14.1 Church Reform and the
Crusades
The Catholic Church underwent
reform and launched Crusades
against Muslims.
The Age of Faith
• Spiritual Revival
– Starting in the 900s,
monasteries help bring
about a spiritual revival
– Reformers help restore
and expand Church
power
Coat of Arms of Cluny Abbey: "Gules two keys
in saltire the wards upwards and outwards or Founded in 910, this is the Benedictine Abbey of
overall a sword in pale argent".
Cluny as it looked in 2004.
Problems in the Church
• Some Church officials
marry even though the
Church objects
• Some officials practice
simony—selling religious
offices
• Kings use lay investiture
to appoint bishops
• Reformers believe only
the Church should
appoint bishops
Reform and Church Organization
• Starting in the 1100s,
popes reorganize the
Church like a kingdom
• Pope’s advisors make
Church laws; diplomats
travel throughout
Europe
• Church collects tithes;
uses money to care for
sick or poor
“Peasants paying tithes” (17th century)
school of Pieter Brueghel the Younger
New Religious Orders
• Dominican and
Franciscan orders form
• Friars in these orders
vow poverty; travel and
preach to the poor
• Some new orders for
women are founded
Portrait of a Carmelite friar, about
1610, by Peter Paul Rubens
Cathedrals—Cities of God
• Early Cathedrals
– Between 8001100, churches
are built in
Romanesque
style
– Style includes
thick walls and
pillars, small
windows,
round arches
A New Style of Church Architecture
• Gothic style evolves around 1100; term from
Germanic tribe, Goths
• Gothic style has large, tall windows for more
light; pointed arches
• Churches have stained glass windows, many
sculptures
• About 500 Gothic churches are built from
1170 to 1270
Gothic Architecture
The master builders in
France, where the Gothic
style originated, developed
techniques of structural
engineering that were key to
Gothic architecture:
1. ribbed vaults that
supported the roof’s
weight
2. flying buttresses that
transferred weight to
thick, exterior walls
3. pointed arches that
framed huge stained
glass windows
4. tall spires that seemed
to be pointing to heaven
Traditional Church Floor Plan
“Liturgical East”
Source: (http://www.hope.evangelical-lutheran.ca/glossary.htm) a website explaining church architecture.
Typical “Chancel” Layout
Notice that the “apse” is
“fenced off” by a communion
rail. Only the clergy attending
the altar or table are allowed
past this point. The
sacrament is dispensed only
through the clergy bringing it
to the rail.
“Liturgical East”
Source: (http://www.hope.evangelical-lutheran.ca/glossary.htm) a website explaining church architecture.
The Crusades: The Beginning
Byzantine Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos
who asked Pope
Urban II for help (left)
• In 1093, Byzantine
emperor asks for
help fighting the
Turks
• Pope Urban II
issues a call for a
Crusade—a “holy
war”
Artistic depiction of Pope
Urban II (left), and him
preaching the First
Crusade (right)
Goals of the Crusades
• Pope wants to reclaim Jerusalem and reunite
Christianity
• Kings use Crusades to send away knights who cause
trouble
• Younger sons hope to earn land or win glory by fighting
(although historian Rodney Stark in God’s Battalions:
The Case for the Crusades disagrees with that theory
because the first three crusades were led by the heads
of the royal families of Europe).
• Later, merchants join Crusades to try to gain wealth
through trade.
First Crusade: 1096-1099
• Pope promises Crusaders
who die a place in heaven
• First Crusade: three
armies gather at
Constantinople in 1097
• Crusaders capture
Jerusalem in 1099
• Captured lands along
coast divided into four
Crusader states
Second Crusade: 1147-1148
• Muslims take back
Edessa in 1144; Second
crusade fails to retake it
• In 1187, Saladin—
Muslim leader and
Kurdish warrior—
retakes Jerusalem
Left: an artistic
representation of
Saladin
Right: Saladin
the Victorious by
Gustave Dore
The Third Crusade: 1189-1192
• The Third Crusade was led by three powerful
rulers
Richard I of England—”The
Lion-Hearted”
Phillip II of France
Frederick I “Barbarossa” of
the Holy Roman Empire
(Germany)
The Third Crusade : 1189-1192
• One is Richard
the LionHearted—king
of England
• The Robin Hood
stories and
legends often
surround
Richard I
returning from
the Third
Crusade.
19th-century
portrait of Richard
by Merry-Joseph
Blondel
The Third Crusade: 1189-1192
• Phillip II of
France
abandons
Crusade after
arguing with
Richard
• The argument
was over
Richard
breaking off
an
engagement
with Phillip’s
sister.
The Third Crusade : 1189-1192
• Frederick I of Germany
(Holy Roman Empire)
drowns during the
journey
Right: A depiction of
Frederick I drowning in the
Saleph River in Turkey
from the Saxon Chronicle.
The Third Crusade : 1189-1192
• In 1192 Richard and Saladin make peace after
many battles
• Saladin keeps Jerusalem but allows Christian
pilgrims to enter the city
The Crusading Spirit Dwindles:
The Later Crusades
• Fourth Crusade (12001204)
– Crusaders sack the
Christian city Zara and are
excommunicated by the
pope for it.
– The Venetian leadership
keeps their
excommunication a secret.
Then Crusaders sack
Constantinople in 1204
• Two other Crusades strike
Egypt, but fail to weaken
the Muslims
Looting of Constantinople, painting
by Eugene Delacroix, 1840
The Children’s Crusade
• The traditional story says
that in 1212 thousands of
children possibly die or
are enslaved in a failed
crusade.
• But these stories are
surrounded by legend and
fiction. The fact that this
really happened is
disputed.
The Children’s Crusade by
Gustave Doré
•This event may very well
merely be a legend
embellished over time.
Two Stories about the Children’s Crusade
•
•
•
•
Leader: Nicholas
Country: Germany
Purpose: intended to lead a
crusade to convert the Muslims to
Christianity by the preaching of
children. Nicholas promised a
miracle that the waters of the
Mediterranean would divide so
they could walk to the Holy Land.
Result: A following of about 7,000
people, both adults and children
arrive in Genoa, Italy after
preaching a crusade throughout
Germany and crossing the Alps. The
waters did not divide. The
movement continues to Rome but
begins to break up. The Pope
instructs the group to return home.
Nicholas does not survive the
return home.
• Leader: Stephen
• Country: France
• Purpose: He claims Jesus
appeared to him and gave him
a letter for the king of France.
• Result: Phillip II, king of France
is unimpressed. Stephen,
however, continues to preach
and tries to lead a group to
Marseilles. It seems like many
surviving youths returned to
their families.
A Spanish Crusade
• Most of Spain
controlled by Moors, a
Muslim people
• Christians fight
Reconquista—drive
Muslims from Spain,
1100-1492
• Spain has Inquisition—
court to suppress
heresy; expels nonChristians
Inquisition scene of people accused of
heresy being tortured.
The Effects of the Crusades
• Crusades show power of Church in convincing
thousands to fight
• Women who stay home manage the estate and
business affairs
• Merchants expand trade, bring back many goods
from Southwest Asia
• Failure of later crusades weakens pope and
nobles, strengthens kings
• Crusades create lasting bitterness between
Muslims and Christians