The Crusades Causes

The Crusades were “wars fought to regain holy land from the Muslims” (Perry, Chase and Jacob). These Crusades were fought by the Christians. The first Crusade was started by Pope Urban II in 1095 and in 1099 it resulted in a successful capture of Jerusalem. The second Crusade was to recapture the city of Edessa from the Muslims, and were humiliated and failed. The third Crusade was to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims, which also failed due to illness. The fourth Crusade was to again, try to take back Jerusalem, but instead, they took over the Christian capital, Constantinople, and never got to the holy land (Asbridge)
There were several causes for the Crusades, a war between Christians and Muslims for Jerusalem. One cause was the massacre of three thousand Christian pilgrims.
The Christians had expanded with the Holy Roman Empire starting in 962. The Muslims has been expanding as well. The Muslims “conquered two-thirds of the ancient Christian world by the end of the 11th century” (Madden, Dickson and Baldwin). The Crusades were to end the wars that expanded Islam and the threat of further expansion. During this time, feudalism was the main social system in Europe. Feudalism is “historiographic construct designating the social, economic, and political conditions in western Europe during the early Middle Ages” (Brown). Feudalism was a component in the rise of states. The rise of states now was because trade was revived and because of feudalism, the “Respublica Christiana, the commonwealth governed by the emperor who was guided by the pope” (Perry, Chase and Jacob), was sought out. People felt unified and able to regain a better life. Although, “the Crusades were seemingly to blame for the decline of feudalism and the rise of monarchy” (Perry, Chase and Jacob) because “many lords were killed in battle or squandered their wealth financing expeditions to the Holy Land” (Perry, Chase and