The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?: Crash Course World History #15
The Crusades - Pilgrimage or Holy War?: Crash Course World History #15
In which John Green teaches you about the Crusades embarked upon by European Christians in the 12th and 13th centuries. Our traditional perception of the Crusades as European Colonization thinly veiled in religion isn’t quite right. John covers the First through the Fourth Crusades, telling you which were successful, which were well-intentioned yet ultimately destructive, and which were just plain crazy. Before you ask, no, he doesn’t cover the Children’s Crusade, in which children were provoked to gather for a Crusade, and then promptly sold into slavery by the organizers of said Crusade. While this story is charming, it turns out to be complete and utter hooey.
Chapters:
Introduction: The Crusades 00:00
What Prompted the Crusades? 0:44
The First Crusade 1:44
An Open Letter to Animal Crackers 2:45
What Motivated the Crusaders? 3:24
The Third Crusade 6:20
The Fourth Crusade 7:55
What Did The Crusades Accomplish? 9:50
Credits 10:50
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Content
0.26 -> Hi there! My name is John Green; this is Crash
Course World History, and today we’re going
3.99 -> to talk about the Crusades. Ohhh, Stan, do
we have to talk about the Crusades? I hate them...
9.139 -> Here’s the thing about the Crusades, which
were a series of military expeditions from
12.299 -> parts of Europe to the Eastern coast of the
Mediterranean. The real reason they feature
16.209 -> so prominently in history is because we’ve
endlessly romanticized the story of the Crusades.
22.58 -> We’ve created this simple narrative with
characters to root for and root against, and
25.849 -> it’s all been endlessly idealized by the
likes of Sir Walter Scott. And there are knights
29.919 -> with swords and lion hearts... NO, STAN. LIONHEARTS.
Thank you.
35.04 -> [theme music]
43.9 -> Let’s start by saying that initially the
Crusades were not a “holy war” on the
47.1 -> part of Europeans against Islam, but in important
ways the Crusades were driven by religious faith.
52.96 -> Past John: Mr. Green, Mr. Green! Religion
causes all wars. Imagine no war —
56.99 -> I’m gonna cut you off right there before
you violate copyright, me-from-the-past. But
59.83 -> as usual, you’re wrong. Simple readings
of history are rarely sufficient. By the way,
65.25 -> when did my handwriting get so much better?
67.04 -> I mean, if the Crusades had been brought on
by the lightning-fast rise of the Islamic
70.07 -> empire and a desire to keep in Christian hands
the land of Jesus, then the Crusades would’ve
74.619 -> started in the 8th century. But early Islamic
dynasties, like the Umayyads and the Abbasids,
78.499 -> were perfectly happy with Christians and Jews
living among them, as long as they paid a
82.249 -> tax. And plus the Christian pilgrimage business
was awesome for the Islamic Empire’s economy.
86.399 -> But then a new group of Muslims, the Seljuk
Turks, moved into the region and they sacked
90.079 -> the holy cities and made it much more difficult
for Christians to make their pilgrimages.
94.299 -> And while they quickly realized their mistake,
it was already too late. The Byzantines, who’d had their
98.7 -> literal-asses kicked at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071,
felt the threat and called upon the West for help.
104.3 -> So the first official crusade began with a
call to arms from Pope Urban II in 1095 CE.
109.829 -> This was partly because Urban wanted to unite
Europe and he’d figured out the lesson the
113.34 -> rest of us learn from alien invasion movies:
the best way to get people to unite is to
118.13 -> give them a common enemy. So Urban called
on all the bickering knights and nobility
122.03 -> of Europe, and he saideth unto his people:
“Let us go forth and help the Byzantines
126.039 -> because then maybe they will acknowledge my
awesomeness and get rid of their stupid Not
129.6 -> Having Me as Pope thing, and while we are at it,
let’s liberate Jerusalem!” I’m paraphrasing, by the way.
134.92 -> Shifting the focus to Jerusalem is really
important, because the Crusades were not primarily
139.32 -> military operations; they were pilgrimages.
