Religion has played a major key role in wars and death. The Crusades were a series of wars of Christians who wanted the holy land because the Muslims had conquered Jerusalem (Holy Land) and had also conquered many other countries. With this in mind, I believe that religion did play a part in the Crusaders, for instance the “Holy Land” known as Jerusalem. European Christians fought the wars because of religion, poverty, and economic reasons.

The reason for the Crusades going into war was because they wanted to recapture the “Holy Land” from the Muslims. Many people didn’t like the fact that Muslims were living where Jesus had walked, lived, and made miracles. In document 1, Runciman states that “Their motives were … genuinely religious … …show more content…
Most people that had very low status led them to live in poverty. Seeing that the Crusades were going to war low status people saw this as an opportunity to relieve their poverty. For example, in document 2 it states that, “...there were who were driven by poverty...these men went to fight… in order to relieve their poverty” ( Wurzburg a city. Document 2). This means that poor people saw an opportunity with the Crusades to escape their impecunious life. For taking part of the war those who lived would be rewarded with goods and riches from those that were killed who were high class. This shows us that low status people having poverty saw it as a ticket towards freedom with the Crusades.

Pope Urban II had a big influence on the Crusades. He had a very inspirational speech, giving reasons on why to fight with the Crusades and encouraging them to join them. Document 3 says, “In early 1905, Emperor Alexius sent a letter to Pope Urban II asking for help against the turks… Pope Urban II encourage Roman Catholic church clerics… to fight the Muslims to take back the Holy Land…” (Dana C. Munro, Document 3). This shows us that many people seeked for help and were influenced by a religious figure such as Pope Urban II. Throughout this without the Pope people would have any value in fighting the Muslim