The Crusades: Six Military Campaigns to Reconquer the Holy Land

The Crusades: Campaigns To Reconquer the Holy Land

The Crusades had a deeply Christian and missionary purpose: the reconquest of the Holy Land and a war against Islam. Though it produced much knightly energy, the war at times expressed itself in a bloody and un-Christian frenzy. This period of the Crusades to recover Jerusalem can be divided into six military campaigns.

Jerusalem under the Turks

In 1071 A.D., the Turks conquered Jerusalem. Pilgrims to the Holy Land soon complained about the restrictions placed on them by the Turks. This then created an appeal to the general Christian conscience and awakened the desire to help the eastern Christians and recapture the Holy Land. Pope Urban II placed himself at the head of this movement and carried the masses with him under the cry "God wills it".

First Crusade: 1096-1099 A.D.

Before the actual crusade, under the preaching and leadership of the hermit Peter of Amiens, bands of peasants and excited mobs moved through the Rhineland and committed excesses against the native populations. However, they were decimated by the Seljuk Turks when they reached Asia Minor.

The actual crusade came from a main army of knights who were recruited from the Romance countries. These included the princes Raymond of Toulousse, Godfrey of Bouillon, and the Norman Bohemond of Tarentum. After much hardship and bitter bloody battles, they were able to capture Jerusalem in 1099 A.D.

After this First Crusade, the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem was founded. Godfrey of Bouillon was chosen as the first "protector of the Holy Sepulchre". His brother Baldwin I (1100-1118 A.D.) succeeded him. And under Fulco of Anjou (1131-1143 A.D.), the kingdom achieved its greatest extension.

Second Crusade: 1147-1149 A.D.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was active in this crusade. He was able to obtain the participation of the kings of France and Germany. However, this campaign ended with a great loss for the French and German armies. Jerusalem was lost again in 1187 A.D.

Third Crusade: 1189-1192 A.D.

This Crusade was led by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. At Ikonium, he defeated the Turks, but drowned in the Saleph in 1190 A.D. His leaderless army did not achieve any other successes. The leadership of the English king Richard Lionheart and the French king Philipp II, did not also achieve a reconquest of Jerusalem. However, in 1192 A.D., a truce with Sultan Saladin was achieved. This truce permitted the peaceful visit of Jerusalem by the Christian pilgrims.

Fourth Crusade: 1202-1204 A.D.

This Crusade was led by Pope Innocent III. All of western Christianity was united with this campaign. However, due to the interference of Venetian merchants, the crusading army was diverted to Constantinople. That resulted in its conquest and a Latin Kingdom was established. However, no religious unity between the Greek and Latin churches was effected. Rather, events only led to the further division between eastern and western Churches.

Fifth Crusade: 1228-1229 A.D.

This Crusade was a private project of Emperor Frederick II. Through his negotiations with the Egyptian sultan, he obtained the return of Jerusalem to the Christians. However, in 1244 A.D., the Holy City was lost for good.

Sixth Crusade: 1248-1254 A.D.

St. Louis IX, king of France, desired to conquer Egypt and recover the Holy Land. However, in April 1250 A.D., his army was defeated at Cairo and Louis himself was captured together with his troops.

Significance of the Crusades

As a whole, the Crusading movement is still contested. This was due in part to the military excesses committed in the battles. However, the positive outcome of these military enterprises were as follows:

• it strengthened a consciousness of community in the West
• it expanded the European horizon
• it promoted learning through encounters with Byzantine and Islamic culture
• it promoted commerce between eastern and western civilizations
• and the brilliant growth of western philosophy and theology in scholasticism was due to the eastern influences brought about by these Crusades

Spiritually, the Crusades had a profound and lasting mark on Western piety. The crusaders committed themselves to endless dangers and hardships for the sake of Christ. They also took upon themselves the poor life of the cross-bearing Savior and went head-on to share in His suffering and Cross.

A saint who was involved also in this movement was St. Francis of Assisi. He adopted the healthy core of the crusading spirit and attempted the peaceful conversion of the Holy Land instead of the means of crushing conquest. He tried to bring the gospel of peace to the sultan near Damietta. Although this did not effect peace, that mission of St. Francis in the Holy Land continues up to this time through his followers.

Related resources:

• "A History of the Church", by August Franzen and John P. Dolan
• Books on the Crusades, from Ignatius Press

Memorial of Saints (June 19)

St. Romuald was the founder of the Camaldolese Order. He entered a monastery patterned after Cluny, but left to live a solitary life under the direction of a hermit near Venice. He then made extensive studies of the Desert Fathers, and discovered a pathway to holiness through solitude. Romuald founded a monastery at Camaldoli, in Tuscany, Italy. This religious foundation was then to develop into a religious order known as the Monk Hermits of Camaldoli - also known as the Camaldolese (died ca. 1027 A.D.).