Theologically, Christianity didn’t have
143.47 -> an idea of a holy war – like, war might
be just, but fighting wasn’t something that
148.16 -> got you into heaven. But pilgrimage to a holy
shrine could help you out on that front, and
152 -> Urban had the key insight to pitch the Crusade
as a pilgrimage with a touch of warring on
157.14 -> the side. I do the same thing to my kid every
night: I’m not feeding you dinner featuring
161.14 -> animal crackers. I’m feeding you animal crackers
featuring a dinner. Oh, it’s time for the open letter?
169.92 -> An Open Letter to Animal Crackers.
171.93 -> But first let’s see what’s in the Secret
Compartment today. Oh, it’s animal crackers.
176.62 -> Thanks, Stan...
177.82 -> Hi there, Animal Crackers, it’s me, John
Green. Thanks for being delicious, but let
181.03 -> me throw out a crazy idea here: Maybe foods
that are ALREADY DELICIOUS do not need the
185.68 -> added benefit of being PLEASINGLY SHAPED.
I mean, why can’t I give my kid animal spinach
190.15 -> or animal sweet potato or even animal cooked
animal? I mean, we can put a man on Mars but
195.2 -> we can’t make spinach shaped like elephants?
What Stan? We haven’t put a man on Mars?
200.04 -> Stupid world, always disappointing me.
202.44 -> Best wishes, John Green
204.02 -> One last myth to dispel: The Crusades also
were NOT an early example of European colonization
209.05 -> of the Middle East, even if they did create
some European-ish kingdoms there for a while.
213.8 -> That's a much later, post-and-anti-colonialist view that
comes, at least partially, from a Marxist reading of history.
219.48 -> In the case of the Crusades, it was argued,
the knights who went adventuring in the Levant
223.3 -> were the second and third sons of wealthy
nobles who, because of European inheritance
227.81 -> rules, had little to look forward to by staying
in Europe and lots to gain – in terms of
232.36 -> plunder – by going to the East. Cool theory,
bro, but it’s not true. First, most of the
236.34 -> people who responded to the call to Crusade
weren’t knights at all; they were poor people.
240.45 -> And secondly, most of the nobles who did go
crusading were lords of estates, not their wastrel kids.
245.55 -> But more importantly, that analysis ignores
religious motivations. We’ve approached
249.47 -> religions as historical phenomena — thinking
about how, for instance, the capricious environment
253.5 -> of Mesopotamia led to a capricious cadre of
Mesopotamian gods. But just as the world shapes
259.109 -> religion, religion also shapes the world.
261.009 -> And some modern historians might ignore religious
motivations, but medieval crusaders sure as
264.61 -> hell didn’t. I mean, when people came up
with that idiom, they clearly thought Hell
267.61 -> was for sure. To the Crusaders, they were
taking up arms to protect Christ and his kingdom.
272.11 -> And what better way to show your devotion
to God than putting a cross on your sleeve, spending
275.84 -> 5 to 6 times your annual income to outfit yourself
and all your horses, and heading for the Holy Land?
281.259 -> So when these people cried out “God Wills
It!” to explain their reasons for going,
285.11 -> we should do them the favor of believing them.
And the results of the First Crusade seemed
288.979 -> to indicate that God had willed it. Following
the lead of roving preachers with names like
292.96 -> Peter the Rabbit- Peter the Hermit? Stan,
you’re always making history less cool!
298.03 -> Fine, following preachers like Peter the Hermit,
thousands of peasants and nobles alike volunteered
302.82 -> for the First Crusade. It got off to kind of a rough start
because pilgrims kept robbing those they encountered
307.979 -> on the way. Plus, there was no real leader
so they were constant rivalries between nobles
312.039 -> about who could supply the most troops. Notable
among the notables were Godfrey of Bouillon,
316.4 -> Bohemond of Taranto, and Raymond of Toulouse.
