The Crusades are traditionally defined as the series of western expeditions against the Muslim lands of Palestine and the Levant which begun with Pope Urban’s call to arms at Clermont in 1095 AD, and all but ended with the Muslim liberation of Acre in 1291. The initial western offensive was sudden and effective. By 1099, Jerusalem was in Christian hands, and remained so until 1187, when it was liberated by Slah al-Din. From then on, European power in the region was very limited, although Frederick II of Sicily briefly conquered Jerusalem again in 1228. The fall of Acre in 1291 marked the end of the European presence in the region. All in all, it was the western Christian that states failed to counter the ultimate rise of Muslim power as-well-as “liberating” any holy lands. It was a war that a man fought another man for the misguided main beliefs of another. Over-all, the Muslim nations that were invaded by those Christian states wanted no part of the hostile take-over of their lands or a forced conversion to their non-Islamic religion. Holy Sepulchre, a city in Palestine was the center of attraction; where the religious practices of Christians were not allowed to enter. The city was under the care of the Caliphs from Bagdad and the Fatimid’s of Egypt. At one point the Caliph presented the keys of this holy place to Charlemagne to lock out the millions of Christians from gaining access. People from Turkey sooner joined the fight to control the holy place as the Arabian community could not resist them and eventually more Christians were subjected to many more annoyances. The whole of Europe also complained about the brutality in which these practicing Christians were facing and advised them to return to their Christian bound territories. The sufferings of Christians raised a great concern among the Christian clergy in Europe…specifically Pope Sylvester II, who began his mission to preach a crusade to counter the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre by the Seljuk Turks. Germany happened to be the center of convergence of the Christians when it was decided to send over seven thousand pilgrims to Palestine to conquer the Holy Sepulchre and posses Jerusalem for themselves. The mission lasted for sixty years with only two thousand pilgrims returning back to Germany, having lost their ability to fulfill the Pope’s mission. The killing of the pilgrims and the inability to posses the sacred holy land angered the European Bishops and brewed their desire to launch a full-scale revenge campaign. Pope Urban II proclaimed a sacred war and a Christian army began their journey to the holy city. Upon their arrival, the Christian army was boosted by good news when Peter of Amiens also preached against the actions of the Turks. To further their justification was the deafening complaints made by the Patriareh of Jerusalem who travelled across the Europe with a figure of red cross and name crusaders reclaiming the sanctity of Jerusalem as a holy land for Christians. Over the time there were a total of seven crusades. In the first crusade the army from Europe fought to reclaim the city, while mistreating the Jews in their own country, which led to the reduction of their numbers and their migration to the east. It was during this crusade that the kingdom of Jerusalem elected a king and religious military orders were put into practice. The main aim of the first crusade was to posses the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and takes care of Christians in the East who were being persecuted by the Turks. Baldwin III fought for the second crusade attempting to shorten the governing of Edessa by Seljuk (Turkish leader)…while the third crusade was intended for the recapture of the Holy land. King Andrew of Hungary was the pioneer for the fourth crusade and the fifth crusade came into existence when Pope Innocents expressed his disgust to the House of Hobenstuffein. The sixth and seventh crusades were aimed at correcting the outcome of the battle of Gaza. In the end, the Crusades led to the loss of lives among thousands and thousands of Christians; but also brought several western countries together in the Europe and in doing so, popularized the popes while weakening the eastern princes.
