Joel. 3, 10

With your plowshares into swords

and spears with your pruning hooks;

also let the weak say: I'm a warrior!

Crusades, Middle Ages, Western civilization.

Christianity has asked (many times) apologizes for his mistakes, other religions have done this? when? Christianity and Western countries have made self-criticism and self-examination (for their history) for a couple of centuries, other civilizations have done this?

As I have already pointed out on site, in front of the freedom of expression, media hypocritically using two weights and two measures against Christianity and Islam, relying on the right to publicly express their opinions when artwork or blasphemous cartoons offend Christian sensibility, but condemning the provocations to the religious sentiment when it criticizes the Islamic. the politically correct language has decided that this is the “rule”.

historiography not interested in the fashion of the politically correct language of politicians (those representing the people) and intellectuals (those who think on behalf of the people), historiography should always discuss the past, finding new interpretations. in historiographical debate no one feels offended, only different points of view on the same historical facts. This is historiography in Western civilization. historians was not looking for votes to get elected, do not seek applause, do not try to become a VIP, why should they? Historians spend their time in the archives filled with old papers. historians leave it to the people (the part that reads the history books) to get an opinion independent of the past of their civilization. of course the point of view of the historian can not be perfectly neutral, as the historian is also a person who is part of a civilization, a culture, of a people, of a religion. in point of the historic measure his professionalism, on verification of the facts with evidence always weak, in fact, the story is not exactly a social science.

History of the Crusades (summary and reflection).

The history reconstructs the past (try to do), the story does not make the list of "bad" and "good". The story does not say whether the Crusades were consistent with the message of the Gospel (in fact they are not), just remember that the Crusaders were very ignorant believed in Christ but did not know very well the Gospel, did not know the Old Testament, not all the Crusaders were murderers, many just wanted to pray in the places where he lived, died and rose again our Savior. Correct in the historical analysis we must always analyze the causes of political, the economic, cultural and religious reasons, a job that must be done with honesty and professionalism, each element is as an unknown, all items should be placed in a "equation" , a story that analyzes the facts from all points of view. To understand the Crusades is required is required precise historical context, different facts that occurred in different places at different times, can not be judged by today's standards. In fact, the Crusades enter the collective becoming the stereotype of fanaticism and religious intolerance that is one of the most serious crimes of which Christianity has ever spotted. Not infrequently a medieval Christianity was opposed to an intolerant Islam and liberal open to other cultures. With regard to Islamic tolerance towards other religions, has been repeatedly stated that while the Church fiercely persecuted Jews and heretics, Muslims instead showed a considerable respect for the subject peoples permitting them to practice their faith without interference. In fact, Christians in the Islamic lands were subjected to various religious restrictions: they became the "dhimmi" ("protected") and was allowed to practice their religion but only in private, and it was therefore they are prohibited from ringing bells , build new places of worship, make processions, display icons or crosses and groped a Muslim to convert to their religion. Besides, they were also subject to various legal discrimination: they had to pay higher taxes, could not testify against a Muslim in court, they could not serve in the army, nor aspire to important political positions and had to wear badges. Of course, such discrimination ranged for better or worse depending on the time or the place in which they were applied, but in all ages the dhimmi was considered a second-class citizen. Do not be surprised if this system gave her a quick boost to conversions: a Christian who had converted, it would have entered the Islamic community thus improving their social status, on the other hand a Muslim who became a Christian he would be sentenced to death as an apostate. Despite this episodes of martyrdom or persecution they were rare and were caused by a failure of the "dhimma" or the advent of sovereign little tolerant or outbursts of popular anger that resulted in pogroms often (see Bat Ye'or, The decline of Christianity under Islam, Turin 2009). Yet the Crusades were certainly not the first holy wars and massacres that followed were very small compared to other massacres, operated by kings, dukes and Sultans of the time (J. Rummel, United murderers, p. 57). When the Arabs expanded, being able to build within a century an empire that stretched from Spain to India, they did so for religious reasons: the historical Evangelos Chrysos in his "Byzantine Empire 565-1025" recalls that the peace treaty signed with the Byzantines in 678 was judged subversive by the Arabs because for the first time made to mature in their doctrine of the possibility of concluding an agreement with the infidels and to recognize its political existence. But even after it, the Arab aggression continued in the eighth century in the form of military incursions having the precise objective and religious duty to attack the empire every year regardless of the actual preparation for war and the ability of the Byzantines to fight back. The situation did not change even when the Arabs had succeeded the Turks: they surged forward the Byzantines to the point that, as reported by the reporter Bernold of Constance, the Emperor Alexius Comnenus sent ambassadors to the pope for help against the invaders. (See M. Hesemann, Against the Church, Turin 2009 p. 148).

The crusade was a war of aggression? And before what had happened?

