The Crusades The Byzantine Empire

Transcription

1 The Crusades The Byzantine Empire How does the East survive? 1) Massive wealth: Egypt and Greece extremely wealthy. Even with legions gone could bribe barbarians or even pay them to fight for the empire. 2) Constantinople a mighty fortress Rome sacked over and over again. Armies and barbarians could not take Constantinople City built on peninsula 40 foot walls, 50 foot towers Massive sea walls Great iron chain to protect harbor Greek Fire: first secret weapon. Byzantines shot it out of cannons from ships and from walls. Inextinguishable. Burns on water. West is gone in 476 A.D. to the Germans. For a time the East tries to conquer it back from the Germans. Justinian I & Theodora: rules from A.D. Greatest Byzantine rulers. They attempt to conquer the West from the Germans with his great general Belisarius. conquer Italy, N. Africa, S. Spain. Hagia Sophia (St. Sophia) wonder of the world. Domed church soars 180 feet into the air. Now a Moslem mosque. 600s A.D. the Byzantines are struck by two disasters. First many of their people are killed by the Black plague, then the Muslims explode out of Arabia

2 conquering the Holy Land and Egypt from them. The Byzantines for the next 1000 years will be in constant battle with the Muslims and no longer will the attempt to reconquer the west. They will fight for their survival. The Muslims have now conquered Jerusalem and this sets the stage for the.. The Crusades massive waves of armed pilgrimages and Christian invasion to retake the Holy Land and Jerusalem from the Muslims. By 1000 A.D. Jerusalem in Muslim hands for over 400 years. Why does it matter now? What sparks the crusades? New wave of Muslim invasions batter the Byzantine Empire Battle of Manzikurt 1071 A.D. Muslim Turks invade and conquer Turkey from the Byzantines. These territories supplied the Byzantines with most of the men for their armies. They must retake it. But how? Their armies have been destroyed and they don t have the forces available to mount a counter-attack. What can they do? Appeal to the Christian West to send some of the great knights to help them retake Turkey. Who can they talk to who speaks for the west after all it s a bunch of feudal kingdoms? Appeal to the Pope! Alexius Comnenus Byzantine Emperor sends urgent appeal to Pope for military aid to regain Turkey. Byzantines appeal for the knights of western Christendom Pope Urban II Pope who receives the Byzantine plea for military aid to retake Turkey. Still battling lords and kings over simony Previous Popes had recently been imprisoned and murdered.

3 Europe still full of ceaseless violence and warfare People are extremely religious but they don t look to the Pope to lead them. Needs to increase his prestige in a field outside the town of Clermont, France Urban calls for a Crusade to take the cross holy war to free Jerusalem from the hands of the heathen Muslims. During speech crowd cries out Deus lo Vult! God wills it A Sign Begin handing and sewing crosses of felt to show their oath to go on crusade. Old and week should not go. Women and children should not go. If you go all sins to God will be forgiven Christ himself will lead you. Glory, honor, all are assured of heaven. Die as a martyr as a saint. Now is your chance! Church of the Holy Sepulchre church built on the site of Jesus death and resurrection. Considered holiest site in Christendom. Word of Crusade spreads through Europe like fire through a tissue factory. Lords vow to march in spring after the harvest. Meanwhile they would set their houses and lands in order. Urban travels throughout France to promote crusade and other preachers and friars also take up the call. God is enchained! God calls you! God needs you now! Make something of your flea infested life! Die a martyr. Peter the Hermit donkey riding hermit preaches the crusade to the peasants. To women, children, lepers, sick, and the crippled. They also take the cross! Entire villages and manors are deserted. As Jesus was poor, then God s poor, his people will free Jerusalem. They aren t waiting for spring they re going right now! In December they begin to march in massive hordes towards Constantinople.

4 Peasant s Crusade Peasants turn on and slaughter the Jews wherever they go. Burning down churches and synagogues. Killing anyone who tries to protect them. Thousands butchered. Remember, in the gospel of Matthew Pontius Pilate washes his hands of Jesus execution and the crowd cries out. May his blood be upon us and our children. In the Middle Ages the Jews were blamed for the death of Jesus and they were heretics anyway so kill them for God! Peasants arrive in Constantinople After slaughtering the Jews, the Peasant s make their way to Constantinople like a plague of locusts. Many have died of starvation along they way. King of Hungary fought them to keep them out. Reports of cannibalism, rape and torture by the army of God. Perhaps 40,000 arrive in Constantinople. Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus is in shock. I ask for knights and I get an army of lepers, cripples and beggars! He feeds the beggar army and tells them to wait for the great lords and knights to arrive before going on. They begin looting his city, killing his men, and telling him he s standing in the way of God. Alexius ships them over to Turkey and says good luck. As soon as they arrived in Turkey, God s army butchered a Christian village not understanding that there were many Christians in these lands. Eventually they find the real heathen and a Muslim force slaughters them. Of 40,000 peasants only about 2,000 survive. Shockwaves through Europe at the failure of the peasants! God wanted the peasant s to fail! 1) Slaughter of the Jews 2) Murder, rape and torture of innocents on the march