Muslims Reaction to the First Crusade
The Campaigns The first crusade began in 1096 when Christian states in Western Europe were teamed up with Alexios I, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire in Syria. The whole fight began at Anatolia, the military of the Byzantine Empire were unable to reclaim the lost territory and it there called for the support of the Christians from Europe. For more than three hundred years Anatolia had been Islamic, in the middle of eleventh century, Alexios I the then Emperor of Byzantine imposed military control in the town, which led to a conflict with the Armenian military. The group became so weakened that the Saljug Turkish of turkey managed to overthrow them. During this time Saljug Turkish conquered the eastern and central parts of the Islamic world, leading to the revival of Sunni Islam which later became a force to reckon when fighting the crusaders. The revival of Sunni Islam also resulted to the formation of the Islamic Turcoman tribes which tormented the eastern boundary of the Byzantine Empire. To counter this, Alexios I the Emperor decided to form a barracks which included soldiers from parts of Europe, local Armenians, Christians and the followers of non Christians and those that were non Islamic. A major rift between the Armenians and the Byzantine army aroused, this was attributed firstly to the heavy taxation to the Armenians for the payment of Byzantine army and secondly there was a major religious difference. The neighboring Islamic world became the destiny of those who were running away from the tensions in Armenia. Saljug Turkish was cunning for power and they had a different way of administrating; they were a clan within the Turkish community and they believed in sharing power among the family members other than allowing the senior members of that particular family to lead them. The same system was practiced in Iraq, Iran, Syria and the neighboring countries, it had a great impact and it united the Islamic world. This first crusade shocked the Islamic world; in Baghdad people were not in any position to identify the Christians from Europe who by then were their enemies. Al-Abiward the seljuiq poet complained about the fall of Jerusalem to the Byzantine he blamed Muslims who allowed the disaster to happen by writing a very powerful poem. In his poem he criticized the Christians and the non-Muslims for invading their faith and inflicting harm to their religion.
The Principality of Antioch In 1098 the Latin who participated in the first crusade was able to enter to the city of Antioch though they were put into a lot suffering and temptations for up to eight months. A fresh fight between them and the Kerboghas’ army broke, they managed to beat the army and they finally settled. Antioch proved to be a very important city because it linked the Muslims in the Muslim city of Aleppo and the southern neighbors of Shaizar and the Homs. The contest to control the Antioch city began between Bohemond of Taranto and the Raymond of saint Gilles of Toulouse. Bohemond claimed that they were the genuine occupants and controllers of the Antioch city through an agreement with leaders of the crusade who were in the place earlier. Series of wars took place and Bohemond expelled the army of Raymond gaining total control of the city and they expanded it to form a principality.
Muslim Leaders Qilich Arslan I, the son of Sulayman Ibn Qutalmish, was the second ruler of Anatolia. Arslan was in the city of Antioch when his father, the then ruler of Anatolia was killed in the fight with the Tutush of Syria. He run away but later came back and he was engaged in the Muslims leadership, whereby he opted for a peaceful co existence with the Saljug rulers other than fighting the Byzantium. During this time he overthrew the peasant’s crusade but he was later defeated by the official first crusade. This forced him to abandon Nicaea and fled to Konya where he established it as a long lasting capital, his leadership won a lot of pundits from Muslims but he was later killed. Yaghi Siyan was already a ruler when the first crusade arrived in Antioch; he expanded his territory and included Manbij and Tal Bashir but he fought Ridwan the son of Tutush who was the ruler of Aleppo. He did not allow Christians who were building the trenches outside the city; this disconnected them from regrouping with other Christians at the Antioch city. The main objectives of all these fights by Muslims leaders were to protect the Muslims from the fights launched by the Christians.

The Conquer of Jerusalem The crusades invaded Jerusalem which was under the leadership of Egyptians; they burnt churches which belonged to the Jews popularly known as the principal Jewish synagogue. Al-Afdal had a lot of army; he assembled them, armed them and started the efforts to take the Holy land, Jerusalem. The Franks tried to counter the fight by the Jews by invading the town which they later possessed it. During the war most of the occupants of the town were killed and this forced the survivors to run away. At one point the Jews had assembled in their places of worship and the Franks took full advantage of this and burnt them over their heads. Franks captured the town and were able to kill more than seventy thousand Muslims. Dome of the Rock lost their belongings including the forty silver candelabra with each one valued at three hundred and sixty thousand dirham, silver lamps, clothing items, and more than twenty Gold lamps. This weakened the Al-Afda army and the Jews as a force to fight. According to the Muslims, crusaders were very strange enemies and no one even expected them, poets came up with very strong messages soliciting the support of Muslims from all over the Islamic world to declare war with Christians and finally the Muslim became victors, i.e. the first crusade had failed.
