Part-I: First Crusade & Revival of Muslim Jihad
by Muhammad Zunair
Peter the Hermit preaching the people for the First Crusade (Artist: James Archer, Source: Wikipedia)
Of all the military conflicts between Christianity and Islam, the 200-year long holy wars — Crusades — are of the greatest significance vis-à-vis their impact on the ever-changing geopolitical landscape of two of the greatest religions in the history of mankind.
Led by Western European Christians, Crusades were a series of military campaigns, aimed at regaining the control of former Christian territories including the holy city of Jerusalem, which had been conquered by the Muslims in the last five centuries, and to prevent the further expansion of Islam in the Eastern Mediterranean.
However, the question is what actually transpired that, after five centuries of constant Muslim conquest and the rapid expansion of Islam, the Christians finally resorted to a unified effort of war against Islam.
Moreover, by the latter half of the 11th century, Muslims had already conquered 2/3rd of the Christian world. So, why it took the Latin Church so long to come up with this idea of Crusades?
Well, there are a number of key factors, responsible for that but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll only take into consideration the most important one; Battle of Manzikert.
Battle of Manzikert was fought between Turko-Persian Seljuk Empire and the Byzantine Empire in 1071 A.D. and ended with a damning defeat for the Byzantines — depriving them of their control of Anatolia.
Seljuks, who had already captured Baghdad and were at the realm of the Muslim world, saw this as an opportunity to expand their empire. Thus, after an astonishing victory, Seljuks established the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia.
However, in 1092, the great Seljuk Emperor Malik-Shah I died and this led to the fragmentation of their empire. As a result, the local warlords started sacking Christians from their Holy land and this is when the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I Komnenos asked the Latin Church for military aid. Thus, Pope Urban II then called the Western European Christians to join hands for crusading the Muslims, who were in control of former Christian territories.
First Crusade(1095–1099)
Pope was aware of the opportunity, in the form of Crusades, to unite the Catholics and Orthodox Christians and to restrengthen the Christendom after almost 500 years of humiliation at the hands of Muslims. So, he ensured to label this pursuit as a Holy War and even called it a chance for the nobles and knights to atone their sins.
At the Council of Clermont, he delivered such a powerful speech — arguably one of the greatest of Medival Ages — that it injected a new spirit of religious zest and, consequently, was met with the response of Dues Vult(God wills it).
Interestingly, in theology, Christianity didn’t have a concept of holy wars but Pope knew that religious euphoria — coupled with the idea of spiritual salvation — would make the European Christians, especially nobles and knights, unite for this cause. Thus, the whole idea of Crusades got turned into a belief that these military expeditions were holy wars for the regaining the lost territories of Christendom.
Consequently, many Christians thought of sacrificing their lives in the name of Christ and Pope Urban II succeeded in his attempt to unify the Western European Christians for fighting against the common enemy.
People’s Crusade
After the call from the Pope, a number of peasants and low-ranking knights started moving towards the East for the assistance of the Eastern Roman Empire on their own. They were unorganized and scattered groups of common people, mainly driven by the desires for fortune and spiritual salvation.
In the command of Peter the Hermet, this group of marchers later came to be known as the People’s Crusade and they were the first ones to reach Constantinople.
On receiving them, the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, quickly sent them to the frontlines to fight against the Turks. Nonetheless, having no experience of military warfare and struggling with the leadership vacuum, the People’s Crusade was destined for a crushing defeat. Thus, at the Battle of Civetot in northwestern Anatolia, the Turks slaughtered them.
Princes’ Crusade
After the failure of the People’s Crusade, a well-organized army of about 60,000 men under the command of different knights from various areas of Europe marched forward and finally converged at Constantinople.
Unlike the People’s Crusade, Princes’ Crusade had the strength, organization, and leadership to achieve the desired results.
Interestingly on the other side, the Seljuks were busy fighting among themselves and against Fatimids from Egypt. As the Seljuk Empire was getting weaker because of intra-empire conflicts, Fatimids had the opportunity to conquer Seljuk areas including Jerusalem. Thus, in 1098, Fatimids finally captured Jerusalem, and consequently, when Crusaders reached Jerusalem, Fatimids were in control of it.
