The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?: Crash Course World History #15

Hi there! My name is John Green; this is Crash Course World History, and today we’re going

to talk about the Crusades. Ohhh, Stan, do we have to talk about the Crusades? I hate them...

Here’s the thing about the Crusades, which were a series of military expeditions from

parts of Europe to the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean. The real reason they feature

so prominently in history is because we’ve endlessly romanticized the story of the Crusades.

We’ve created this simple narrative with characters to root for and root against, and

it’s all been endlessly idealized by the likes of Sir Walter Scott. And there are knights

with swords and lion hearts... NO, STAN. LIONHEARTS. Thank you.

[theme music]

Let’s start by saying that initially the Crusades were not a “holy war” on the

part of Europeans against Islam, but in important ways the Crusades were driven by religious faith.

Past John: Mr. Green, Mr. Green! Religion causes all wars. Imagine no war —

I’m gonna cut you off right there before you violate copyright, me-from-the-past. But

as usual, you’re wrong. Simple readings of history are rarely sufficient. By the way,

when did my handwriting get so much better?

I mean, if the Crusades had been brought on by the lightning-fast rise of the Islamic

empire and a desire to keep in Christian hands the land of Jesus, then the Crusades would’ve

started in the 8th century. But early Islamic dynasties, like the Umayyads and the Abbasids,

were perfectly happy with Christians and Jews living among them, as long as they paid a

tax. And plus the Christian pilgrimage business was awesome for the Islamic Empire’s economy.

But then a new group of Muslims, the Seljuk Turks, moved into the region and they sacked

the holy cities and made it much more difficult for Christians to make their pilgrimages.

And while they quickly realized their mistake, it was already too late. The Byzantines, who’d had their

literal-asses kicked at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, felt the threat and called upon the West for help.

So the first official crusade began with a call to arms from Pope Urban II in 1095 CE.

This was partly because Urban wanted to unite Europe and he’d figured out the lesson the

rest of us learn from alien invasion movies: the best way to get people to unite is to

give them a common enemy. So Urban called on all the bickering knights and nobility

of Europe, and he saideth unto his people: “Let us go forth and help the Byzantines

because then maybe they will acknowledge my awesomeness and get rid of their stupid Not

Having Me as Pope thing, and while we are at it, let’s liberate Jerusalem!” I’m paraphrasing, by the way.

Shifting the focus to Jerusalem is really important, because the Crusades were not primarily

military operations; they were pilgrimages. Theologically, Christianity didn’t have