In 636 the Arab Muslims gained an overwhelming victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmuk and completed the conquest of the whole thus Syria. The same ʿ Umar ibn al-Khattab, the successor of Muhammad, he remembered the instructions for the alternatives posed to the infidels: conversion, submission (dhimmitude granted only to Jews, Christians and Mazdeans, or death to Gentiles. They fell then in a short time Antioch, Jerusalem (who was sacked), and all of Mesopotamia Byzantine. From here the Arabs made their way to Armenia while at the same time began the advance into Egypt. At the feeble resistance Byzantine Muslims, led by ʿ Amr b. al-ʿ AS, responded with fierce efficiency. During the occupation of the island of Nikiou women and the children themselves, refugees in churches, were killed.

Armenia did not escape the Christian conquest and talking about the enslavement of about 35,000 people). The Islamic armies arrived then in Cilicia and Cappadocia

"They invaded Cilicia and procured many prisoners, and when he arrived Mu ʿ awiya ordered all the inhabitants to the sword had passed, [...] So, after collecting all the riches of the city began to torture the animals showed that the hidden treasures. In that unhappy country they enslaved the entire population "See The History of al-Tabari, vol. XII, State University of New York, New York, 1992, p. 276.

In a short time the Arab armies conquered large areas and arrived at the gates of Christian Europe, besieging both from the east and from the west: in fact occupied Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete and Sicily, taking away rich spoils and thousands of slaves then invaded Spain and organized several shipments times the looting of southern France, as happened in 792 when Hisham, Emir of al-Andalus, he called on all Muslims to jihad

827 to the fighters of the jihad was presented a new shipment religious Sicily. The Arabs invaded by plundering and pillaging villages accanendosi in particular against churches. Their domination on the island lasted until 1091 when it was conquered by the Normans. At the same time the Byzantine army was annihilated by the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert, paving the way for the Muslim occupation of Asia Minor.

The ultimate goal of the Arab wars of conquest (jihad) was illustrated by the Prophet himself who incited his followers

"To fight against the infidels until they had admitted that there was no God but Allah and that Muhammad was his messenger"

With the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem (638), the situation of Christians met some objective difficulties, although it did not occur real persecution began the violence against the non-Muslim subjects (Christians in particular, but also the Jews) are forced to state of dhimmitude.

The theological challenge

The caliph Abd al-Malik conquered Jerusalem, built the mosque of al-Aqsa, he did write the sura 4,171 on the mosque.

To deny the unity and trinity of God, the God of the Christians, to affirm that: that Christianity is a polytheistic religion. In fact, in the Koran, Christians (Nazarenes) are referred to as the "misguided," those who have gone astray. "O People of the Scripture, do not exceed the limits in your religion, nor say of Allah aught but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His Word which He cast into Mary, and a spirit from Him [from]. So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Do not say, "Three", stop! It will be better for you. Allah is one God. Should have a son? Glory be to Him! To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and all that is on earth. Allah is sufficient as a guarantor. "Another inscription on the mosque:" Praise be to Allah who has not begotten children, no partner in [his] kingdom, it needs those who protect him from humiliation, they magnify his greatness and his glory "could not miss Sura 112:" He, Allah is One, Allah is the Absolute. He begetteth not, has not been generated and there is none like unto Him. " Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Koran. after having conquered the Byzantine Christians (638), the Islamists have established: this rock (the mosque of al-Aqsa) is the place where Muhammad ascended to heaven. (See Bernard Lewis, The Middle East, 1995. P. 70). The Koran denies the death of Jesus on the cross

"We killed the Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of God" They slew him not, do not they crucified him, but so it seemed to them ... »

Sura 4, vv. 157,

The situation of Christian pilgrims.

In the early eighth century, there were 60 who came from Amorium crucified, others were executed by the Muslim governor of Caesarea on charges of spying while, threatening to ransack the Church of the Resurrection, was extorted money from travelers at the end of the same century was prohibited the display of the cross in Jerusalem, was increased the tax on the person (gizya) and was prevented Christians to impart religious teachings to others, even to the children themselves. In 789 different monasteries were looted including that of St. Theodosius in Bethlehem while, at the beginning of the ninth century the persecutions grew so tough that many Christians fled to Constantinople and the Byzantine territories. In 937 he touched the Churches of Calvary and the Resurrection be looted and destroyed.

In 1004, Abū ʿ Alī al-Mansur al-Hakim (985-1021) Fatimid Imams considered crazy by many historians, wanting to convert all his subjects all'Ismailismo, he began to persecute Jews and Christians and Sunni Muslims themselves, in order of probable all'Ismailismo convert them all. Then suddenly tore up the treaty with the Byzantines and ordered to devastate the churches, burning crosses and possession of ecclesiastical property. Following this, it was said that churches were razed 3000 (a number too high to be even remotely plausible, given the restrictions of which we have mentioned above), many Christians converted to Islam to save his life and same churches of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Resurrection were destroyed.

