How well do you know the First Crusade? Take this First Crusade Quiz and find out.
The First Crusade is one of the major military, political and religious events of the Middle Ages.
The catalyst of the First Crusade was the seemingly unstoppable rise of the Seljuk Turks in Asia, their expansion endangered the existence of the Byzantine Empire.
The conquest of the city of Nicaea in 1081 by the Seljuks raised an alarm for the Byzantine Empire. It was more than obvious at this time that if the danger represented by the Seljuks expansionism was not at least slowed down for a while, they would reach the gates of Constantinople.
In order to prevent this scenario from becoming a reality, the Byzantine Emperor Alexion I Kommenos had to ask for help from the West and especially the Papal States.
The papacy, seeing the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence and power, agreed with the demands of the Byzantine emperor. This is how the First Crusade was born.
Its purpose? The recapture of Jerusalem and other territories, which until the great Arab invasion, belonged to Christianity. A great goal.
The First Crusade would be the moment when the Western world would fight the enemy, centuries of continuous Islamic expansion would be reversed, now the Muslim world would be the defensive.
The triumph of the First Crusade determined the establishment of Christian Kingdoms in the Holy Land, which would last for at least 2 centuries. This is certainly not the only major consequence of the victory of the First Crusade.
Among the main effects/consequences of the victory of the First Crusade we can list:
-increasing trade relations, cultural and technological exchanges between East and West
-increasing the prestige and influence of the Papacy
-increasing xenophobia and intolerance between Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
-the flourishing of the power of the Italian states: Genoa, Pisa, and Venice
-polarizing the relations between Western Europe and the East
-the appearance of the knightly orders for the defense of the new territories conquered by the crusaders
The emergence of the Crusades prompted Islam to act. This reawakened the attachment to the cause of Jihad, of holy war. Muslims in Syria, Egypt, and Iraq fought against Christians, trying to get them out of the Holy Land. The Muslims finally succeeded in expelling the crusaders from the Holy Land during the Siege of Acre in 1291.
