Question

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1. What were the Pope's motivations for calling for a crusade?
2. Why might a medieval man or woman want to koin a crusade?
3. Who fought in the crusades?

Answer 1

1. The Byzantine Emperor at the time asked the West for help in fending off the Seljuk Turks in the East. The Pope saw this as an opportunity to call for a holy war against the enemies of the Church (the Muslims) who also held the Holy Land. There was also the potential for healing the rift between the Eastern Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholic Church and uniting the warring factions of Western Europe in a single cause.

2. One major reason why it was tempting to join a Crusade was the remission of sins. This basically meant that by joining up and fighting in a Crusade, a person could earn a clean spiritual slate.

3. As far as people go, it was a mix of knights, nobles, and peasantry from many areas in Western Europe such as France, England, and Italy. Even though the peasants were largely untrained compared to the knights and nobles that led the armies of the Crusade, they far outnumbered them.