The Second Crusade from an Islamic Perspective Pope Eugenuis III proclaims the second crusade he solicits for support from the king of France, King Louis VIII and other Christian faithful to substantiate the efforts of Franks and the Italians in reclaiming the city of Jerusalem and the fight to recapture the city of Edessa from Muslims begun. The Pope, Eugenuis III promised huge rewards to those who participated in the crusades and put up some sanctions to those who carried the cross like not wearing the most expensive clothes so that their sins could be forgiven. Muslim leaders reacted to the plans by the crusaders to attack the city of Edessa. This is shown in the poems written by Manganeos Prodromos he launches some campaigns encouraging the Muslims to stage the holy war. He also wrote poems to Sevestokrasrisa Eirene, a Muslim ruler at that time informing him the progress of Conrad III; the crusading army of Germany. At this time the Conrad was in Philipopolis; there were clashes in this city and its neighboring towns like Adrianople. Floods destroyed the Conrad’s camp at Choirobacchoi and they were swept away by the mud reducing them in number which later weakened them. Manganeos Prodromos believed that this was work of prayers they made through the Virgin Mary. Conrad himself and his army had arrived Constanantiople and they were camping at the Pikiridion, Byzantines who were in the place staged a fight with them and lead to their further movement to Damalis through Bosphoros. Emperor Manuel did his best to reclaim the city; this has been shown by the lines written by Manganeos Prodromos in his poem praising the Emperor’s right approach to fight and it led to the defeat of crusaders. After a lot of fights the Conrad army had fled away from the Constantinople, along the way Conrad himself felt sick and decided to come back to the Constantinople city to be given medical attention by Emperor Manuel. The tactics employed by the Muslim leader worked, he allowed Conrad brother Heinrich Jasomirgott to marry the third daughter of Sevestokrasrisa Eirene who was unmarried. The co-existence between the former enemies was a plan by Muslims to weaken the kingdom of Roger II and the most feared Normans in the city of Sicily. The wedding of Heinrich Jasomirgott and Theodora the daughter of Sevestokrasrisa Eirene was received with great joy and celebrations by Muslim community who were all over the city.
Fiasco at Damascus The survivors of the Constantinople fight traveled through the sea to the holy land in Damascus whereby they met with other survivors from Asia who were basically Frenchmen. There was a big meeting at the Acre in Outremer in which all the leaders were supposed to attend. The King of Jerusalem, Baldwin III addressed the gathering which included the lords, military leaders, and the Kings of Germany and France. With a pending siege was on the horizon, the armies needed to strategically position themselves with an adequate supply of water, which in their case, was located in the vicinity of the western walls of the holy land. In the process, they received a hostile reception from the Damascenes who were already occupying this specific location. In response, the armies were relocated to the eastern bloc which was basically open ground within a desert-like enviroment. With the conditions not favorable for survival, the crusaders were forced to withdraw without having even fought. Nur al-Din, a Muslim leader took control of the town and united all the Muslims. This withdrawal of Damascus angered the Christians from the western world, which led to an even greater rivalry with the Muslims, that would last for many generations to come.
Muslim Perspective of the Third Crusade The failure of the second crusade led to the emergence of the third crusade which was mainly a reaction to the conquest of Jerusalem by the rulers of Egypt. By then Saladin the nephew of Sultan of Egypt was the ruler. The third crusade has been popularly known as the king’s crusade because leaders all over Europe came together to strategies on how to re-conquer the city of Jerusalem. The lead was guided by very powerful men from the western parts of Europe including Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, King Philip of France, and King Richard I the Lion Heart of England. The emperor of Germany believed that it was through them that God ruled the world and at any one point he could call himself thunder and lightning and that everybody in the world should became what he wanted them to be. He also emphasized the fact that the world can be governed through terror. He killed and burned people from Rome who were moving away, citing that they never obeyed his commands. King Richard I, during his coronation as king, impressed and murdered all the Jews that were present at the occasion, which took place in London. A major splitting between the Christians began, the Christian Emperor of Byzantine started to poison his solders, this reduced them in number and weakened them completely giving their enemies a mileage. The experience from the first and the second crusade had thought the Eastern Christians a good lesson and they decided not to back up the new crusaders instead they joined the Muslim side. Another setback happened when the emperor, Frederick Barbarossa drowned in the Cilician river while making an attempt to cross the river. This weakened his defense team so much that others decided to go back to Germany since they could easily lose any fight they could engage in. The journey to the Holy Land began, both King Philip from, and King Richard I used the sea in attempt to conquer the coastal city of Palestine. A fierce fight between them and the Muslims began; since Muslims were undergoing through some hardship, they were not united and there was an economical melt down in the city and they lost the fight to the new crusaders. The Christian prisoners were released and they begun raping women and young girls. King Philip felt sick and he was forced to go back to France. King Richard I remained alone and he had up to three thousand Muslim prisoners to take care of. Saladin did not make a ransom for the prisoners immediately because he was waiting for the Muslims in the Egypt and Syria to reassemble so that they could give him the necessary reinforcement for the new war he was to stage. The two leaders negotiated for peace and Saladin’s brother soon married a sister to the king Richard I with the agreement of making the coastal region of Palestine a territory of the Christian crusaders. Pilgrims were allowed to enter the Holy city and there was peace between the Christians and the Muslims. Saladin did not enjoy the peace because he died of fever in Damascus. King Richard I sealed the peace deal with the Muslims and returned to his native land, England and he finally died of wound.
