Religious History: The Crusades

some of us know, the Crusades is not something that we enjoy discussing, but they were a big part of religious history. The Crusades were what the pope called “holy wars or expeditions,” that knights or people of their religion went on to gain control over holy land. Each Crusade had a social, economic, and/or political goal and aimed for one land at a time. The pope even exclaimed that if you went on a Crusade that you were assured a place in heaven. These Crusades, or “holy wars”, were driven by religious faith within varieties of religion like Muslims and Christians. To begin with, these Crusades were somewhat responsible for bringing people of the same religion together. In John Green’s Crash Course 15 he stated, “The best way to get people to unite is to give them a common enemy.” This is what the Crusades did. They gave a target, which was a holy land that was owned by another religion, and gathered people to fight for it. For example, the

The people of the church took advantage of the Crusades and used it to rid the knights who consistently fought each other in the church. Crusades also divide people by taking sons from families. In the textbook Chapter 14, titled “The Crusades,” it stated, “Others who participated in the Crusades were younger sons who were looking for land and a position in society or for adventure.” This is showing division by getting rid of church members and also basically bribing younger sons to leave home and find something new. Coming to a conclusion, the Crusades were “holy wars or expeditions” that united and divided people in many significant ways. Different religions used them to fight for what they believed belonged to them. They also used them to gain power over the many holy land like the Palestine. Others may have used it just to rid some people from the church, while some believed that it was adventure. What would you have done in the time of the