Anna Comnena's Role In The Crusades

716 Words3 Pages

The definition of belief is the trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something. It is the sole source of power for any idea, opinion, and most importantly, religion. A belief can relent the possibility of anything to happen. The only thing that matters is what the belief is put into, whose faith is put into what. Time stretches and ignites the way for people to conquer anyone or anything, to topple buildings and strain people to unimaginable limits. In times such as the Middle Ages, also known as the Medieval Period, belief was common and death, a result of it, even more so. Battles during this time period, typically centered around religious differences, were often and hard won. Full of bone, blood, and the faint reassurance that such …show more content…

For example, Alexios I had been the one to insist Pope Urban II to call the European Christians to arms for the First Crusade. Although neither participated in the battles themselves both leaders had played important parts in the initiation of these wars. Alexios I’s own daughter, Anna Comnena, had also played a role in the Crusades as well, although more indirectly. As the Byzantine princess and “the world’s first female historian (she was) a major source of information about the reign of her father” (Anna Comnena). Through most of her writings, the story of the Crusades has been able to make its way from the Medieval Period to present day, as well as inspiring other women at the time with her hardships. Another influential woman during the Crusades was Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was considered one of the wealthiest and most powerful woman western Europe at the time. After ‘taking the cross,’ a term used for when a woman was widowed and had to take charge of her late husband’s army, from Louis VII of France, Eleanor led 300 women dressed as amazons and 1000 knights from her duch in the army during the Second Crusade. She was yet another who was able to show that men were not the only ones to affect the stance of a