The Crusades were 200 years worth of battles sanctioned by the Papacy, whose intent was to take the Holy Land from the Muslims. This was a result of a fanatical Muslim, Hakim, destroying the sanctaury inside the Christian protectorate portion of Jerusalem and made it VERY difficult for Christians to make their pilgrimages. When the Christians invaded, under the "Truce of God" they took Jerusalem and massacred most of the non-Christian citizens, including Jews and Muslims.

Of course, the eight and ninth crusades were essentially crap and the Christians ended up with very small strongholds inside Jerusalem. The Jews who had been sold into slavery were freed. But fighting continued over that area as a ripple effect of thise initial crusades.

During its time, the Christians and most of Europe rallied behind these "knights of Christ" for 200 years. This military engagement had a profound affect on the rest of history, politically, geographically, and religiously.

What are your thoughts on these epic battles? Was their cause a noble one, or simply religious zeal? Did the Muslims provoke the Christians into taking action? How do you feel about the outcome? How do you think it has affected the Middle East today? Also, has it affected your views on religion?

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Saracens these people were some of the most cultured in the world

That's because they conquered the most civilized people in the world aka, the Egyptians, Byzantines, Parthians, Palmyrans, and Persians. The arabs were always very backward, but the conquered peoples flourished under their rule.

Yes the man was a military genius and very cultured he didn't enjoy fighting but he knew it was in this case the right thing to do.

Saladin was short and blind in one eye, but considered one of the more brilliant soldiers of his day. When all the Christians were fighting amongst themselves, he took Jerusalem back. And then he expanded the empire while the Christian army wsa relatively weak, spreading the Saracens empire from Egypt to Byzantium and uniting them.

After suffering a few defeats at King Richard's hand, Saladin ordered his men to ride a truce flag. However, some of his men began to attack towns and such out of desperation, and Richard and his men put them down, as well. Finally the Saracens retreated to Jerusalem where Saladin said he'd negotiate a peace treaty.

It took about three years for them to negotiate a good one, and even then, King Richard refused to enter the Holy Land as anything but a conqueror. Saladin was pretty cool with everything, though.

Really the major battles were not with muslims but a people we now think of as arabs (but were not all Islamic) who used to be called Saracens these people were some of the most cultured in the world and only really became "monsters" (as made out by the crusaders) when fighting the monsterous (tortue, etc) crusaders from their homelands.

Just on the subject anyone know of the Saracen King Saladin?

that's what I'm talking about. Crusades didn't only occur in the Middle East. They were anywhere where christian nations were being invaded by muslims or pagans.

But none of them as famous as the Christian crusades of the medieval times.

no, I mean that "Crusading" happened in many geographical regions.

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Originally posted by northstar316:
Crusading does not refer directly to the Holy Land.

That was its facade. Just as invading Iraq was about "finding WMDs." Ya dig?

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Originally posted by LoveTheRainbow:
You forgot the part about how much greed was an insentive. They wanted land and money also.

duh...The Fourth Crusade? Why don't we just burn down Constantinople and destroy the Roman Empire, and end the only cosmopolitan christian civilization.

You forgot the part about how much greed was an insentive. They wanted land and money also.

Crusading does not refer directly to the Holy Land. Cursading, or "Taking the Cross" as it was called, was any war waged on non-christian peoples. It usually took the form of fighting muslims in Jerusalem, Spain, Sicily and the Mediteranean islands, and the Slavs of Eastern Europe.

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ight and ninth crusades were essentially crap and the Christians ended up with very small strongholds inside Jerusalem. The Jews who had been sold into slavery were freed. But fighting continued over that area as a ripple effect of thise initial crusades.

During its time, the Christians and most of Europe rallied behind these "knights of Christ

I think that the Muslims and the Christians were wrong. It's just one big huge splotch in history that's disgusting. Only good things that came out of it was that the Christians learned about soap.