Christian Crusades

While the goal of the Christian Crusades was only successful once, it still brought about many changes in the time including an end to feudalism, advancement in warfare, and expansion of trade. The Seljuq Turks began to take over "the Holy Land" in Palestine and this upset Pope Urban II. He was eager to regain the Holy Land and thus began the First Crusade. The French and Italian lords led armies through Palestine to their main target Jerusalem. They were heavy armor and wool while marching through the desert and because of this some died of heat exhaustion. Despite this problem, they reached Jerusalem and after many vicious battles the city was captured. Now most of the Holy Land was under European control. The Europeans brought many of their customs with them including feudalism.

The Turks slowly began to regain control of the Holy Land. They united and began to take back cities that were captured as a result the Second Crusade began. King Louis VII and Conrad III led armies to Damascus but they failed to recapture the city and the Turks still held power. In 1187 Saladin, a Muslim leader, gained control of Jerusalem. Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip II, and King Richard I led armies to take back the Holy Land in the Third Crusade. On the way there Barbarossa drowned so his army turned back. Philip and Richard got into a fight and Philip went back to France to take back land from the English. Richard went on to the Holy Land but failed to recapture it. He did make a truce with Saladin which allowed Christians to enter the Holy land and control of some towns.

There was one last effort to take the Holy Land back by Pope Innocent III who put together French knights in the Fourth Crusade. The knights left on ships provided by Venice and were asked to attack Zadar, a rival trading city to Venice. Since Zadar was a Christian city the knights who attacked and looted it were excommunicated. The knights went on to attack and loot another Christian city Constantinople. The Crusades led to changes in the middle ages. Warfare changed with the development of weapons such as crossbows, catapults and learned about gun powder. The Crusades cost money to go on so lords had to sell their land and because of the fewer lords the kings gained more power and this brought an end to feudalism. All the traveling through the Holy Land led to exchange of ideas with one another and Italian cities became major trading cities. Unfortunately only the First