Why Medieval People went on Crusades – Richard 2004

Why did so many people risk their lives to join a crusade? There were many reasons that people joined a crusade power, money, forgiveness…etc.

The crusaders wanted to control Jerusalem. This was important because it was the holy city where Christ was born this was also believed to be the centre of the Earth. The Crusaders believed that they had every right to be in Jerusalem and they had been travelling on pilgrimages for many years but now with the Saracens there, they were being stopped. They wanted to regain their land and along with it’s riches, relics and maybe even a women. They wanted to please God and the Pope they could do this by going on crusade. The Pope had also said things during a speech like “They are killing great numbers of Christians, go help them”, “Take the land from the wicked and make it your own”, “Now you must fight the Saracens, let bandits become soldiers.”

Crusaders thought that they would be sure of a place in heaven. We know this because the Pope gave a speech saying that anyone who went on a Crusade would be granted a pardon from God and all your sins will be forgiven. The Pope wanted to raise an army with this speech but instead he raised a civilisation. People now were going on a crusade for many different reasons; to obey God, to ask for forgiveness, they wanted revenge on the Saracens for taking their city, plus the Pope said that any land gained along the way they were welcome to or finally they just loved war, fighting and killing bad people. An example of a crusader saying goodbye to his wife went like this, “ alas, my darling! It breaks my heart that I should leave you, but I must go to the holy land. That is where I will win paradise, praise and your true love. An example of a knight training for a crusade is a tournament. Knights loved to train in tournaments, to fell the blood run into their mouth when they’ve been knocked to the ground, plus this impressed the women.

Bravery, love and honour were very important to crusader knights. Before any knight set of on the crusade they had to kneel and take a promise to God saying that he would try to capture Jerusalem from the Saracens. After that he would have the cross sewn onto his clothes showing he was a crusader knight. Knights sometimes went to honour someone or their family, which was well respected. You have to love your religion if you are willing to lay down your life for it. They knew that it would be an honour to die for Christ. Some knights went on crusades to prove their love for a woman and also it gained them a lot of respect and example would be of a farmer who went as a brave Christian and returned a hero who had enough money to last him a lifetime. An example of how a knight was loved, “The king attended a knight’s funeral and as the body was placed into the grave there was tears in the Nobles eyes,” this was written by a English Priest in the 12^th centaury, the knight must have been much loved and had done a lot of good for a king to of attended it. I think that the bravery was summed up by a kid’s crusade led by a twelve-year-old shepherd boy. I think that you can imagine being a crusader knight just about to be attacked by the Saracens, just waiting there and the thought of going straight to heaven if you die or being greeted by hundreds of people naming you a hero if you live in your mind. The feeling must be great.

Some people went to the holy land for other reasons. Here are some other reasons of going on a crusade to the Holy land. Maybe they had done something bad and needed to get away, they had felt guilty about something they had done, to get a pardon from God was sometimes the only reason why they went, men probably thought of this a chance to cheat on his wife and took it. Plus during periods where there was no fighting going on there was a chance to set up a business and trade ideas and products. This was an easy and ideal way to get money. One example of a French Crusader writing a letter to his wife goes like this “My dear wife, I now have twice as much gold, silver and other riches as I had before I went on this crusade.”

In my opinion the most common reason that crusaders went on a crusade was honour, bravery and love. I think this because it makes the most sense to prove to Christ and the Pope. I know that if I were ever to go on one it would be for that reason. To sum it all up medieval people went on Crusades for; revenge, forgiveness, honour, love, to prove themselves, to obey god, and quite frankly people went for the love of war.