5 Real crusade of the lords will not fail! First Crusade Crusade of the lords. Greatest lords and knights in Europe arrive in Europe Tens of thousands of knights arrive in Constantinople. Alexius relieved then outraged. These great lords have no interest in helping him retake Turkey. Plus they are smelly barbarians who keep eyeing up the cities treasures. One even jumps in his throne. Alexius provides them with guides and ships them over. He goes over to reconquer Turkey and will join the crusaders at Antioch. Turks hear there is another great invasion from the west, but they don t take it seriously. Har, har more pathetic peasants with pitchforks and babbling about Jesus! Turkish army moves out to wipe up the peasants. They notice that this army of the west looks different with metal men. They fight for hours, crusader knights start to overheat in armor, but another crusader force circles the Turks and crushes them between the two armies. It s a great crusader victory over an army three times their size. Rumors and survivors tell of the awful tales of the knights of horrific iron men that fight with hundreds of arrows sticking out of their bodies. They re unstoppable! Crusader army is left alone for months, but all food, water is destroyed in the army s path. Crusaders march through Turkey with little food. Antioch ancient great trading city on seacoast between Turkey and Israel. City is now extinct. Crusaders besiege the great city with four hundred towers and walls six miles long. 9 months later City shows no signs of falling. Can t stop supplies coming in by sea. Crusaders out of food and water. Starving and dying. Where are the Byzantines? Massive Turkish relief army coming to smash crusaders against the walls of Antioch.

6 Finally on the night of June 2 nd the crusaders buy off a Christian tower guard and open the gates of the city. Crusaders take the city. June 3 rd massive Turkish relief army arrives and besieges the crusaders. Three weeks later No food, no water. Crusaders drinking the blood of their horses, then eating them. Corpses are also eating from a local graveyard. Deserters are leaving and running from Antioch. Byzantines convinced by deserters that crusaders are dead. They aren t coming. It s all over. God Help Us! Peter Bartholomew common peasant claims a dream in which Jesus shows him where to find a great weapon. Crusaders dig underneath an old church. They re about to give up when suddenly Peter yells, leaps into the pit, and comes out with a rusty, rusty old Roman spear. He claims it s the Holy Lance spear that pierced Christ s side on the cross. Powers would make an army invincible. Three day fast is ordered and then the crusaders will attack. In amusement the Turks throw bread over the walls. Finally the Battle of the Lance Antioch Crusaders on cows Turk Baggage train Muslim Turks

7 Three days are up and the crusaders file out of Antioch with the Lance to face a massive Muslim horde. Turks think about attacking the crusaders as they come out but worried the rest will close the gate and they ll prolong the outcome. Muslim Turk army massive but restless and threatens to collapse and break apart as many leaders wish to return home so this has to be the final battle. Crusaders are laughable. Armor rusted through, no horses, some ride sick cows. But they have the lance and they are still knights. Muslims have their food and supplies behind them so they cannot retreat. Crusaders charge and with their armor they cut through the Muslims who have no armor. With the crusaders doing so well, unhappy Muslim tribesmen flee as they don t want to be here anywhere. The battle is a rout and the crusaders win an incredibly improbable victory. GOD IS WITH US! WE VE WON! Crusaders capture Muslim supplies so food is no problem. Countryside is still predominantly Christian. Muslim garrisons flee and the remaining cities throw open their gates. Muslims will not attempt to fight these inhuman iron men again. They are unstoppable. Siege of Jerusalem 9 months later crusaders armies finally arrive at Jerusalem. On the way Peter Bartholomew keeps having more visions. Some still don t believe in the Lance. He s challenged to prove its worth by ordeal Trial by fire. Holding the Lance he has to walk through twenty feet of flame. Peter walks in and comes out the other side and collapses horribly burned. Some say it s a miracle he came out the other side. Others say this proves the Lance is fake. Oh well on to Jerusalem.

8 10,000 crusaders besiege 20,000 Muslim defenders in Jerusalem and they know their will be no help coming. Slaughter of Jerusalem: crusader zeal explodes as they kill all within Jerusalem, Muslims, Christians, and Jews. 40,000 estimated killed. Christian and Muslim world shocked! Knights of the west have marched into the Holy Land defeated the greatest armies of the world and now they hold the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Can they hold it?