Question

What social factors led to the Crusades?

Answer 1

One is the constant warfare between Europeans. The church was busy trying to find a way to quell the violence on the continent throughout the 11th century. They instituted grassroots movements called the Peace of God and the Truce of God which restricted warfare in Europe. This caused many knights to go to Spain to be able to fulfill their knightly roles (fighting the Muslims there). Eventually opportunity arose to call a crusade and send the knights east. This did do quite a bit to relieve violence in Europe.

Others see the crusading movement as a natural extension of the ongoing pilgrimage movement. Pilgrims had traveled to Jerusalem to pray for centuries as a regular part of penitence. But in the mid 11th century, a group of pilgrims made their pilgrimage to Rome and then continued on to attack Tunisia while still wearing their pilgrim's attire. This gave rise to the concept of armed pilgrimages.

The pope originally called the first crusade to protect the eastern church. The Byzantines had asked for military aid against the Turks as early as 1071, but in 1095 Urban II finally decided to try sending armies east. He offered indulgences for the remission of penitence as a reward for crusading to protect Christianity in the east. But as religious fervor continued to whip up, people began preaching that it would mean a complete remission of sin, not just penitence. As nobles and knights joined the crusade, they created the goal of capturing Jerusalem. So in practice, Urban II quickly lost control of the crusading movement, as evidenced by the disaster of the People's Crusade.