But the crusades were not simply an expression of the simple faith of the Middle Ages. Something more than religious enthusiasm sent an unending procession of crusaders along the highways of Europe and over the trackless wastes of Asia Minor to Jerusalem. The crusades, in fact, appealed strongly to the warlike instincts of the feudal nobles. They saw in an expedition against the East an unequaled opportunity for acquiring fame, riches, lands, and power. The Normans were especially stirred by the prospect of adventure and plunder which the crusading movement opened up. By the end of the eleventh century they had established themselves in southern Italy and Sicily, from which they now looked across the Mediterranean for further lands to conquer. [2] Norman knights formed a very large element in several of the crusaders' armies.
THE LOWER CLASSES AND THE CRUSADES
The crusades also attracted the lower classes. So great was the misery of the common people in medieval Europe that for them it seemed not a hardship, but rather a relief, to leave their homes in order to better themselves abroad. Famine and pestilence, poverty and oppression, drove them to emigrate hopefully to the golden East.
PRIVILEGES OF CRUSADERS
The Church, in order to foster the crusades, promised both religious and secular benefits to those who took part in them. A warrior of the Cross was to enjoy forgiveness of all his past sins. If he died fighting for the faith, he was assured of an immediate entrance to the joys of Paradise. The Church also freed him from paying interest on his debts and threatened with excommunication anyone who molested his wife, his children, or his property.
170. FIRST CRUSADE, 1095-1099 A.D.
OCCASION OF THE FIRST CRUSADE
The signal for the First Crusade was given by the conquests of the Seljuk Turks. [3] These barbarians, at first the mercenaries and then the masters of the Abbasid caliphs, infused fresh energy into Islam. They began a new era of Mohammedan expansion by winning almost the whole of Asia Minor from the Roman Empire in the East. One of their leaders established himself at Nicaea, the scene of the first Church Council, [4] and founded the sultanate of Rum (Rome).
APPEAL OF EMPEROR TO POPE
The presence of the Turks so close to Constantinople was a standing menace to all Europe. The able emperor, Alexius I, on succeeding to the throne toward the close of the eleventh century, took steps to expel the invaders. He could not draw on the hardy tribes of Asia Minor for the soldiers he needed, but with reinforcements from the West he hoped to recover the lost provinces of the empire. Accordingly, in 1095 A.D., Alexius sent an embassy to Pope Urban II, the successor of Gregory VII, requesting aid. The fact that the emperor appealed to the pope, rather than to any king, shows what a high place the Papacy then held in the affairs of Europe.