Fall of Jerusalem:
After almost three years of marching, the Crusaders finally reached Jerusalem in June 1099. However, the Fatimid governor was confident of holding them back as the Crusaders were short of supplies.
Crusaders, on the other hand, driven by religious zeal and spiritual eltaion started their siege of Jerusalem and it didn’t take them long to figure a way in. Thus, in July 1099, Crusaders succeeded in their ultimate mission as the holy city of Jerusalem fell to them.
As the Crusaders entered the city, they slaughtered both Muslims and Jews and put an end to a tiring three years-long journey with an examination mark.
An expedition, which had started three years ago in the name of Jesus, appeared to have ended with success and bloodshed. However, it was just the beginning as in the coming centuries, Christians and Muslims kept fighting for the ultimate control of Jerusalem.
Christians’ Settlements and Response from Muslims
After capturing the holy city of Jerusalem, Crusaders saw the opportunity to bring demographic and social changes in the conquered areas. Thus, they started establishing new Christian settlements in the conquered lands and called them Crusader States i.e County of Tripoli. Furthermore, Baldwin I established the Kingdom of Jerusalem and even proclaimed himself to be the king.
With the aim of expanding the Crusade Empire, the rulers of the Crusade States started inviting European Christians to come to the newly conquered areas.
Till now, Crusaders had only settled on the coastal line as they believed in the geographical advantage of coastal areas but later, they thought of expanding their authority in the inland areas. Especially, Crusaders from the Italian states, who were more interested in the economic side of things than the religious ones, wanted to gain the financial benefits so, they started moving towards the inland areas.
As a result, Crusaders, who had already captured a large portion of Muslim Levant, moved from Antioch towards Aleppo and they even succeeded in getting control of the city. However, this very act led the Muslims to realize the gravity of the situation and the expansionist motives of the Crusaders — eventually leading them to start their own movement of resistance in the form of Jihad.
The Revival of Muslim Jihad
The fall of Jerusalem led the Muslim preachers and scholars to travel to Baghdad for rousing men to recover Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Crusaders. Moreover, Muslims had now started realizing that Crusaders were not in a mood of limiting themselves to the conquered areas; they wanted to expand the Crusade Empire. Thus, the idea of Crusaders’ expansionism started making sense to them and that was what led to the first wave of Muslim Jihad against the Crusaders.
Abbasid Caliphate, which was a mere shadow of its former self, didn’t have the power to resist the Crusaders but the Seljuks had. So, on the request of the Abbasids Caliph, Al Mustazhir, Seljuk Sultan sent his governor of Mosul, Mawdud Ibn Altuntash, who led Muslims to their first prominent victory against the Crusaders in the Battle of Al-Sannabra in 1113. Nonetheless, Mawdud couldn’t survive the Shia-Sunni rift and was assassinated in Damascus by Toghtekin.
Fortunately, the predecessor of Mawdud, Imad al-Din Zengi, excelled him and unified Muslims to regain the control of County of Edessa in 1144. His victory proved to be quite pivotal in elevating their spirits and giving Muslims a new sense of unity.
Muslims — who till now were only defending the Crusades — had finally moved to the front foot and started their own holy war against the Crusaders. Edessa was first of the captured lands, and it proved to be the biggest stimulus in unifying Muslims against the Crusaders.
Later in 1146, just like Mawdud, Imad al-Din Zengi also got assassinated and his son Nur ad-Din Zengi succeeded him. However, Nur ad-Din Zengi carried the mission of his father and even transcended him by recapturing more territories and igniting a new sense of Jihad in Muslims.
Upon watching this, European Christians called for another expedition, and this time Pope Eugene III succeeded in sending a new military expedition, led by two European kings.
Will the Second Crusade yield the same results or this time, Muslims will emerge triumphantly? Wait for the second part!
PS: I know, I have missed some details, including a number of events, but to keep this piece short and precise, I have done it intentionally.
