HISTORY, RELIGION

The First Crusade from Both Muslim & Christian Perspectives

The First Crusade from Both Muslim & Christian Perspectives

The Political Climate at The Time of The First Crusade: A Brief Overview

The First Crusade was a widespread pilgrimage that started as an expedition and ended as a military campaign to regain the Holy Lands and ultimately resulted in the recapture of Jerusalem. From a Christian perspective, The First Crusade was a mission that was a holy war against the unbelievers of Christianity. Christians wanted to attack and take the Holy Land of Palestine from the Muslims at the end of the eleventh century. The war was justified by a sense of entitlement and that any Christian non-believers were infidels. It was the Christian response to Muslim conquests and was followed by more Crusades. That Muslim response to the First Crusade was the attempt to create greater unity and a common sense of purpose among Muslims like they had experienced during the earliest years of their expansion and they did their best to defend what they felt was their land.

At the time, the political climate was tense and the Christian Crusaders believed they were settling an unfair land issue and also religious turmoil. It was difficult for the crusader kingdoms to maintain themselves and by the 1120s, the Muslims had begun to strike back. (Spielvogel & Duiker, 2013) Although it is debatable, The Crusades have been categorized as a holy war as well as a war for political and economic reasons. A power struggle was taking place over the ownership of the land.

The Crusades may have been the beginning of a long persecution of Muslims. As well, another possible side effect is evident. “The first widespread attacks on the Jews began with the Crusades. As some Christians argued, it was unthinkable to undertake holy wars against infidel Muslims while the, ‘‘murderers of Christ’’ ran free at home.” (Spielvogel & Duiker, 2013) The power dynamic was completely changed by the Crusades. Before this film and reading the textbook, I had not realized how much power the Muslim religion had at the time and that they were able to expand so quickly and that the First Crusade was a response to this expansion.

References

Spielvogel, J. J., & Duiker, W. J. (2013). The Essential World History. Cengage Learning.

By Unknown author — Egerton ms. 1500[1], fol. 45v, Public Domain

~Citation~

Triola Vincent. Tue, Mar 02, 2021. The First Crusade from Both Muslim & Christian Perspectives Retrieved from https://vincenttriola.com/blogs/ten-years-of-academic-writing/the-first-crusade-from-both-muslim-christian-perspectives

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