The Crusaders By Giordano

In the middle ages there were people from the Catholic church trying to get possession of Jerusalem. They were called the Crusaders. Muslims occupied Jerusalem and had certain rules for people to follow if they lived there. In total there were nine crusades, called Holy Wars, here is a graph showing the nine crusades...

In the first crusade, in 1095, they were able to get to Jerusalem but not over take it. the second crusade was more successful.

“The Third Crusade - King Richard and Saladin The knightly adventures and chivalrous exploits which mark the career of Richard in the Holy Land read like a romance. Nor was the chief of the Mohammedans, the renowned Saladin, lacking in any of those knightly virtues with which the writers of the time invested the character of the English hero.”

When Richard was sick with a fever and didn’t have special foods, Saladin, sent him a gift of the best fruits. The sultan gave a fine Arabian horse to his rival, Richard the Lion-heart, who lost his horse in the battle.

The Fourth Crusade - The Sack of Constantinople in 1204 “The crusaders, now better styled the invaders, took Constantinople by storm. No "infidels" could have treated in worse fashion this home of ancient civilization. They burned down a great part of it; they slaughtered the inhabitants; they wantonly destroyed monuments, statues, paintings, and manuscripts - the accumulation of a thousand years.”

In this fourth crusade the leaders aimed at Constantinople because if they took control of it they would be powerful and rich. So the crusades turned from a fight for religion to a fight for wealth and power and a bit of religion.

Children's Crusades There where 3 children’s crusades: the French, the German and the Stephen of Cloyes. Hundreds of thousands of children were either killed, went missing or became slaves. At the time of 1212 approximately 30,000 French children went thru towns singing “Lord God, exalt Christianity. Lord God, restore to us the true cross.” “The French children, set out from the place of rendezvous for Marseilles. Those that sailed from that port were betrayed, and sold as slaves in Alexandria and other Mohammedan slave markets.”

As you can tell the crusades where bad in my opinion. They killed lots of people including Muslims, Jews and Christians. Also, greed started to get the better of them. I think that it was a bad thing for them to do because it was not necessary at all!

Switched on School House DVD Rom: History & Geography 600. Section: “Life in the Middle Ages” Web: crusades.htm Bibliography: See A General History for Colleges and High Schools Author: P. V. N. Myershttp:// crusades.htm