Finally, the Fatimid Imam ordered Christians and Jews to convert to Islam or leave his dominions

Following the Fatimid ruler loosened his grip on the "infidels", returning most of the confiscated property to the church and to the Byzantines granted the opportunity to rebuild the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in exchange for the construction of a mosque in Byzantium. This agreement was honored by both sides but the situation of Christians continued to be precarious, so much so that in 1056 they were forbidden to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and, with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks from Asia, began a new period of terror.

In 1077, Jerusalem was conquered by the Turkmen, and, in spite of their leader, the adventurer Atsiz ibn Uvaq, had assured that it would not hit the inhabitants were killed over 3,000 people. After the conquest of these territories by the Seljuk Turks, began to talk of robberies, kidnappings, killings, rapes, to the detriment of the pilgrims to the Holy Land and how they were forced to travel under armed escort (which is very unlikely, given the 'impossibility that gunmen aggirassero Muslims on the streets of any Islamic district). Some historians believe, however, that the harassment of pilgrims have been magnified and multiplied with the aim of stimulating a convicted armed reaction of the Latin Christians, and that it was actually the upright Seljuk power to frighten the Christian world, after the disastrous defeat of Romanus IV Diogenes at Manzikert (result of a substantial period of crisis that was going through the Byzantine Empire), he feared that he was a terrible cataclysm looming for Latin Christendom and the Seljuk Sultanate could have built the Islamic conquest of Europe. The new Byzantine emperor Alexius I, in spite of the differences between the Church of Constantinople and Rome, he put aside his pride and decided to seek help for the threatened fate of Christianity in the East. So it was that, in response, the First Crusade was born.

Nevertheless you should not think a schedule at the table of the "crusade" (a name which appears only from the thirteenth century), since it seems that the movement was born almost by accident, with effects that no one could calculate the time. As there is the concept of "holy war" in Christianity, shipments were considered as right of defense and represented an original fusion between war and pilgrimage (the Crusaders were in fact the same spiritual privileges of the pilgrims). It is important to emphasize that at the time did not speak again as the ultimate goal of re-conquest of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

In this context, the will of the Pope had at heart a series of objectives, not clearly defined, which at best would have been attributable to the aid to be provided to the Byzantine Empire after the disastrous defeat of Manzikert (1071) by the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan, to mend the schism (1054) between Christianity Greek and Latin Christendom and the recapture of Jerusalem. The Emperor had made an offer of engagement of mercenaries in Piacenza, in the spring of 1095, where the pope was at a council that would shortly before one of Clermont. The pope forced a bit 'terms, considering the engagement as a request for help, channeling it in the whole series of objectives, for Western Europe and the Eastern world, not listed above.

The expedition also became lieu of any other penance for the remission of sins confessed, and it was clear that those who had fallen in battle would certainly earned the Celeste Prize.

According to some historians, therefore, the intention of civilians and unarmed soldiers and horsemen who accompanied them on the journey of the First Crusade (1096-1099) was to be eminently pious and customary at the time: the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The red cross that the pilgrims carried on the mantle meant that they were ready to shed their blood for a redeeming pilgrimage: it was assured the remission of all sins to those who have died on the way to Jerusalem. However, it was an "armed pilgrimage".

The Pope, in order to achieve the feat of re-conquest of Syria-Palestine, gave a speech heavy, listing the crimes perpetrated against Christians by Muslim invaders. Robert Monaco so it says in the speech of Urban II:

"The Turks have destroyed quite a few churches of God and have turned to other use of their worship. Pollute the altars with their filth; circumcise the Christians staining the altars with the blood of circumcision, or thrown into the baptismal font. They are happy to kill the next squarciandogli the belly, pulling out the intestines, which bind to a post. Then, frustandole, they rotated around the pole until the victims, escaping all the guts, do not fall dead to the ground. More bind to the pole and hit the popping arrows; others still pull the neck to see if they can decapitate with a single stroke of his sword. And what about the horrific rapes against women? »

(Robert Monaco, Historia Hierosolymitana)

In the vision of Urban II, the soldiers should not serve as a basis for the pilgrims, but be pilgrims themselves. Therefore the privileges and spiritual rewards that the pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre guaranteed were granted to participants to shipping.

The pope's appeal was picked up by a number of European feudal lords, who between 1095 and 1096 they determined to leave with all their retinue. Meanwhile, the news spread with astonishing rapidity and aroused enthusiasm even in the most popular classes, not only that the pope had not anticipated, but which initially did not even have like. The Pope in fact tried by every means to dissuade the clerics, women, monks, the poor and the sick to travel. But the attraction of Jerusalem was such that he was unable to prevent them to go also lay helpless. It was mostly people who listened to the sermons of some zealous preachers, and also of fanatics, of which you do not know the message.

