Some historians have called the period in Western

Europe between 500 and 1000 a “dark age.” Magyars seeking plunder pushed up from the Danube River region. Vikings raided western European church monasteries. These groups destroyed many of these centers of learning. Around the 900s, however, a new spirit invaded the church and brought about a spiritual revival in the clergy. Filled with new energy, the church began restructuring itself and started massive building programs to create new places of worship.

Setting the Stage

They wanted to return

to the basic principles of the

Christian religion.

Inspired by them, the

popes began to reform the Church.

Monasteries led the spiritual revival.

A new age of

religious feeling was born—the Age of Faith.

The Age of Faith

Many village priests married and had families.

Using the practice of lay

investiture, kings appointed church

bishops.

Problems in the

Church

Bishops sold positions

in the Church, a practice called

simony.

The Age of Faith

The pope’s group

of advisers was called the papal

Curia.

It developed

canon law (the law of the Church)

The Church was

restructured to resemble a

kingdom, with the pope at its

head.

Diplomats for the pope

traveled through Europe dealing

with bishops and kings.

The Church

collected taxes in the form of

tithes.They

used some of the money to perform social

services.

The Age of Faith

In the early 1200s, wandering friars traveled from

place to place preaching and spreading the

Church’s ideas.

The Age of Faith

Friars preached to the poor throughout Europe’s towns

and cities. They owned nothing and lived by begging.

Monks live apart from the world in monasteries.

Friars and monks took vows of chastity, poverty,

and obedience.

Dominic, a Spanish priest, founded the Dominicans.

The Age of Faith

Francis of Assisi, an italian, founded the Franciscans.

Clare founded a Franciscan order for women. It was known as the Poor Clares.

Hildegard of Bingen, a mystic and musician, founded a Benedictine convent

Between about 800 and 1100, churches were built in the Romanesque

style.

Round arches and a heavy roof

held up by thick walls and pillars. They had tiny windows that let

in little light.

The cathedral was viewed as the

representation of the City of

God. In the early 1100s, a

new style, known as Gothic, evolved

throughout medieval Europe.

Gothic cathedrals thrust

upward as if reaching toward heaven. Light streamed in through huge stained glass

windows.

In all, nearly 500 Gothic

churches were built between 1170

and 1270.

Cathedrals — Cities of God

Romanesque Cathedral

Gothic Cathedral

Pope Urban II issued a call for a

“holy war,” a Crusade, to gain

control of the Holy Land.

The Crusades had economic,

social, and political goals as well as

religious motives.

In 1093, the Byzantine

emperor asked for help against the Muslim Turks.

It was an opportunity to get rid of quarrelsome knights who fought

each other.

Younger sons were looking for

land and a position in society, or for

adventure.

Merchants profited by

making loans and by leasing their

ships for the journey.

The Crusades

By early 1097, three armies

gathered outside Constantinople.

The call brought a

tremendous outpouring of

religious feeling and support.!

An army of 12,000

approached Jerusalem.

The Crusaders

besieged the city for over a month. On July 15, 1099, they

captured the city.

It was a terrible massacre, they slaughtered its

Muslim and Jewish inhabitants.

Edessa was reconquered by the Turks. The Second

Crusade was organized to recapture the city. They

returned in defeat.

The Crusades

The CrusadesIn the Crusades, both Christians and Muslims believed that God was on their side. Theyboth felt justified in using violence to win or to keep the Holy Land. The followingexcerpts show their belief in the rightness of their deeds.

Using Primary and Secondary Sources

C P R I M A R Y S O U R C EB P R I M A R Y S O U R C EA P R I M A R Y S O U R C E

D P R I M A R Y S O U R C E

Pope Urban IIIn 1095, Pope Urban II issued a pleathat resulted in the First Crusade. Thepope assured his listeners that Godwas on their side.

Let the holy sepulcher of our Lord andSaviour, which is possessed by the unclean nations, especially arouseyou. . . . This royal city [Jerusalem],situated at the center of the earth, isnow held captive by the enemies ofChrist and is subjected, by those whodo not know God, to the worship ofthe heathen. Accordingly, undertakethis journey eagerly for the remissionof your sins, with the assurance of thereward of imperishable glory in thekingdom of heaven.

William of TyreA Christian bishop, William of Tyre,drew upon eyewitness accounts of thecapture of Jerusalem by Crusaders.

