretics and political foes of the papacy. This course aims to explore the idea of crusade and crusading over the course of the Middle Ages. We will examine the causes, immediate effects, and long-term consequences of the crusades and to trace the lasting memory of crusading ideology throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. By the end of this course, students will understand the major themes and ideas that made up the medieval crusades and how those themes and ideas changed over time.