So The Crusades were a series of wars fought between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries between the armies of the Christian kingdoms of Europe and predominantly Muslim armies on the ground in Asia Minor and the eastern Mediterranean (but also in Europe, in Egypt and Tunisia) . they were often invoked by the Papacy and motivated by a feeling eminently religious Muslim occupation that sought to free the land where he was born, preached and died Jesus Christ, not strictly religious wars, since the purpose was never to force Muslims to change their religion, even after the conquests took place. The weapons with which the Crusaders left and took them to the Holy Land, had little to do with religion, but rather by a desire for liberation that inevitably meant the use of force, although there are references to authoritative Christian source about the 'absence of guilt (sin) physical elimination of the invading opponents in faith. Of course the Pope through the Crusades wanted to increase its political power, demonstrate that the head of Christendom was the Pope, demonstrate that the Pope was superior to the Emperor.

The Crusades were political and economic reasons within the world of medieval feudal Europe and the Byzantine Empire, such as concrete and objective control of the Holy Land and the defeat of the Muslims of the place. They are also considered by many - historical and otherwise - as the answer of Christianity to the Islamic jihad of the seventh century, in the light of the consideration that Spain, Palestine, North Africa and Asia Minor were among the most Christian lands from II / III century until the victorious advance of the seventh Islamic century, of which he was morally and legally permissible to repossess. Just look at how the Byzantine Empire, having Christianity as the official religion, included almost all of Europe and the Middle East and saw subject by Muslim armies and reduced to fractions of the Greek peninsula, before it was organized armed defense. After centuries of defensive wars Christian Europe with the Crusades made a war of aggression.

The crusading army

Godfrey of Bouillon and some knights of the First Crusade

Responded to the call of Pope Urban in the first crusade 40,000 people, of which only a small minority were knights. However, unlike what you think today, not only adventurers set off in search of fortune or cadets of families who were not entitled to the succession, most of the crusaders were in fact noble lords who were selling their possessions to afford the armor and travel to the East for himself and his faithful knights: from the cross was not for those who had less to lose but who possessed more. Even if someone was hoping to make the booty, the pope had decreed that the conquests duties incumbent to the "prince" (Alexius Comnenus in the case of the First Crusade). The promise was kept partially.

To understand what drove thousands of riders to embark on a dangerous mission so expensive and we must not forget that it was men who had a strong religious sense. In the eleventh culture of the nobility provided for the public demonstration of piety, they were known also for businesses military personnel and for the love you showed to God: it was the duty of an aristocrat make the fruits of his services to the Church and to the people. The crusade was a further means of demonstrating their charity: defending the Church, defending all that I was right and good in the world. One can therefore conclude that (according to what we know about medieval mentality) most of the Crusaders was driven by a sincere love of God Even among the lower ranks is likely to prevail the principles that moved the lords richer but there is no doubt that those who had not hoped to gain something.

The Pontiff himself thought of the Crusade as a holy war, but as a duty towards charitable Oriental brethren and it was right that they act to vindicate the lands and properties. One should not forget that for nearly half a century had been the famous schism between the Eastern and Western Church and so, as he lost in the Roman pontiff greatly influence (as the Patriarch of Constantinople had claimed the independence of the Byzantine clergy ), he also had a purely political reasons for wanting to help the Emperor Alexius I, hoping that this would facilitate a rapprochement (which, actually, in an initial moment there was, before the Byzantines would realize that the Crusaders would incorporate more harm than good) .

However, this idealism did not result in a particularly pious crusaders during the journey: they were warriors devotees but equally arrogant and brutal, and there were acts of violence and reprehensible actions. Those who wanted to embark on the journey he had to do "the vote of the pilgrim" "taking the cross". So by their own means had to reach the Holy Land, and his oath was not bound either to the pope or to any other man, but directly to the Lord. The mass of pilgrims so they were anything but an army, the only thing that kept it cohesive were the feudal ties and family in it because the title of "Commander in Chief", it was only honorary. This made it extremely difficult to maintain control of Shipment: a crusading army was actually an organized mass of soldiers, priests, servants and other individuals who were heading to the following more or less the same place for similar purposes. Once started, it could not be more controlled.

The theologian Bernard of Clairvaux theorized, in response to the difficulty for a Christian to reconcile the non-defensive war with the word of God, the theory of malicidio: who kills a man is inherently evil, which is the one who opposes Christ, not actually kills a man, but the evil that is in him, and therefore he is not a murderer but a malicida.

This episodic justification, in response to a question expressed the knights, however, did not assume the character of a general justification of what was, in effect, a campaign of conquest.

the warrior monks

The Hospital of the Knights Hospitaller or, born as the Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, then known as the Knights of Rhodes and later as the Knights of Malta, is a tradition that began as a hospital order Benedictine around the first half of 'XI century in Jerusalem and now, after the First Crusade, a Christian religious order of chivalry with its own statute to which he was entrusted with the care and defense of pilgrims to the Holy Land.

