First Crusade Causes

The First Crusade is a conflict that took place in the latter years of the 11th century CE. This war, the first of eight, was a struggle provoked by the Christian powers in Europe against Islamic powers in the Middle East, or Holy Land. This crusade was said to have risen as a result of various reasons; all of these reasons, of course, being the fault of the European Christians. One minor potential reasoning for starting the conflict is known as the Second Son Theory: due to the Law of Primogeniture, which entails the firstborn son earning all inheritance, the second-born was often left with very little so to fix this, the church decided that they wanted to relocate the second sons to the Holy Land to gain land and wealth.
Lastly, the Christians claimed a reasoning in which they were rallying to help the Byzantine Empire against the invasions of the Seljuk Turks. Thus, in the year 1095, Pope Urban II called together the Council of Clermont to assemble the Franks to march unto the Holy Land to defend their Christian honor and to eradicate the infidels that littered the land. However, the Muslims did not see this as a mere defense of honor, but a siege of brute force by evil men doing nothing but the opposite of God’s work. The year is 1095 and Pope Urban II brings together the race of the Franks to deliver his Call to Crusade where he urges, in convincing detail, the Christian men to fight behind the cross and in the name of God to dispel the Islamic threat from the Holy Land. The Pope’s reasoning behind the call to arms is to destroy the Seljuk Turks that have invaded Christian lands, pillaging and raping the villages along with ransacking churches and houses of worship. Urban II describes these Islamic warmongers as men who were abandon by God, committing atrocities toward fellow Christians that are so wicked and evil that a call to action is necessary as seen by God. Furthermore, it can be