It was impossible to look upon the vastnumbers of the slain without horror;everywhere lay fragments of humanbodies, and the very ground wascovered with the blood of the slain. Itwas not alone the spectacle ofheadless bodies and mutilated limbsstrewn in all directions that rousedhorror in all who looked upon them.Still more dreadful was it to gaze uponthe victors themselves, dripping withblood from head to foot, an ominoussight which brought terror to all whomet them. It is reported that within theTemple enclosure alone about tenthousand infidels perished, in additionto those who lay slain everywherethroughout the city in the streets andsquares, the number of whom wasestimated as no less.

SaladinThis is an excerpt of Saladin’s reply toa letter from Frederick I (Barbarossa)threatening Saladin. Saladin wrote theletter after he recaptured Jerusalem.

Whenever your armies are assembled. . . we will meet you in the power ofGod. We will not be satisfied with theland on the seacoast, but we will crossover with God’s good pleasure andtake from you all your lands in thestrength of the Lord. . . . And when theLord, by His power, shall have given usvictory over you, nothing will remainfor us to do but freely to take yourlands by His power and with His goodpleasure. . . . By the virtue and powerof God we have taken possession ofJerusalem and its territories; and ofthe three cities that still remain in thehands of the Christians . . . we shalloccupy them also.

Luttrell PsalterThe illustration below from a Latintext shows Richard the Lion-Hearted(left) unhorsing Saladin during theThird Crusade. However, the two mennever actually met in personal combat.

1. Using specific phrases orpassages from Source A andSource C, demonstrate how theirattitudes were similar.

2. What directive in Source A mighthave been at the root of theaction described in Source B?

3. What evidence in Source Dreveals the artist’s bias about theconfrontation between Islam andChristianity?

386

The Third Crusade was led

by three of Europe’s most

powerful monarchs.

Philip II of France, German

emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), and the English king, Richard

the Lion-Hearted.

In 1187, Jerusalem itself had fallen to a

Kurdish warrior and Muslim leader

Saladin

Philip argued with Richard and

went home. Barbarossa

drowned on the journey.After

many battles, Richard and

Saladin agreed to a truce in

1192.

Jerusalem remained under

Muslim control and Christian pilgrims could freely visit

Jerusalem.

The Crusades

The Crusading Spirit Dwindles

The knights did not reach the Holy Land. Instead, they

ended up looting the city of

Constantinople

Four more Crusades to free

the holy land were also

unsuccessful.

In 1204, the Fourth Crusade

to capture Jerusalem

failed.

The religious spirit

of the First Crusade faded, and

the search for personal gain

grew.

In two different

movements a total of 50,000 children set out to conquer

Jerusalem.

Thousands died from cold and starvation.

Others drowned at sea or were sold

into slavery.

The Children’s

Crusade took place in 1212.

The Crusading Spirit Dwindles

In 1492, Granada finally fell

to the Christian army of Ferdinand

and Isabella.

To unify their country under

Christianity and to increase their power

they made use of the Inquisition.

The Reconquista was a long effort by the

Spanish to drive the Muslims out of

Spain.

The Crusading Spirit Dwindles

They persecuted the

Heretics — people whose religious beliefs

differed from the teachings of the

Church.

Many Jews and Muslims in

Spain converted to Christianity.

All practicing Jews

and Muslims were expelled from

Spain.

The Effects of the Crusades

European merchants

expanded trade between Europe and Southwest

Asia.

For those who stayed home,

especially women it meant a chance to

manage affairs on the estates or to operate

shops and inns.

They weakened the feudal nobility and increased the power of

kings.

The crusades left a

legacy of bitterness and hatred that continues to the

present.

Effects of the

crusades

SU

MM

AR

IZ

IN

GThe Church was restructured to

resemble a kingdom, with the pope at its

head.

Several monks and friars founded

monasteries all around Europe.

The Romanesque gave way to a new style in cathedrals:

Gothic.

Pope Urban II issued a call for a a Crusade, to gain control of the Holy

Land.

To unify their country under Christianity

and to increase their power they made

use of the Inquisition.

During 300 years several crusades were fought, but Jerusalem was

finally lost.

In Spain the Catholic Kings launched the

“Reconquista” to drive the Moors out of

Spain.

Inspired by the a spiritual revival a

new age of religious feeling was born—the Age of Faith.

The crusades left a legacy of bitterness

and hatred that continues to the

present.