Following the loss of Christian territory in the Holy Land, the Order briefly took refuge in Cyprus and then to Rhodes, which extended its sovereignty, and subsequently to Malta with the status of a vassal of the King of Sicily.

Foundation and early years

In 600, Abbot Probus was commissioned by Pope Gregory I the construction of a hospital in Jerusalem to care for Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. In the ninth century Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, enlarged Probus of the hostel and added a library. About two centuries later, in 1005, the Fatimid Imam al-Hakim destroyed the hostel together with three thousand other buildings. And he brought to the Christians, hanging from the neck, wooden crosses, about a meter long and a half wide. Despite the Christians were not allowed to buy slaves, male or female, and enjoyed a few privileges, for they were allowed to use the horses provided they cavalcassero with wooden saddle and harness unadorned. In 1023 the merchants from Amalfi and Salerno were allowed Fatimid Imam al-Zahir of Egypt (reg.1021-1036) to rebuild the hospice in Jerusalem. The hospice, which was built on the site of the monastery of St. John the Almoner, served Christian pilgrims traveling to visit the countries and places where Jesus was born, lived, died, rose again and ascended into heaven. This was served by Benedictine monks. The Hospitaller Order was founded following the First Crusade by the Blessed Gerard Sasso, believed by some French, but proved to be Amalfitano, more precisely from the village of Scala currently called "The Monastery" where it was in ancient times the seat of the nobles, whose role as founder was confirmed by the papal bull "Pie postulatio voluntatis" of Pope Paschal II on 15 February 1113. Gerardo acquired lands and rents for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its environs. His successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence established the first hospice of the Hospitallers near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The group initially only took care of pilgrims to Jerusalem, but the order soon extended its services to the armed escort to pilgrims. The escort soon grew to become a substantial armed force.

the Hospitallers became one of the most powerful Christian groups in the area. The Order began to distinguish themselves in battle against the Muslims and his soldiers wore a black surcoat with a white cross. From the mid-twelfth century the order was sharply divided between military members and those providing assistance to the sick. It was still a religious order and enjoyed privileges granted by the Papacy functional, including the independence from any authority which is not that of the Pope himself, the exemption from taxes and the granting of religious buildings.

Many of the most important fortifications in the Holy Land were the work of the Templars or Hospitallers: the Kingdom of Jerusalem the Hospitallers held seven great forts and 140 other estates in the area. The two largest, their bases in the Kingdom and in the Principality of Antioch, were the Krak des Chevaliers and Margat, located in Syria, the first and the second near Tripoli (now in Lebanon). The properties of the order were divided into priories, organized into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies.

Religious orders of chivalry (or religious-military Orders), the members vow to fight alongside those of chastity, obedience and poverty personnel, which are characteristic of the monastic tradition.

The status of man in arms that characterizes the members of such orders them apart from any other religious order of Christian area.

The military-religious orders have played an important part in the history of medieval Christianity. Historically born with the Crusades, who claimed a new meaning of the term soldier Christi: it no longer meant only the "martyr of the faith," but also the "fighter in the service of the faith." At that time there was, however, a ban that prevented the riders to take holy orders: a monaco can not shed blood of others.

The creation of the military-religious orders overcame this prohibition: within those orders could be both monks and knights. In addition to the Crusades, they are linked to the defeat dei musulmani in Spain and pagans in Eastern Europe and the Baltic.

Most of these orders became extinct after the end of the Crusades.

Moral values of chivalry

Thanks to the importance acquired on the military, the cavalry became a means of social ascent is among the aristocracy who owned the property and rights in the territory surrounding the city is among the higher classes citizens. The cadets became knights because they were excluded by the legacy. From the eleventh century the cavalry became a closed walks of life: with rare exceptions, only became knight who was the son of a knight. The ideals were shared: defense of the weak, loyalty to one's lord, value physical and moral integrity. Understood in this sense, the new cavalry became for centuries the reference point of all European nobility, even one that did not have military origins. The knights belonged to the second order of society (the bellatores), while the first order was made up of those who had the task of praying (oratores) and the third by those who had the task of working (laboratores). (See G.Duby, year one thousand, Einaudi, Torino 1976)

To limit the violence of many warriors, some bishops of the south-western France and some monks made use of peaces of God, they summoned a public meeting in which all swore to keep the peace by engaging in particular not to hit those who did not carry weapons (peasants, pilgrims, men of the Church). Born in the seventies of the tenth century, the movement of peaces of God spread to the rest of France and elsewhere in Europe in the eleventh century when, in many councils of bishops, also moved to the truce of God The knight was a miles Christi, soldier of Christ, which was used legitimately God even with weapons, even to die for the defense of the Christian faith was a means to achieve eternal salvation.

The eleventh century witnessed so, partly due to the general recovery of European society, to a ingentilimento customs of cadets, who claimed to be protectors of the weak, the widows and orphans, devoted to a dominating (from which our women) to which swear an oath of allegiance and on behalf of whom were making their own deeds. The knights swore to defend the pilgrims, the dedoli and the oppressed, the widows and orphans.

The subjects from the Crusades had more political and economic benefits.

The Maritime Republics, refers to some Italian port cities, which in the Middle Ages, thanks to its maritime activities, political autonomy and economic prosperity.

The definition is usually referred in particular to the four Italian cities Amalfi, Genoa, Pisa and Venice.

Elements that characterize a maritime republic are.

independence (de jure and / or de facto);

autonomy, economy, politics and culture essentially based on maritime navigation and trade;

the possession of a fleet of ships;

the birth and establish itself as a city-state, only to eventually expand more;

the presence in the Mediterranean ports of its warehouses and consuls

the presence in its home port warehouses and consuls cities and foreign countries;

the use of its own currency accepted throughout the Mediterranean and its maritime laws

Government of republican character;

participation in the crusades and / or the suppression of piracy.

the nobles

The "noble crusade", which some historians also defines "crusade of the barons" (even though no baron made it part), he succeeded in establishing the "Crusader States" of Edessa, Antioch, Jerusalem and Tripoli inPalestina and Syria.

The undertaking, entrusted by the Pope to the spiritual guidance of Adhemar of Monteil, Bishop of Le Puy, will join some famous names of the feudal aristocracy European Union:

Ugo, French, future Count of Vermandois (1057-1101), the younger son of King Henry I of France and younger brother of King Philip I;

Stephen II of Blois, French, brother of Robert II, Duke of Normandy, to get married to his sister Adele;

Roberto, Flemish, Count of Flanders;

Robert II, Normandy, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror;

Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Provence, fourth Earl of Toulouse and marquis of Provence who headed the group of Provencal;

Godfrey of Bouillon, Flemish, Duke of Lower Lorraine and German vassal of the Emperor Henry IV;

Baldwin of Boulogne, sibling of Godfrey;

Eustace III, Flemish, Count of Boulogne and brother of Godfrey;

Bohemond of Taranto, Apulia, Prince of Taranto, son of Robert Guiscard.

To these must be added and other nobles followed their vassals and subordinates.

Also participated in many Italian troops to the Crusade, after which commitment inserted the cross in its coat of arms. Among them:

Pisa

Bologna

Forlì

Genoa.

Also among the ranks of the expedition "notables" of the common pilgrims traveling also helpless.

Division of the conquests

the holy land in 1135.

Conquered Jerusalem, the Crusaders in the following years strengthened its position by conquering the area surrounding the city, to control a zone extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea, in the course of the Jordan to Syria. The whole region was organized with the system of feudalism, with some principalities independent of each other (county of Edessa, Principality of Antioch, County of Tripoli, the Principality of Tiberias and Oltregiordano, County of Jaffa and Ascalon) and some minor feuds with them submissive . At a formal level each of these states accepted the superiority of a ruler who held court in Jerusalem.

Legally speaking, the situation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was rather tricky: formally, under the law recognized by the Christians, the territories belonged to the Byzantine Emperor, but he was not on good terms with the Crusaders, and was also a schismatic, then it was thought to offer the crown to the pope, that he could proclaim himself feudal lord of the land, as he had done for England and Sicily, but such an action would surely have further worsened the already strained relations with the basileus. It was decided to offer the crown to one of the crusaders who had participated in the expedition.

The crown was offered to Raymond - whose domains were one of the three greatest feuds of France with the duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Normandy - but he refused because of the desire of his warriors to return as soon as possible at home having fulfilled its votum Cross crusader. In addition, the energetic Raimondo had been vetoed by the Normans. To grant all was clear that he would have to choose a prominent personality and then fell back on Godfrey of Bouillon, the chroniclers portray us as brave but also troubled, turned in on itself. He refused to take the title "king" of a territory where Christ had known the torture and death, accepting instead the more modest titling Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Defense [secular] of the Holy Sepulchre), thus giving rise to the third and most Crusader prestigious State of the Holy Land. Advocatus was a title that took a layman in the Episcopal protection of property, so the choice seemed to imply substantial membership of the Holy Land to the Church of Rome.

