WHAT WERE THE CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES (1095-1291)?
Directions: Read each of the four primary sources to determine why the events of the
Crusades occurred. Identify as many reasons as you can for each primary source.
Underline any key phrases in the primary sources that support your argument.
DOCUMENT 1
Source: Pope Urban II calls European Christians to war in 1095 CE
“…your Brethren [brothers] who live in the east are in urgent need of your help, and you must hasten to
give them aid which has often been promised them. For, as the most of you have heard, the Turks and
Arabs have attacked them and have conquered the territory of the Greek Empire [Byzantine Empire]….
They have occupied more and more of the lands of those Christians, and have overcome them in seven
battles. They have killed and capture many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the
[Byzantine] empire. If you permit them to continue thus for awhile with impurity [not pure], the faithful
of God will be much more widely attacked by them. On this account I, or rather the Lord, beseech you
as Christ’s heralds to publish this everywhere and persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers
and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile [disgusting]
race from the lands of our friends…. Moreover, Christ commands it.”
Document 1’s Cause(s) for the Crusades:
DOCUMENT 2
Source: Pope Urban II explains the benefits of dying in the Crusades
“All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans [the non-Christians],
shall have immediate remission [forgiveness] of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with
which I am invested. O what a disgrace if such a despised and base race, which worships demons,
should conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent [all-powerful] God and is made glorious with
the name of Christ!...”
Document 2’s Cause(s) for the Crusades:
DOCUMENT 3
Source: Chronicles of Fulk of Chartres, late 11th century, discusses Europeans who
have come to live in Israel (the Promised Land/Holy Land) as a result of the Crusades
“We have already forgotten the places of our birth; already they have become unknown to many of us,
or, at least, are unmentioned. Some already possess here homes and servants which they have received
through inheritance. Some have taken wives not merely of their own people, but Syrians, or Armenians,
or even Saracens who have received the grace of baptism….Our parents and relatives from day to day
come to join us, abandoning, even though reluctantly, all that they possess. For those who were poor
there [in Europe], here God makes rich. Those who had few coins, here possess countless besants [gold
coins]; and those who had not had a villa [a country home], here, by the gift of God, already possess a
city. Therefore, why should one who has found the East so favorable return to the West? God does not
wish to suffer want who, carrying their crosses, have vowed to follow Him, nay even unto the end…”
Document 3’s Cause(s) for the Crusades:
DOCUMENT 4
Source: Saladin, the leader of the Islamic Seljuk Turks, gives a speech urging his
people to retake Jerusalem, 1187 CE
“If God blesses us by enabling us to drive His enemies out of Jerusalem, how fortunate and happy we
would be! For Jerusalem has been controlled by the enemy for ninety-one years, during which time God
has received nothing from us here in the way of adoration [praise]. At the same time, the zeal
[devotion[ of the Muslim rulers to deliver it languished [weakened] Time passed, and so did many
indifferent generations, while the Franks [Europeans] succeeded in rooting themselves strongly there.
Now God has reserved the merit of its recovery for one house, the house of the sons of Ayyub [Saladin’s
family], in order to unite all hearts in appreciation of its members.”
Document 4’s Cause(s) for the Crusades:
WHAT WERE THE EFFECTS OF THE CRUSADES?
Directions: Read each of the four primary and secondary sources to determine what
some of the major effects of the Crusades were. Identify as many effects as you can for
each primary source. Underline any key phrases in the primary sources that support
your argument.
DOCUMENT 5
Source: Solomon bar Samson, a Jewish historian, 1096 CE
“[The Europeans] set out for the Holy City [Jerusalem]…and banish the Muslims and other inhabitants of
the land…. Now it came to pass that as they passed through the towns where Jews dwelled, they said to
one another: ‘Look now, we are going a long way to avenge ourselves on the Muslims; when here, in
our midst, are the Jews – they whose forefathers murdered and crucified him [Jesus Christ] for no
reason. Let us first avenge ourselves on the Jews and exterminate them from among the nations so that
the name of Israel will no longer be remembered, or let them adopt our faith….”
Document 5’s Effect(s) of the Crusades:
DOCUMENT 6
Source: William of Tyre, drawing upon eyewitness accounts of the capture of
Jerusalem by Crusaders
“It was impossible to look upon the vast numbers of the slain without horror; everywhere lay fragments
of human bodies, and the very ground was covered with the blood of the slain. It was not alone the
spectacle of headless bodies and mutilated limbs strewn in all directions that roused horror in all who
looked upon them. Still more dreadful was it to gaze upon the victors themselves, dripping with blood
from head to foot.... It is reported that within the Temple enclosure alone about ten thousand infidels
[non-Christians] perished…”
Document 6’s Effect(s) of the Crusades:
DOCUMENT 7
Source: Peter N. Stearns, a modern historian, from his book, World Civlizations: The Global
Experience, 2007
“…the crusaders’ firsthand experience in the eastern Mediterranean certainly intensified European borrowing
from the Muslim world that had been going on for centuries. Muslim weapons, such as the famous damascene
swords, were highly prized and sometimes copied by the Europeans, who were always eager to improve on their
methods of making war. Muslim techniques of building fortifications were adopted by many Christian rulers, as
can be seen in the castles built in Normandy [in France] and coastal England…. Richard the Lionhearted’s [a King
of England] legendary preference for Muslim over Christian physicians was but one sign of the Europeans’ avid
centuries-old interest in the superior scientific learning of Muslim peoples.
From Muslims and Jews in Spain, Sicily, Egypt, and the Middle East, the Europeans recovered much of the Greek
learning that had been lost to northern Europe during the waves of nomadic invasions after the fall of Rome.
They also mastered Arabic (properly Indian) numerals and the decimal system, and they benefited from the great
advances Arab and Persian thinkers had made in mathematics and many of the sciences.”
Document 7’s Effect(s) of the Crusades:
DOCUMENT 8
Source: Ethel Wood, a modern historian, from her book, World History: An Essential
Coursebook, 2008
“Those Europeans that returned [from the Middle East] brought back with them material evidence of civilization:
fine silks, beautiful porcelains, exquisite carpets, perfumes, spices, and preservatives. No longer would
Europeans be content to remain in their isolated, drafty castles; they had tasted the pleasures of civilization, and
change was inevitable. …
Two cities that directly benefitted from the Crusades were Venice and Genoa in Italy. … When the Crusades
began, Venice and Genoa promoted a sea route for the knights to travel to the Holy Lands, disembarking from
one of the cities and arriving on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. … The ships carried goods both ways
across the sea, bringing woolen and cotton textiles and French wines from Europe, and delivering luxury goods
from the Middle East to Europe. …
With the growth of Genoa and Venice, Italian business people introduced banking to the West to facilitate the
long-distance exchange of money and goods. Towns in France, the Holy Roman Empire, and England grew in
response to the trade, and the use of money spread steadily.”
Document 8’s Effect(s) of the Crusades: