This set the sage for much brutality and a very dark time. Through the next three centuries there were four major and several minor crusades which took 100’s of thousands of lives and caused a catastrophic loss of property. Some of the darkest events of the crusades were the Paupers Crusade, the blood bath in Jerusalem, the battle of Hattin, the destruction of Constantinople and the Children’s Crusades. Despite all these atrocities however some positive

The Fourth Crusade started because of the vigorous preaching of Pope Innocent III. The Crusaders bargained with the Venetians to take them by ship to the eastern Mediterranean. When the crusaders reached Venice, they could not pay for the transportation (World Book Crusades). So they abandoned their original goal to take Jerusalem and stayed in Venice. They helped the Venetian military in place of money. The combined forces of the Venetians and the crusaders took the city of Zara and attacked Constantinople. When the crusaders arrived in Constantinople, few soldiers had ever seen a city of such splendor. However, they destroyed it. The Fourth Crusade began one of the most repulsive massacres in all of the Crusades (Corrick 88). With in three days over twenty thousand crusaders who just weeks earlier had marveled at the beauty and the artistry of Constantinople did their best to obliterate it. Using ladders they scaled the walls setting fires to houses below. The roamed the city in barbaric hoards often drunk out of control murdering, robbing, raping, and looting as they went. The hoards of Crusaders destroyed the entire city including the imperial library and its irreplaceable manuscripts, and carried off thousands of relics and smashed whatever was too big to be transported (Corrick 89). Original works of Plato, Aristotle and other original works of Greeks dramatists and poets were thrown thoughtlessly into the fire along with art collected from all the over world. Crusader’s priests robed the Church of the sacred relics. In the Church of Santa Sophia, the greatest Church in Constantinople, crusaders filled the sacred altar vessels with liquor and drank until they were drunk out of their minds (Biel 110). No citizens of Constantinople were spared. Children’s heads were cracked open as the soldiers swung them by there feet against stone walls. The sack of Constantinople was a cultural disaster from which the loss of western thought has never recovered (Corrick 89).

Two years after the fall of Jerusalem the Third Crusade was under way. The Third Crusade was lead by King Richard the lionhearted of England (Jordan 10). On the way to Palestine Richard’s ships were blown off course and landed on the island Cyprus. So Richard decided to take the island. Cyprus was invaded, ransacked, and brutalized. (Biel 99). Richard then reached Palestine and took the city of Acre. The inhabitants of the city were taken prisoner. A trade was made between Richard and Saladin. Richard agreed to release his prisoners when he got to Acre and Saladin would give him fifteen hundred Christian prisoners and pay a large sum of gold (Biel 100). Saladin released some prisoners and paid one installment of gold but did not release any nobles. Richard was furious and ordered twenty-five hundred prisoners to march to a plain outside of Acre. In full view of the Muslims in Saladin’s army every man, woman, and child were hung, stabbed or strangled (Biel 101). Richard’s reaction to Saladin refusal shows how little regard these medieval lords had for human life. Richard then took Ashelon and Jaffa. However when Richard tried to take Jersalem it was too well guarded by Saladin’s army for Richard to conquer it. Then in 1192 they signed a three year truce (Jordan 11). Under the agreement Jerusalem remained in Muslim hands but Christian pilgrims were allowed access to Jerusalem. The Third crusade marked the end of the romantic idealism of the crusades.

The first wave of crusaders was called the Paupers Crusade. The Paupers Crusade is a good example of the brutality of the crusaders toward non-Christians because it was so undisciplined and out of control. The Paupers Crusade was lead by a monk named Peter Hermit. He assembled an undisciplined mob of about 40 thousand crusaders as he traveled throughout France and Germany (Biel 36). Another French monk Walter the Penniless, had nearly as much success as Peter. Both of them together recruited over seve

Some topics in this essay:
Crusades Corrick, Seljuk Turks, Christians Muslim, Pope Innocent, Children’s Crusades, Jews Biel, Church Constantinople, Guy Jerusalem, Byzantine Empire, Jerusalem Crusaders, seljuk turks, holy land, paupers crusade, pope urban ii, fourth crusade, crusaders killed, pope urban, byzantine empire, thousand crusaders, third crusade, constantinople biel, europe united common, united common goal, marked western europe, reclaim holy land,