Godfrey still fought valiantly in the summer of 1099, during the conquests of the port of Jaffa and Ascalon, but died in 1100 in Jerusalem. His brother Baldwin wasted no time: less spiritually tormented by Goffredo and more energetic, stepped down from his fief of Edessa and had himself crowned king of Jerusalem without scruples demonstrated by his brother. It was the real start of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The County of Tripoli

The last crusader state to form in the Holy Land was one of the County of Tripoli. Here the government was entrusted to the qadi time Fakhr al-Mulk, of the tribe of Banu Ammar ʿ, in favor of an agreement with the Crusaders who salvaguardasse the city. Thanks to a Genoese fleet, Raymond tore Tortosa to ʿ Banu Ammar and laid siege to Tripoli, dealing with only 300 riders an incredible route for the defenders, with their 3000 men, aided by another 4,000 soldiers from Damascus and Homs, corroborarono Muslims in that part of the world the idea of the invincibility of the men came from Europe. Just the scarcity of men at his disposal, however, prevented the Count of Toulouse to overcome the defenses walls of Tripoli.

At the end of 1103 with the help of the Byzantine Empire, was completed the construction of the castle of Monte Pellegrino which served to lay siege to Tripoli, but supplied from the sea thanks to the Fatimid fleet.

Raymond died shortly thereafter (1105) as a result of a wound accidentally procured the year before and the question of his succession was resolved with difficulty only later, with the assumption of power by the natural son Bertrand.

The first four Crusader states were created in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade:

The County of Edessa

The Principality of Antioch

The Kingdom of Jerusalem

The County of Tripoli

The fall of Jerusalem.

When you consider that one of the causes of the Crusades there was also anger at the killings and attacks on pilgrims to Jerusalem, we can deduce that the behavior of the Christian era was not very different from that of a Muslim. Yet certain "historical" contrasted against a barbarian West East's most sophisticated and civilized. Many carry as an example for his thesis the behavior of Saladin compared himself the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 in which Christians massacred several people to Islamic 1187 in which Muslims instead agreed to save the inhabitants. In fact, the massacre of Christians in Jerusalem was terrible, but it is important to remember that in the codes of war of the time, it was considered legitimate because the city had refused to surrender and had to be taken by storm, causing many casualties among attackers (even the Muslim victories in similar circumstances flew into the enormous carnage). However, when Saladin took Jerusalem, he made a surrender with the Christians offering a peaceful conduct in exchange for the delivery of the city and agreed to let go of the inhabitants in exchange for a ransom (who was not paying a slave). In many other cases, however, Saladin was chivalrous little: after the battle of Hattin, for example, took part personally in the killing of some riders caught, then sat down and enjoyed the spectacle of execution of others. As he told the Secretary of Saladin, Imad ad-Din: "[Saladin] ordered them to be beheaded, rather than imprisoned. It was with him a whole group of scholars and Sufis and a certain number of devotees and ascetics, each of them asked [and received] permission to kill one. "(R. Stark, The Triumph of Christianity, pp. Torino 2012. 300-305).

It is noteworthy that participated in the Crusades: English, French, German, Italian, these men collaborated with each other (with some divergence). British and French enemies before the Crusades, enemies after the Crusades. How did this happen?

Christianity formed the basis of the comparison-common clash between the Latin and Roman culture on the one hand, and the culture of the peoples generically called "barbarians" on the other. Over the central Middle Ages, adherence to a common religion, Christianity laid the foundation for integration between different populations, from which will spring the medieval European society: this was not reduced to a single entity cultural realities, but to provide them with a common denominator. The Carolingian Empire (VIII sec.) And the definition of the concept of societas christianorum give you a cultural identity defined the socio-political space properly called "Europe". The tradition of the monastic orders, from the monasticism of St. Benedict, will mark not only deeply religious thought but also the material culture of medieval Europe, the rule "ora et labora" represents the synthesis more appropriate. The monastic tradition of the eleventh century will find a dynamic claunicense more active in the movement of the Benedictines, and later in the Cistercians. Christianity itself will act as a driving force, both as peaceful evangelization, both as a justification for conquest by the weapons in view of the north-east of the European socio-political space, and, on the other hand will always be at the hands of Christianity - However, the Orthodox Byzantine origin - that Eastern Europe will join, even as a distinct entity with its own characteristics, the socio-political space of Europe. in their diversity is called "Societas Christianorum", to emphasize that religion was the unifying value.

In an era of unprecedented violence, through the development of Christianity has tried to establish a minimum of rules that would ensure the civil society, in addition to a shared moral conscience, and still present in the inhabitants of the European continent. The Societas Christianorum was characterized by a substantial linguistic unit represented by the use of Latin, this widespread practice among the ruling class of the time-both secular and ecclesiastical-is, has helped to harmonize European culture at least until the Renaissance. For centuries the cultural and technical innovations are grown in the shade of the monasteries and cathedrals, for centuries the art is adept in religious themes taken from Christianity; Europe for centuries considered the center of Rome-Catholic Christianity, one of his "moral capital". We can therefore speak of a Christian Europe Cosmopolitan, Europe characterized by several common themes that unificavano, a dense network of paths traveled by pilgrims, merchants and knights.

