Pope Urban II had a brain wave months earlier in March 1095 when the Greek Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos requested aid from the Pope to hold back the invading Turks. The people's crusaders, as it came to be known, reached Constantinople but they immediately set about rioting and pillaging ou...
● In the Middle Ages, Europe and the Middle East were divided between Christian
states and Muslim states. but in the 11th century, a powerful new force emerged that
threatened its very survival. the Seljuk Turks, originally from central Asia, converted
to Sunni Islam and carved out a great empire for themselves.
● In 1095, byzantine Emperor Alexius I. Comnenus wrote to Pope Urban Ii, making a
desperate appeal for military aid from his fellow Christians in the West. Pope Urban
saw the emperor's appeal as a golden opportunity to heal the rift that had emerged
between western and eastern churches.. he called on Christian knights and
footsoldiers to go east to aid their brother Christians.
● People's Crusade, led by a French priest known as Peter the Hermit leader of the
so-called 'people 's Crusaders'. Pope Urban had intended the Crusade to be led by
nobles, and made up of knights and experienced soldiers., but the viral success of
his appeal led thousands of ordinary townsfolk and peasants to take the cross. they
identified themselves by wearing a cross later becoming known as 'crucesignatus.'
● Crusaders. a few of these men saw the opportunity in the East for fame and fortune,
but overwhelmingly went in search of spiritual salvation. the Crusaders were a mighty
military force, particularly the armored Knights., but they'd have to adapt rapidly to
the heat, terrain, and Hitandrun tactics of their enemy. In their favor, the Islamic world
and the Great Seljuk Empire itself were badly divided its Turkish governors were
busy fighting each other. none of them was prepared for the first Crusade or had any
real understanding of its strength or aims.
● The first Crusade had reached the great city of Antioch, the last major Turkish
stronghold standing between the Crusade and its goal, Jerusalem., but Antioch was
virtually impregnable with its citadel atop a 1000-foot mountain and too large to
encircle.
● The giant Crusader army could only camp outside its walls, and pray for a miracle.
but that winter, they ran out of food and ran dangerously low on supplies.. a Turkish
army was assembled under the command of K r Bugha, governor of Mosul marched
on Antioch. They massacred soldiers and civilians alike, while desperate Muslim
survivors fled to the Citadel.
● In the summer of 1098, Fatimid forces from Egypt captured Jerusalem from the
Artukid Turks. the Crusaders decided to meet the Muslim army outside the city walls.
with the zeal of religious fanatics, seeing visions of Saints and angels, the Crusaders
charged. the Muslim army turned and fled.
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