319.02 -> But despite the rivalries, and the disorganization
the crusaders were remarkably — some would
323.08 -> say miraculously — successful. By the time
they arrived in the Levant, they were fighting
326.77 -> not against the Seljuk Turks but against Fatimid
Egyptians, who had captured the Holy Land
331.52 -> from the Seljuks, thereby making the Turks
none too pleased with the Egyptians. At Antioch
336.219 -> the Crusaders reversed a seemingly hopeless
situation when a peasant found a spear that
340.409 -> had pierced the side of Christ’s side hidden
under a church, thereby raising morale enough
344.509 -> to win the day. And then they did the impossible:
They took Jerusalem, securing it for Christendom
350.319 -> and famously killing a lot of people in the
al-Asqa mosque.
353.05 -> Now the Crusaders succeeded in part because
the Turkish Muslims, who were Sunnis, did
356.68 -> not step up to help the Egyptians, who were
Shia. But that kind of complicated, intra-Islamic
361.36 -> rivalry gets in the way of the awesome narrative:
The Christians just saw it as a miracle.
364.919 -> So by 1100CE European nobles held both Antioch
and Jerusalem as Latin Christian kingdoms.
370.58 -> I say Latin to make the point that there were
lots of Christians living in these cities before the
374.26 -> Crusaders arrived, they just weren’t Catholic -- they were
Orthodox, a point that will become relevant shortly.
379.55 -> We’re going to skip the second Crusade because
it bores me and move on to the Third Crusade
383.219 -> because it’s the famous one. Broadly speaking,
the Third Crusade was a European response
387.34 -> to the emergence of a new Islamic power, neither
Turkish nor Abbasid: the Egyptian (although
392.43 -> he was really a Kurd) Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir
Salah ed-Din Yusuf, better known to the west as Saladin.
399.849 -> Saladin, having consolidating his power in
Egypt, sought to expand by taking Damascus
404.37 -> and, eventually Jerusalem, which he did successfully,
because he was an amazing general. And then
409.699 -> the loss of Jerusalem caused Pope Gregory
VIII to call for a third crusade. Three of
413.559 -> the most important kings in Europe answered
the call: Philip "cowardly schemer" the Second
417.65 -> of France, Richard "Lionheart" the First of
England, and Frederick “I am going to drown
422.18 -> anticlimactically on the journey while trying
to bathe in a river” Barbarossa of the not-holy,
427.339 -> not-roman, and not-imperial Holy Roman Empire.
Both Richard and Saladin were great generals
432.4 -> who earned the respect of their troops.
434.069 -> And while from the European perspective the
crusade was a failure because they didn’t
437.599 -> take Jerusalem, it did radically change crusading
forever by making Egypt a target. Richard
443.129 -> understood that the best chance to take Jerusalem
involved first taking Egypt, but he couldn’t
447.77 -> convince any crusaders to join him because Egypt had
a lot less religious value to Christians than Jerusalem.
452.65 -> So Richard was forced to call off the Crusade
early, but if he had just hung around until
456.139 -> Easter of 1192, he would’ve seen Saladin
die. And then Richard probably could have
460.529 -> fulfilled all his crusading dreams, but then,
you know, we wouldn’t have needed the 4th Crusade.
464.38 -> Although crusading continued throughout the
14th century, mostly with an emphasis on North
468.159 -> Africa and not the Holy Land, the 4th Crusade
is the last one we’ll focus on, because
472.52 -> it was the crazy one. Let’s go to the
Thought Bubble.
475.06 -> So a lot of people volunteered for the fourth
crusade — more than 35,000 — and the generals
479.369 -> didn’t want to march them all the way across
Anatolia, because they knew from experience
483.009 -> that it was A. dangerous and B. hot, so they
decided to go by boat, which necessitated
488.58 -> the building of the largest naval fleet Europe
had seen since the Roman Empire.