Europe was Christianized not only with the witness of the martyrs and the evangelization of the missionaries, but also "punished" with the death penalty who did not accept to be baptized, as did Charlemagne to convert the Saxons in the eighth century. Often the slogans with which he undertook a crusade to the pagan peoples who inhabited Europe were to convert or destroy them; through crusades, such as the one in 1147 against Sell touted by the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux. The theoretical limits and formal places to political power, not yet clearly distinct from religious and economic power, will bind to the early Middle Ages to the legitimacy which it is relying. The most widely used form of legitimation was one for which political power, conceived in descending form, derived from God According to the doctrine of Pope Gelasius (492-496), the mayor regal comes from God and that is why it despite owning the legitimate exercise of coercive power (a power therefore of lower rank than the religious power), must, however, use it with justice. This theory was supported by the allegations contained in the letter of St. Paul to the Romans, where the apostle exhorts Christians to submit to civil authorities, stating that political power comes from God (Romans 13:1). The same idea is expressed in the letter of St. Peter (2:11). This will be the knowledge of the dominant power in the Middle Ages, apart from the examples ahead of their time, such as that of Marsilius of Padua, who in the Defensor Pacis (1234), tends to connect relationship is not subordinate laws and the people - understood in its Pars valentior -. The problem of the relationship between political power and justice was set explicitly by St. Augustine, who bluntly asked: "Without justice, what would actually be the kingdoms except bands of robbers? And what are the bands of robbers except little kingdoms? (Augustine, City of God.) ". In medieval society to a partition that reflected social designated bodies for each class, corresponded to a unitary conception of power. Political power was understood in theory the same as subject to higher laws, and these laws were rooted in tradition or custom understood as (a sort of unwritten fundamental constitution of the kingdom), or natural laws placed by God here the theoretical limit , which was placed the obligation of subjects, obeying the political power. The monarch that it violated the fundamental laws of the kingdom was likely to be considered a usurper, a tyrant or "ex defectu tituli" the monarch who violated the laws of nature was likely to be considered a tyrant "ex parte exercitii." This could mean, as well as excommunication by the ecclesiastical authorities, a dissolution theoretical part of the subjects from obedience to the monarch. In a society crystallized into classes, Christianity proclaimed the spiritual equality (albeit an equality that, from the social point of view, however, remained only formal among Christians), to a moral use of earthly goods and, in principle, opposed to slavery, of, only baptized. Against the political power considered a necessary evil, the Catholic Church had as a universal power, a higher power above the political-territorial partitions in western Europe; placing itself as 'international' element that contributes greatly to the cohesion of European society and culture. Of course, the collaboration between religious power and political power, in quelling any subversive form of social order, it has always achieved high levels of efficacy. Maybe it's bold to say that Catholicism, defending their worldly interests and materials, have reflexively defended spaces of freedom, but it is undeniable that his presence and his doctrine have limited political power, making it impossible to brand themselves as absolute power, at least until the modern age. Between 1500 and for much of 1600, Europe will be torn apart by wars with a religious background. A first step towards a precarious form of coexistence between the various Christian denominations was the Peace of Augsburg (1555), with the principle of cuius regio eius religio, - a term coined by lawyers in 1600 -. The principle took note of the fact that in Germany there were territories with different Christian denominations, and stipulated that the subjects would follow the creed of the prince or, alternatively, they could emigrate to a territory ruled by a prince of their own confession. Only after the Treaties of Münster in Westphalia and Osnabück 1645-1648, which ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), a religious ideology will begin to no longer be considered the principal element in conflicts between European nations . In concrete terms, the principle of coexistence of different denominations in the same area in 1600 will be applied only in the Republic of the Netherlands. During 1700 the reason of state prevails almost entirely on religious motivations in the political choices of the national states, while remaining the thesis religious source of monarchical legitimacy of political power. In fact no longer existed the Christian States.

Without Christianity (with its history of merits and faults) would not be born of Europe and Western civilization.

See J. Le Goff. The sky fell to the ground. The roots of medieval Europe. Paris, Seuil 2003

P. Brown. The formation of Christian Europe, universalism and diversity. Cambridge, Blackwell, 1996.

C. Dawson. Christianity and the formation of Western civilization. London, Sheed & Ward, 1950

L. Leciejewicz. The new shape of the world. The birth of medieval European civilization. Nauki Polskiej. Year 2000.

For centuries the Roman Empire was considered an empire of the mare nostrum (Mediterranean), the Romans did not consider themselves Europeans, for the Romans, Europe was only a geographical place.

See H. A. L. Fisher, History of Europe, Laterza, Bari 2 volumes, 1955.

H.Pirenne, History of Europe from the barbarian invasions to the XVI century, Sansoni,

Florence 1956

A.J. Toynbee, Comparative History of Civilization, 3 vols Newton Compton,

Roma.1974.

The Emperor's New Religion of Peace

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