James Baquet

A number of military actions come under the umbrella term “crusade.” Let’s take a look at the background of this phenomenon.

The Latin word for “cross” is “crux”; a “crusade” is a taking up of the cross, symbolically fighting on Christ’s behalf. Incidentally, the word “crusade” was not widely applied to these events until around 1760. Modern evangelistic events also may be referred to as crusades, as may all sorts of efforts on behalf of the public (like blood drives, or buying books for a library).

But The Crusades were a series of religious wars instigated by the Roman Catholic Church, starting in the Middle Ages. The best-known of these were efforts by Christian knights to take back Jerusalem and its environs — the “Holy Land” — from Muslim control. Later efforts to suppress paganism and heresy, even in European territory, are also called crusades.

But the First Crusade, as history knows it, took place in 1095, and resulted in the 1099 re-conquest of Jerusalem. Subsequent campaigns in the series — the Second (1147-1149), Third (1189-1192), Fourth (1202-1204), Fifth (1217-1221), Sixth (1228-1229), Seventh (1248-1254), Eighth (1270), and Ninth (1271-1272) — had similar aims, as control of the region shifted back and forth.

Concurrent with these efforts, other crusades took place during the period of “classical” crusades. These were either minor efforts — often meant to complete actions initiated in the larger, numbered crusades — or were called by specific rulers other than the Pope. They are designated the 1101, Norwegian, Venetian, 1197, and Barons’ Crusades, the last one being from 1239-1241.

After 1291 and the fall of Acre — a Crusader-controlled city in the Middle East — there were other crusades for other reasons, around 30 by one count. Eight of these are called Northern Crusades, in which attempts were made to bring non-Christian populations of northern Europe under the sway of Rome; and at least five were fought against non-conforming — that is, non-Catholic — Christians. We have already seen several actions that took place against Muslims in Spain.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. incited, fomented, stirred up

2. occurring at the same time

3. not complying with the proper way

4. moved

5. all-inclusive expression

6. area around (someplace)

7. control, rule

8. started, originated

9. false belief

10. attempting to gain followers for Christ