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The Causes Of The Crusades

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The Cruades were a number a military attacks sanctioned by various Pope 's during the Middle Ages. The first Crusade began in 1095, the second crusade began in 1147, and the third crusade began in 1189. The first crusade started in s1095 with Jersualem, the Holy Land, under the control of the Seljuk Turks. The Byzantine Emporor Alexios I felt threatened by the Muslims and pleaded to the Western world for militairy support to fight against the Seljuk Turks. At the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II gave his famous sermon beckoning the Christians to join together with the Byzantines and recapture Jerusalem, from the Muslims control. Exaggerating the anti-Christian acts of the Muslims, Urban exhorted Christendom to go to war for the Sepulcher, promising that the journey would count as full penance and that the homes of the absent ones would be protected by a truce.i Pope Urban II sermon spurred many people ranging from the ordinary citizens to the elite military, to join and fight for the Holy Land. In 1096, the People 's Crusade also known as the Popular Crusade took place. Feeling inspired Pope Urban 's sermon, a French man called Peter the Hermit became a leader for the Crusades. Peter the Hermit quickly whipped up enormous excitement with his preaching in northern France and by early March 1096 he had dispatched a large force of foot-soilders with only eight knights under Walter Sans Avoir.ii Most of Peter 's army were poor peasants and were unskilled in warfare.
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