Middle Ages 500-1500 A.D.

• Crusades (Holy Wars)

Fight against Islam

• Battle of Tours• Crushing Muslim ideas in Europe• Re-conquering Spain• Saving the Holy Land (Crusades)

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Last 200 years (many different crusades)

• Europeans have contact with outside world– emerge from isolationism

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Jerusalem– under Muslim control since 700s

• Battle of Tours in 732– Treaty signed by Charles Martel and Muslims

• Christians could pilgrimage to Holy Land

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• 1096 Byzantine Emperor (Alexius I) asked Pope (Urban II) for help fighting Muslims

– Muslim Turks invaded Byzantine empire

– took control of Holy Land– attacked Christian

pilgrims

• Pope agrees to help

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Pope calls Christians to fight

– “God wills it!”– promised remission of

sins– wanted increased

power– wanted knights to fight

Muslims instead of each other

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Thousands of Europeans respond– knights

• hoped to win wealth and land

• adventure

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• 1st Crusade (1096-1099)– Christians battled Muslims

for control of lands in Middle East

– only crusade close to achieving goal

• long, bloody campaign

– Christian knights captured Jerusalem in 1099

• then massacred Muslims & Jews

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Crusader states– Edessa 1098-1144– Antioch 1098-1268– Jerusalem 1099-1187– Tripoli 1100-1289

• Muslims kept attacking

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• 2nd Crusade– Saladin, Sultan of Egypt,

recaptured Jerusalem in 1187

• 3rd Crusade– Richard I and Europeans

failed to recapture Jerusalem

• Saladin reopened Jerusalem to Christian pilgrims

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• 4th Crusade– crusaders raid Constantinople

(Byzantine capital)• steal wealth• kill Muslims, Christians, and Jews

(Christians fight Christians)

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Later Crusaders– complete failures– military disasters

• Muslims took control of last of crusader states– massacred defeated

Christians

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Consequences– 1. Languages in Europe altered

– now have Islamic words

– 2. New products enter Europe– silks and spices– Europeans interested in trade

– 3. Center of commerce changed for all of

Europe– Northern Italian cities won crusades– Venice, Genoa, Florence became wealthy and controlled

trade

Result of Crusades

• Europeans get interested in trade

with Muslims:

Muslims are:– highly advanced in science and technology– maintained knowledge of Eastern Roman Empire– maintained trade with India in luxury goods

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Consequences– 4. System of commerce changed

– bills of credit, checking, banking

– 5. Nobility of Europe is weakened– power of nobles declined– many died, including kings– manors left with no leaders or power authority

– 6. King was great winner– power of king increased

Crusades (Holy Wars)

• Consequences– 7. Tremendous increase in knowledge and

interest in geography– Western Europeans learned world was much

larger than ever imagined

– 8. Pope’s power increased, then weakened– late 1200s, heightened power of pope– weakened when Christian knights were

defeated

Reconquest in Spain

• Muslims conquered most of Spain in 700s

• Christian warriors battled Muslims for 500 years– campaign to drive Muslims out and recover

Spain– “Reconquista” or “Reconquest”

Reconquest in Spain

• Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469

• Their combined forces completed Reconquest of Spain in 1492

Spanish Inquisition

• Religious toleration under Muslim rule

• Queen Isabella wanted religious unity– ended policy of toleration

• The Inquisition– Church court to convert or punish heretics

• brutal crusade against Muslims and Jews

(those refusing to convert often burned at stake)

Result of Crusades

• By 1400s, a desire to trade directly with China and India led Europeans to a new age of exploration.