Islamic Reaction to the Fourth Crusade Pope Innocent III was the pioneer of the fourth crusade whereby he threatened to expel any Christian ruler who could not obey his orders or match his words. He failed in trying to unite King Richard I the Lion Heart of England and King Philip of France because King Richard died before the strategy had worked. Pope Innocent saw himself as the one true representative of Christ in this world and with this leadership he informed all Christians that they were to confess their sins on an annual basis. Pope Innocent was not against the existence of Muslims and the leadership of the Saladin and made some promises of gifts to anyone who could mingle with a Muslim freely and not kill him or her. He changed the fate of many Christians who could not join the crusade as he assured them of judgment during their last days. During his tenure, Pope Innocent made sure he had more money, weapons, and even the much needed manpower to punish the Christians who were not following his orders. The income of every Christian was taxed so severely, that it later led to the failure of the lords and knights to finance the crusaders. The Christian crusade that survived the first, second, and third crusades were isolated in coastal regions like the Count Thibald of Champagne, Count Louis of Blois, Simon Montfort, and the Reynald of Montmirail. After long period of peace, war almost broke out when Henry, the brother of the Count of Baldwin of Flankers decided to fight the Muslims, but he died before such a conflict could commence. The entire team of crusaders chose Boniface of Montferrat to be their new leader; however, the Christian army still lacked the funds that could enable them to board for ships for their trip to the Holy Land. Doge, the King of Venice suggested to the Christians to help him in the efforts of reclaiming his economically stable city of Zara which he had lost earlier on. The Christians agreed to fund the Crusade and also bring the city of Zara under the rule of Venetian. The Crusade began their journey to the city and surrounded the walls of the town before launching an all-out attack. When the conflict broke out, the Muslims retaliated with innocent citizens killed and all others to be made slaves. Pope Innocent was very furious and he excommunicated both Franks and Venetians from the Christian territory. There were changes in leadership from the eastern part of the town whereby the then Emperor of Byzantium, Isaac Comnena was ousted by his brother Alexis Comnena, making him the new leader of Byzantium. The son of the ousted Emperor, Alexis Angelus uses some tricks to escape to Rome to solicit for support from Pope to reclaim the lost kingdom of his father. He was only thirteen years old , but he still promised to cover all the expenses to be incurred by pope, the crusaders, Frankish, and the Venetians. The entire empire was placed under the leadership of Pope after he had rescinded the expulsion he gave to the crusaders leaders and fight to Muslims began. Alexis Comnena had sensed some of his people defeated because he had no union and fled away leaving Alexis Angelus, the son of the former emperor wanted to control the empire alone. Crusaders were not paid the money for their efforts and they prompted more wrangles within the inner leadership of the empire and Alexis Angelus managed to lead the town by himself as the crusades fled away. The crusaders attacked the Constantinople, the Franks and Venetians were not working together and disunity allowed the barbarity to rule. In the town, women and young girls were raped and Pope condemned the actions and called for peace among those who dwelled in the city. The fourth crusaders were not in a position to reach the Holy Land and therefore the territory was still for Muslims.
