This Blog discusses the First Crusade, the Era before the crusade, Knight Templars, Pope Urban II, and the importance of Jerusalem.
The First Crusade
Crusade is one of the most influential topics in the History of Humankind.
One single decision made by an influential leader or King had changed the face of the World. We all know that a single war, a single king, and a single agreement can change the entire look of the World.
What if I tell you that one speech made by a man changed the foundation of Europe, and without that speech, we would not have seen the Europe of today.
History keeps a person immortal, some become heroic figures, and some are regarded as devils. Whenever a historical event happens in that respective timeline, it is the Present for all men participating in that event. Later on, historians judge them after the completion of that specific event.
First Crusade: Why We need to learn about it
There is the War between Good and Evil in every Religion, but this is the War between two religions. In the name of Religion, a colossal massacre happened from both the Christian and Islamic sides. Death numbers are still debatable, but historians believe that at least 2-6 million people died in the Crusades. In these numbers, many Innocents are also dead. At that time, the earth’s population was 310 million, and the European population was about 60-70 Million.
The history of the Crusade shows one of the Dark sides of Religious systems. The War that started because of Religion really created an ever-lasting impact on this World.
This was changed the face of the entire Continent; many cities were destroyed during the War. The Jerusalem city for which this War was happening is also suffered from mass destruction because of War.
This shows that it is not Religion or political situation that creates the Warlike conditions; it is the human mind that creates the Warlike situation. In each and every War, we have seen more casualties than in the previous wars.
If you study world history from the beginning, Violence was an integrated part of human’s mental state. It continuously seeks for War and blames it under the name of something. World wars didn’t happen because of religions, but even in that also there were millions of casualties.
Era Before the first Crusade
Before the Summer of 1096, everything was different. Christianity was in downfall, and it was divided between the Greek Churches of East and Latin Churches of West.
In the 21st century, we have a perfect sense of accepting the different religious beliefs and Secularism principles (At least for some secular countries).
Pope Urban II
Because of the speech of Pope Urban II, the Crusade started. One speech at the Council of Clermont raged the inspiration into the fellow Christians to become the Soldiers of Christ and fight for their Holy land. This holy land is the Land of Jerusalem in Israel.
Pope Urban II born to, Châtillon-sur-Marne,
He wasn’t just a man of faith but also an intelligent Diplomat and Politician by the brain.
In 1080 He was elected as Cardinal bishop of Ostia. He became the most prominent figure in Georgian reforms. After getting elected as the Pope, he successfully tried uniting the Western Christians and Eastern Christians.
Before his rise, Christianity was divided. But when he waged War in the name of God, he became the Father of Crusade wars. The series of 8 fights lasted more than 300 years.
His main motive behind the Crusade was to unite all the Christian forces to take back their sacred city of Jerusalem from the control of Muslims.
Pope Urban II successfully created the Anti-Islamic propaganda and inspired many to join the Crusade. Christians of that era had the dilemma between faith and Violence. They thought, if we do Violence, then we might lose faith in the heart. Pope Urban II resolved that dilemma, and people started joining the Crusades.
Jerusalem – First Crusade
This entire Crusade history is cantered for this particular city, Currently in Israel. Even today, the conflict for this city is still not resolved. Still, Palestine and Israel authorities both claim that the Jerusalem is Capital of their Country.
But let it be, we are now focusing on history.
Jerusalem holds particular importance for three Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).
Importance of JERUSALEM for Abrahamic Religions:
- Judaism: The entire Judaism is originated from Jerusalem. It holds a special status for them, and they referred to it as the Centre of the World where God himself resided. It is the holiest city according to Judaism
- Christianity: The birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth holds an extraordinary place in Christian literature. Jesus started the propagation of his teachings from this place. He was crucified at Golgotha, outside Jerusalem city (Outside the walls of Jerusalem City). Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected (Resurrection: Bringing back to life even after the death) in Jerusalem.
- Islam: It is believed that the Last Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (SAW), started the journey to heaven from this city. The last Prophet ascended to heaved from the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This mosque is the third holiest site according to Islam.
The Knight Templars
The First Crusade was won by Christians. When Christians from all over the world started coming to visit their holy land, they needed protection from robbers and attackers. At that time, the Order of Knight Templars was formed.
They protected the Christian devotees from getting killed and robbed in the middle of the road.
They formed around 1118 CE.
Templar order became one of the most influential organizations during medieval time.
Hugues de Payens was the first Grandmaster of Templars.
In 1128 the Catholic Church granted them special rights, and because of these, they became even more potent than some kings of that era.
At first, Kings and Churches funded their organization. Still, later on, Templars started supporting the Kings and protecting the Christian faiths.
Their control was efficient and disciplined. It is not so easy to become the Knight Templar. At first, they needed to take the oath, later they needed to take the training, and their additional advantage was they were so bright.
They are the inventors of the Banking system. Whatever banking system you see in today’s World is inspired by the system templars created to Protect Christian devotees of that time. We will talk about this in upcoming blogs.
Assassin’s Creed believed in Peace and Free will, but Templars had the apparent motive of Peace through administrative control.
The criteria for becoming templar was very robust. They were the holy soldiers of Christ, and that is why they could never sacrifice their pious.
Templar Principles and Faith
According to their principles,
They must be needed to fight for the poor, never get married, Sacrifice should be in the blood, no drink, and Gambling and Never surrender, and cannot hold any wealth.
They controlled a big chunk of the economy, but Templars didn’t use the money for themselves as they could never hold any wealth.
After Christians started losing the Crusade, Templars settled themselves in France. King Philip IV of France accused them of heresy (When a person started believing in the devil instead of God).
After King Philip’s order, many Templars were killed. Some of them left France and became liberal and joined the Illuminati organization.
The Crusade lasted for more than 300 years, and there are 8 crusades, which means 8 series of wars happened in three centuries. The topic is so vast. This was just a basic introduction of the main elements that were part of the Crusades. In upcoming blogs, I will write about who participated in War. Then we will start discussing the First Crusade and how Christians won their First Crusade.
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