What were the causes of the Crusades?
Feudalism
Knights who were nobles, mercenaries want more land and money
Nobility could fund armor and weapons due to profits from farms
Riches
Get access to more trade routes through the Middle East
Christianity
An increased desire to make a holy pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Seljuk Turks
Occupied Jerusalem in 1073
Prevented Christians from making pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Threatened the Christian Byzantine Empire
Emperor Alexius I concerned
Describe the Fourth Crusade
Crusaders focus on Constantinople instead of Jerusalem, sack Constantinople
Byzantine Empire did not fully support, provide money/weapons for Western European Crusaders
Return of Christianity split
Byzantine Empire barely hangs on until 1400s
What events led up to the Black Plague?
Mini ice age → lower temperatures → shorter growing seasons → bad harvests → Great Famine → malnutrition
Describe the Second Crusade
Muslim armies conquer some Crusader states (Edessa), beat French and German armies
Christian loss at Damascus, 1148
Describe the Children's Crusade
30,000 children form an army from France and Germany
Leader inspired by “letter from Christ”
Mediterranean Sea would part for the children
Children disappeared on journey
Exhaustion from walking
Drowned due to ships sinking
Captured by Northern African tribes and sold into slavery
Estimates: over 25 million deaths in Europe
Decrease of trade
Increase of anti-Semitism → Jews blamed for the spread of the plague, poisoning wells
Use of God → too many people sinned
Decrease of trade and labor; increase of prices of labor, food
Decrease of serfdom → serfs paid landlords with actual money to leave serfdom, not labor → increased rights and labor opportunities for peasants
Describe the events leading up to the Hundred Years' War
Pope loses some power
King Philip IV, France, early 1300s: aimed to tax Church members
Pope moves residence to Avignon, France - angers citizens who believe Pope should live in Italy
Two Popes
Pope Clement VII in France and Pope Urban VI in Italy
Two popes compete for power
France and allies supports Clement; England and allies support Urban
Concerns with papal competition, church corruption even after return to one pope (Pope Martin V)
John Hus of Czechoslovakia: aimed to limit pope power but was burned at the stake, 1415
Briefly describe the Crusades
200 years, 9 specific attacks
Western European Christians want to reconquer Jerusalem from Muslim control
Consistent travel through Constantinople, Mediterranean Sea
Pope Urban, 1095: Christian kings and citizens must unite across Europe and focus on attacking the Muslims, stopping the spread of Islam
Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church united at this point
Great Schism of 1054
Crusades overall: plundering of Muslim residences and killing of Muslims
What was the outcome of the remaining Crusades?
Failed Crusades focused on Egypt - Crusaders lose, end of Crusades
Effects
Increased trade, tech diffusion
Muslim tech moving west
Italian cities get rich through providing Crusaders supplies
Increased influence of the Pope
Weakened Byzantine Empire
Increased religious conflict
Increased Islamic control over Jerusalem
Decrease of feudalism, increase of centralized monarchies and cities
Describe the spread and causes of the Black Plague
Bacteria spread by fleas on rodents, lice
Yersinia Pestis
Human sweat
Originally from Central Asia
Bubonic Plague: swellings of the neck and armpits
Pneumonic Plague: lung infections
Septicemic Plague: blood poisoning
First goes through Constantinople, then spreads through Europe
Trade by Italian merchants, European merchants
Movement by the Mongols
Describe the effects of the Hundred Years' War
Importance of cannons being paired with gunpowder
France: increase of nationalism, centralized power under King Louis XI
Use of taille: permanent tax on land/property
Increased French power, support from middle class
England: Heavily economic losses leads to internal conflict
Henry VII of the Tudors: lowers taxes, promotes peace and security
Describe the First Crusade
Crusaders capture Jerusalem, create four Crusader states splitting up the land around Jerusalem
One: Kingdom of Jerusalem
Many soldiers from the Frankish kingdom
Long sieges, murder of Muslims and Jews
Only successful Crusade
Military orders of knights: Knight Templars and Hospitallers
Monastic-type vows, but still willing to fight
Describe the events of the Hundred Years' War
Caused by decline of Catholic Church, plague, economic crisis, LAND issues, SUCCESSION issues
England (Edward III) had land in Gascony, France, and France (Philip VI) fought for it back
England claimed right to French throne
England invades France; Battle of Crecy (1346), Battle of Poitiers (1360): English victories
Treaty of Bretigny: England gains land in France
Describe the Third Crusade
European army
Richard the Lionheart, England
Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Empire
Philip Augustus II, France
Muslim army
Saladin, Ayyubid Dynasty in Egypt
Considered a chivalrous leader by the European armies
Seljuk Turks in Anatolia
Truce, 1192 between Richard and Saladin
Crusaders unable to regain Jerusalem and lose momentum
Describe the events of the Hundred Years' War Pt.2
King Charles V (France), 1369: starts to take back land in France from England; England fails to win
Battle of Agincourt, 1415: King Henry V (England) beats France, wins back land in France
Joan of Arc (France): 1412-1429, religious - claimed of visions that said that saints had commander her to free France
Inspiration for France → King Charles of France helps lead France to victories in the mid 1450s, especially at Castillon, Normandy, Aquitaine in 1453