St. Juliana Falconieri was the niece of one of the founders of the Servite Order. Her family wanted her to get married but she instead decided to become a Servite tertiary. When Juliana's mother died in 1304 A.D., she led a group of women who dedicated themselves to prayer and charitable works. This group developed until St. Juliana became religious superior and found it necessary to draw a religious rule for their community. This rule was approved 120 years later by Pope Martin V (died ca. 1341 A.D.).

Sts. Gervase and Protase were twin brothers. Just as their parents suffered martyrdom, so did the two brothers suffer martyrdom during the persecution of Christians in the first century. Gervase was beaten to death with a lead-tipped whip, while Protase was beheaded. These two brothers are considered the first martyrs of Milan, Italy (died ca. 1st century A.D.).

St. Deodatus became bishop of Nevers in ca. 655 A.D. After several years, he resigned from his position to become a hermit at Vosges. At Vosges, he was then driven out by the inhabitants. So he had to flee to an island near Strasbourg. When political tensions died down, Deodatus was able to return to Vosges. He settled here again and founded the Jointures monastery - becoming its abbot and spending his last years there (died ca. 679 A.D.).

St. Boniface of Querfurt studied at Magdeburg. After working in the court of Emperor Otto III, he became a Camaldolese monk in ca. 1000 A.D. Living only a year with the Camaldolese community, he left and joined a monastery founded by Emperor Otto III at Pereum. Five of the monks of this monastery were martyred. St. Boniface then decided to leave and be a missionary to Germany. Boniface lived an active missionary life - preaching also to the Magyars, the Pechenegs, and the Prussians. On February 14, together with 18 companions, St. Boniface was killed in a massacre near Braunsberg, Poland (died ca. 1009 A.D.).

St. Romuald and the Camaldolese Order of Monk Hermits

Introduction

Although the monastic spirit of the Benedictines became popular in the early Middle Ages, new forms of monasticism arose in abundance among both clergy and lay faithful. As the monks of the Benedictine Order triumphed the ideal "ora et labora", the new forms of monastic and ascetical life made their ideal of life the "vita apostolica" of poverty and voluntary renunciation. One of those religious founders who followed this new form of monasticism was St. Romuald (or Romwald).

Conversion after a "wild youth"

Romuald was of the noble Onesti family of Ravenna, Italy. He lived a "wild youth", probably influenced by his father, Sergius, who had killed a relative in a duel over a piece of land. To expiate for his father's killing and atone for the crime, Romuald retired at twenty years of age to San Apollinare Monastery at Classe (a monastery under the central authority of Cluny in France), and became a monk around the year 972 A.D. This monastery followed the rule of St. Benedict.

In search of "austerity"

After three years at the Classe monastery, Romuald left in search of a more austere life. He went to the woods near Venice, and placed himself under the spiritual direction of the hermit, Marinus. Romuald lived a solitary life for about 10 years. He returned home to assist his father, who also became a monk, but was having doubts on this vocation.

Abbot of San Apollinare

In 998 A.D., Otto III appointed Romuald as abbot of the monastery at Classe. Romuald however resigned after more than a year, to live again as a hermit - this time at Pereum (Pereum became an important center for the training of clergy for the Slavonic missions). Romuald wandered through northern Italy, on the heights of the Apennines, seeking God in solitude and prayer.

Discovery of a new vocation

Romuald also obtained a mandate from the Pope to carry out a mission to the Magyars in Hungary. He however became ill and was forced to return to Italy. He then studied more on the Desert Fathers and discovered a vocation and path to holiness through solitude. He founded a monastery at Fonte Avellana (refounded by St. Peter Damian) and another at Camaldoli, Tuscany in 1023 A.D. (the name Camaldoli is derived from Campus Maldoli).

The Camaldolese Order

The founding at Camaldoli covered a fifteen-year span. After St. Romuald's death, the community developed into the Camaldolese Order (Monk Hermits of Camaldoli). St. Romuald did not leave a written Rule for the Order. This Camaldolese Order (which began as five hermitages built by St. Romuald) combined the cenobitic (community) and eremitical (hermit) life following the rule of St. Benedict (with some modifications).

Contribution to Benedictine monasticism

The spiritual legacy of St. Romuald was to provide a place for the eremitical life within the framework of the Rule of St. Benedict. The Camaldolese hermits would have liturgical worship and meals together, but would then live independently of one another - going to each one's own cell. This Camaldolese spirit is the one that influenced St. Bruno, who would later on draw a spiritual framework for the Carthusian Order.

Summary and conclusion

One biographer reports of St. Romuald as wanting to inspire many to his sense of contrition and "to change the world into nothing but a hermitage". St. Romuald's search for God in solitude and prayer is well-expressed in art, where he is shown in the white robe of the Camaldolese Order with his finger to his lips, requesting silence.

The Church celebrates the feast of St. Romuald every June 19