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In the 900s, engaging in pilgrimages to churches and other holy sites in Europe became popular, probably due to a Christian desire to rid themselves of their sins and afflictions through sacrifice. In the year 1000, Stephen I became the first Christian ruler of Hungary, which reduced the length of time a Christian pilgrim would spend in hostile lands. Over the next century thousands of European Christians would travel each year to Jerusalem, the center of their world. Christian philosophers of the time were also murmuring about the impending apocalypse at the turn of the millennium and how Jerusalem would figure prominently in that event.
In 1065 a group of German pilgrims were attacked by a marauding Turkish Army unit, but with the help of the walls of an abandoned town and the Egyptian Army they lived to tell their tale of a near-Apocalyptic event back home (Rubenstein, 2011, p. 9-15). In 1095, Peter the Hermit develops a reputation for speaking directly with God and preaches Jerusalem is in need of European military salvation. These two events, together with increasing Turkish incursions into the...
The same could have been true for Pope Urban II when he publicly made the case for reclaiming the Middle East for Christians on November 17, 1095; however, he was facing a divided church, difficulties with the rulers of France and Germany, increasingly aggressive Turks, repeated calls for military aid from Byzantium, and a crisis in Greece (Rubenstein, 2011, p. 17-22). A Christian Crusade to reclaim the holy city of Jerusalem could potentially unite the nations of Western Europe, provide a force that would help protect Byzantium against the Turks, and reclaim much of the land that was lost to Muslim rulers. The motivations underlying the Crusades were therefore religious, political, or both, depending on the person being considered.
References
Hansen, V. & Curtis, K. (2014). Voyages in World History: Volume 1 to 1600 (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
Rubenstein, J. (2011). Armies of Heaven: The First Crusade and the Quest for Apocalypse. New York: Basic Books.
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