492.27 -> The Venetians built 500 ships, but then only
11,000 Crusaders actually made it down to
497.719 -> Venice, because, like, oh I meant to go but
I had a thing come up... etc. There wasn’t
502.439 -> enough money to pay for those boats, so the
Venetians made the Crusaders a deal: Help
506.619 -> us capture the rebellious city of Zara, and
we’ll ferry you to Anatolia.
511.919 -> This was a smidge problematic, Crusading-wise,
because Zara was a Christian city, but the
516.62 -> Crusaders agreed to help, resulting in the
Pope excommunicating both them and the Venetians.
521.62 -> Then after the Crusaders failed to take Zara
and were still broke, a would-be Byzantine
525.959 -> emperor named Alexius III promised the Crusaders
he would pay them if they helped him out,
531.62 -> so the (excommunicated) Catholic Crusaders
fought on behalf of the Orthodox Alexius,
536.899 -> who soon became emperor in Constantinople.
But it took Alexius a while to come up with
541.13 -> the money he’d promised the Crusaders, so
they were waiting around in Constantinople,
544.79 -> and then Alexius was suddenly dethroned by
the awesomely named Mourtzouphlos, leaving
549.529 -> the crusaders stuck in Constantinople with
no money.
552.68 -> Christian holy warriors couldn’t very well
sack the largest city in Christendom, could
555.98 -> they? Well, it turns out they could and boy,
did they. They took all the wealth they could
560.57 -> find, killed and raped Christians as they
went, stole the statues of horses that now
565.12 -> adorn St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, and retook exactly
none of the Holy Land. Thanks, Thought Bubble.
570.97 -> So you’d think this disaster would discredit
the whole notion of Crusading, right? No.
575.57 -> Instead, it legitimatized the idea that Crusading
didn’t have to be about pilgrimage: that
579.339 -> any enemies of the Catholic Church were fair
game.
581.6 -> Also, the fourth crusade pretty much doomed
the Byzantine Empire, which never really recovered.
585.93 -> Constantinople, a shadow of its former self,
was conquered by the Turks in 1453. So ultimately
591.399 -> the Crusades were a total failure at establishing
Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land long term.
596.35 -> And with the coming of the Ottomans, the region
remained solidly Muslim, as it (mostly) is today.
600.74 -> And the Crusades didn’t really open up lines
of communication between the Christian and
604.19 -> Muslim worlds, because those lines of communication
were already open. Plus, most historians now
608.67 -> agree that the Crusades didn’t bring Europe
out of the Middle Ages by offering it contact
612.85 -> with the superior intellectual accomplishments
of the Islamic world. In fact, they were a
616.41 -> tremendous drain on Europe’s resources.
618.38 -> For me, the Crusades matter because they remind
us that the medieval world was fundamentally
622.37 -> different from ours. The men and women who
took up the cross believed in the sacrality
626.49 -> of their work in a way that we often can’t
conceive of today. And when we focus so much
631.05 -> on the heroic narrative or the anti-imperialist
narrative, or all the political in-fighting,
635.5 -> we can lose sight of what the Crusades must
have meant to the Crusaders. How the journey
639.47 -> from pilgrimage to holy war transformed their
faith and their lives. And ultimately, that
644.42 -> exercise in empathy is the coolest thing about studying
history. Thanks for watching. I’ll see you next week.
649.78 -> Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan
Muller, our script supervisor is Danica Johnson.
654.08 -> Our graphics team is Thought Bubble, and the
show is written by my high school history
657.459 -> teacher Raoul Meyer and myself. If you enjoyed
today’s video don’t forget to like and
661.06 -> favorite it. Also, you can also follow us
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664.649 -> in the video info. Last week’s Phrase of
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667.97 -> this week’s Phrase of the Week or suggest
future ones in comments where you can also
672.029 -> ask questions that our team of historians
will endeavor to answer. Thanks for watching.
675.769 -> I apologize to my prudish fans for leaving
both buttons unbuttoned and as we say in my
679.169 -> hometown, Don't Forget To Be Awesome.
682.58 -> Whoah! Globe, globe, globe...
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0zudTQelzI