The Fifth Crusade from a Muslim Perspective The fifth crusade began and ended in Egypt. King Andrew of Hungary was the one taking care of all the armies from Europe. When it came to his knowledge that Muslim power was shifting from Syria to Egypt he ordered the army under his command to rally to the port city of Damittea in the eastern Nile to stop the Muslims at Syria so that they could not enter Jerusalem. The battle persisted with no ultimate winner prevailing, which forced the crusaders to call for reinforcements from the Emperor of Holy Roman, Fredrick II. The Sultan managed to rule the territory for over thirty years and it was during his reign that the entire Christian army was swept away by catastrophic flooding. In response to this, the Pope decided to strip Fredrick II off his leadership as he had failed to preserve his people and at other times acted like an agent of devil.
The expulsion of Fredrick II was a big blow to the crusader cause as the emperor knew the Muslim culture from his studies of the regions science, philosophy, arts, and physical sciences. His friend Al-Kamil advised him to join Al-Muazzam who was fighting in Syria in exchange of the Holy Land. Jerusalem was given to Christians without any blood being shade and Fredrick II became the victor. He was allowed to visit Islamic sacred sites and in doing so, he allowed Muslims to worship and enter holy sites freely. Pope Innocent did not approve of this collaboration of Al-Kamil and Fredrick II and called for crusader against crusader giving the Muslims upper hand to control the holy city.
Islamic Perspective of the Sixth Crusade Emperor Frederick II took up the Sixth Crusade in 1215, but political problems in the west kept him from joining. He wanted to boost his appearance by regaining the Holy Land. Pope Gregory IX excommunicated him in 1227 when his journey was delayed more because of an illness. He finally left for the Holy Land in June 1228. In February 1229, Sultan al-Kamil surrendered Jerusalem because he was afraid of Frederick's expedition. A ten year truce was agreed upon.
The main purpose for the sixth crusade was to tell people to abandon infidelity, which was done by Pope Innocent III. He declared that the rise of Christians to power had come since they had successfully worked for God and that anybody disobeying his orders could be driven out of the kingdom. This provoked a reaction from the Muslims who had a totally different perspective. They were wishing to continue occupying the city of Acre and even recapture parts of the Holy Land that were once occupied by the sacred soldiers. It was during this time that Muslims burned the ladders of Franks and the Duke of Austria was completely under the leadership of the Saracens. Revenge that was staged by the Christians failed and the Holy city remained in the hands of Muslims. With the aid of Saint Peter protection was preserved for those Christian families of pilgrims and their possessions that remained.
A Muslim Reflection of the Seventh Crusade The seventh crusade was the last formal crusade, which was mainly staged by Pope Innocent III and the King Louis of France. It began in 1244 after the Muslims had recaptured Jerusalem and ended in 1254. Louis spent four years planning and at the end of August 1248, Louis and his army sailed to Cyprus. The army spent the winter in Cyprus while waiting for reinforcements. The fleet left at the end of May and stopped off at Damietta on June 5, 1249. On June 6 the citizens of Damietta evacuated in a panic and again the crusaders were forced to wait for reinforcements. On November 20, 1249, the army started to march to Cairo and attacked the same in the spring of 1250. Louis surrendered to the Egyptians in April 1250. Damietta was given up and a ransom was paid. There were a lot of disasters in Egypt, but the Muslims were united as there were not many wars during this crusade. King Louis managed to take some pilgrims to the city of Nazareth but the holy city remained intact for the Muslims. No blood was shed during this peaceful and somewhat political crusade.

Conclusion The aforementioned crusades were considered the most historical, even though there were actually more to come…leading up to the last that ended in 1291. The Crusades, for the most part, were wars fought among Christian and Muslim pilgrimages in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, in the eastern Mediterranean, and in North Africa; which began in the eleventh century and ended in the late thirteenth. Most histories of the Crusades tend to focus on the Crusades themselves and the perspectives of European Christian seeking conquest and plunder in the Holy Land, but what about the Muslims whose lands were invaded and cities sacked. Once the Muslims stopped bickering among themselves, they seemed to find a universal goal of greater unity and common sense. As a general rule, all of the Muslims were very much against the invasion by the Christians from Western Europe and fought to proclaim sanctity of the Holy Land. To date, the Crusades are considered one of the most violent periods in the history of mankind, but in the end, the Crusaders didn’t leave much of an impact and for the most part, all of the Muslim art, architecture, and literature remained untouched by the extended contact with European Christians.

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