Crusades Leading up to the Crusades, secular kings and the church were constantly jockeying for superiority over one another. Kings status’s symbolically fluctuated constantly in the public eye by seemingly meaningless gestures. The Crusades, while a holy mission, were also a political weapon to increase the power of the popes of the middle ages. In the 1070’s Pope Gregory VII challenged the Holy Roman Empire. While this was the start of the rise and increase in the power of the papacy, Pope Gregory’s skirmish with Henry IV ultimately ended with Henry continuing his reign of power.
This was because of the Pope Gregory’s lack of military force. The uphill climb to superiority in the papacy was continued by Urban II. Pope Urban was able to recognize that Pope Gregory was too bold without proper backing: that in order to have authority over a king, the church must have their own means of military enforcement. In an attempt to reinforce the power of papacy and triggered by rumors of abusive pilgrimage, Pope Urban gave a speech to a vast Christian assembly of Cluny monks encouraging them to form an army of Christian soldiers whom he promised salvation to enlist in a great struggle to free the Holy Land (Lecture).
In the speech at the Council of Clermont, Urban II claims that it is the permission of God that he announces his crusade. He makes a proclamation that past sins will be absolved if participants are true to the cause (Urban II). Something unexpected happens and in addition to nobles answering the call, so do the peasants. It was an attempt at a fight against heresy and to ultimately take back Jerusalem. In the ensuing journey to The Holy Land many Jewish communities were the first victims of the crusade. Solomon bar Samson were Jewish writers who chronicled the beginnings of these first crusades, they recount the crusaders, led by Emico.
In the chronicles, Emico is view as wicked, far from the image that the word crusader invokes (Solomon bar Samson). They record how Emico, let into the city by the inhabitants, “led a band of plundering German and French crusaders,” (Solomon bar Samson). Inadvertently, soldiers were tempted by the prospect of riches and land which resulted in the death of many innocent Christians. The crusade still ended in triumph for Europe. With this series of event came a shift in allegiance of the people from secular ruling to the ruling of the church and the emphasis again of the actual power of the Pope.
Along with the Holy Land, the Pope also acquired The Knights Templar which were a specific sect of monks that were formed to be the Popes personal knights (Lecture). When the papacy called for the Third Crusade, the powers of kings decreased further. This is due to the Military victories by the infidels in the East. Saladin, a sultan in Egypt, fought for and eventually won back Jerusalem from the Franks and other crusaders. Even letting the inhabitants of the holy land leave the city unharmed once he had won the city.
As recorded in De Expugatione Sanctae per Saladinum, it says that a ransom must be paid by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. “Saladin had taken down and laid down these ransom terms for the inhabitants… Those who wished to be freed on these terms and could leave securely with their possessions,” (Capture of Jerusalem 4). This victory over great European kings of the time further weakened their power, and set the stage for Pope Innocent III to dominate as Europe’s head of the Church and in essence, all of Europe. Innocent III not satisfied with the results from the previous crusade, ordered another.
He launched another in order to take back Jerusalem from the new king of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV. Baldwin was not a stoic man in stature my any means. Brundage tells of how, Baldwin playing with other children is first noticed for having limbs that are numb, after further inspection and treatment he is diagnosed with leprosy. He goes on to say that this did not stop his vivacious nature towards learning and characteristics shown through his handicap that emulated his father. This did not stop Innocent from ordering his Fourth Crusade. The Fourth Crusade was more of a financial and political enterprise then a holy quest.
This was influenced due to more political authorities sidestepping the input of the pope so Innocent utilized the Knights Templar as a means to once again gain control and make a point of his overall support from the people. He hired Venice for assistance due to their ability to travel. The pope made a deal with the Doge for transportation for his knights. On the day that was predetermined to start the voyage, not enough crusaders showed up and therefore, they were short payment. In an effort to still reach Jerusalem, they struck a deal with the Venetians and said that they would plunder Zara, a local city.
The crusaders agreed and sacked the city, but the debt was still not paid in full so the Venetians’ made another deal to sack Constantinople. So the Venetians took over the crusade and it was turned to Constantinople. Nicetas Choniates recounts his experiences as a Byzantine historian during the sack of Constantinople: He states that relics and other religious material were desecrated and destroyed by the so called holy men. Religious materials were divvied up between crusaders, men taking part in crimes against Christian brothers. In response, Innocent excommunicated the city of Venice for attacking a Christian city.
Another major influence he had that emphasized the power of the church was the creation of Franciscans and Dominicans which resulted in the unification of Christianity. These two groups reported directly to the pope which cut out the input of the king due to the fact that they did not have to consult with anyone else in the church hierarchy of which the king had officials. Although Innocent never fully reaches his goal of full power of the church over secular kings, he does in fact cause the largest impact of church authority within political power and advances Christianity into a greater unified religion.
