The Fall of Constantinople and the Consequences for the West
(No Citations, just memory of the course since it was a 3-hour final exam paper.)
After the final crusade, the footholds the Christian west held started to fall and splinter. A final crusade was supposed to occur, led by Emperor Rudolph and Pope Gregory in 1277 to reconquer Asia minor. However, Pope Gregory died, and though funding was in place for further campaigning, the funding instead went to petty squabbling of Italian states. Charles of Anjou fought to control Sicily and then bought Jerusalem, but Sicilians revolted because they did not want to be led by French. The only crusaders left were the Teutonic Knights and they defended the East.
Meanwhile, Mamluks, a force of slave soldiers from Islam frontiers, controlled Egypt and they were the only group in the East powerful enough to defeat the Mongols. In 1260, the Mongols had been terrorizing Damascus and had destroyed Baghdad, but they were defeated by the Mamluks. The Latin crusaders were surrounded with Mongols to the north and Mamluks everywhere else. The Greeks retook Constantinople in 1261, kicking the Latins out. Due to the political upheaval in Italian states, there was a sharp decline in port trade as Venice, Genoa, and Pisa were warring, and a direct result of this was poverty. The Mamluks were determined to retake the Holy Land and by March 1263, they were able to take a string of Christian footholds and dismantle crusading groups. The last stronghold was Acre, and by 1291, it was taken by the Mamluks.
The Byzantine Empire was at its lowest point here. They had lost almost all power they had once had, no longer having recruitment lands, a fleet, supplies, crusading states, and no control of economy with no relationship to speak of with Italy, which had a large control of monetary flow. In 1354, the Turks were able to cross to Thrace and cut off supplies. They besieged Constantinople for 8 years. Constantinople got a little breather when the Turks were defeated by Tamburlaine, but it was just prolonging the inevitable. At the end of the 14th century, the Byzantine Emperor attempted reconciliation with the West, seeing how dire his situation was. The Turks feared a reconciliation between the East and West and did everything in their power to prevent this.
In 1396 during a brief pause in the Hundred Years war, 8000 Burgundians and other French allies rode to Hungary to join the King at the battle of Nicopolis. They failed to bring siege weapons, but they rode to battle in style and with pride, therefore dying as a direct result of that style and pride. Wanting first blood, they disregarded the wisdom of battle strategy and ran headlong into battle, not taking a rest when they had the chance, and split their forces in two to be slaughtered when reinforcements joined their enemy. This was the last time the West helped the East and ensured the Turks kept their stronghold.
In the winter of 1400, the Emperor of Constantinople went to Europe and begged for help, but to no avail. The Turks surrounded Constantinople, a dying city with a small population, no allies, no wealth, and little hope. A string of sultans, starting with Murad, achieved several successes, and created new laws for Christians living under his rule. Every Christian family was to hand over one male child to be brought up Muslim and trained as a civil servant or soldier. The Byzantines no longer had any way to recruit, but the Sultans had found a way to take even more from the Christians by demanding a portion of their own future soldiers, (clever indeed). The next successor, Mehmet II, wanted to capture Constantinople and there was little he would not do to achieve his wishes as he wanted to rule all or nothing. Infrastructure, out of the box thinking, and a will of steel all culminated in the building of fortresses, cannons, fleets, roads, and bridges, and on May 29th, 1453, Constantinople fell, was sacked, and became Istanbul.
The loss of Constantinople was tremendous as it left a wide path straight to the west with no Christian strongholds left. The loss of the Holy Lands to the Muslims would have been a huge blow to Christian pride, but also, left them widely undefended as the lands were divided. Many trade routes were severed and through mass desertion of the city prior to besiegement, knowledge moved around kicking off, all of which helped to spread the renaissance further across Europe. Though the Christian West lost lands in the East, it brought about a new age, really.
The First Crusade: Folly in Three Waves
The First Crusade was a campaign to restore the Holy Land and Christ's favour. This theme set the stage for all subsequent campaigns, though many of the other crusades lacked the vision to succeed. The overarching intention of the First Crusade was religiously righteous, but personal goals were certainly taking place, which, at times, derailed the process. The Crusade was paraded as a war of justice for Christianity, and Pope Urban II called for a reform, but by the end of the First Crusade, the result on paper looks a little bit different. There were three waves of the first crusade: Wave 1, The People's Crusade led by Peter the Hermit, Wave 2, the Intended Crusade, and Wave 3, the Intended Crusade part II, but reinforced by deserters.
When Pope Urban II called the Crusade, it was with the intention to restore the Holy Lands, bringing glory to the West by saving the East. Emperor Alexius asked for a small force to be under his control to help stabilize, but unfortunately, Pope Urban was a great speaker and with his speech, which can only be called 'Stirring', set things into motion that could not have been foreseen. The main points of his speech were this: aid fellow Christians (i.e.: stop killing neighbours in lieu of killing enemies), save the Holy Land, kill the Turks, wear a cross, and if you go, you will automatically be absolved of all wrong-doings and go to heaven, skipping purgatory. All property would be protected if you left on this holy mission. Many nobles joined the cause including Raymond of Toulouse, Hugh of Vermandois, Robert II of Flanders, Robert Duke of Normandy, Stephen, the Count of Blois, Godfrey and Baldwin of Boullion, and Bohemond of Taranto. All were meant to congregate around Constantinople after the harvest to ensure supplies aplenty.
The First Wave of the Crusade did not go as intended. Due to the stirring nature of Pope Urban's speech, many took it upon themselves to preach about the Holy Mission. Peter the Hermit, for example, was able to whip up a frenzy and tens of thousands answered the call. The reality for peasants was not a pleasant one. With an expanding population and strict rule under nobles, many lived in starvation and poverty.
In addition, natural disasters left people desperate and many had nothing to lose. Many were so desperate that they had zero intention of waiting to start "God's Mission" and left prior to when instructed. There are some who would say this was not wise. The crusaders raped and pillaged as they went and there was no restraint when pillaging. Many Christians slayed Christians in this journey. The pilgrims split into groups, the French from the Germans and Italians. The Germans and Italians marched on Nicea, but that was as far as they went. They were caught off guard and offered a choice: convert or die. Those that converted were sent to the East.
Spies were able to infiltrate French camps and they fed a lie that the Germans and Italians had captured Nicea. Obviously, this was not the case, so the remaining pilgrims of the first wave walked straight to their deaths. Few were able to escape, but those that did went back to tell the tale. This was the end of the first wave.
The second wave in 1097 consisted of those that were able to follow instructions with the harvest in tow, and they met with the Byzantine Emperor. There are so many that the Emperor does not know what to do with them, nor is he all that happy about the destruction they caused to Christian's in their travels. The Lords that went were required to swear allegiance and saved lands to the Emperor in exchange for funding to continue. The Lord's had no choice but to accept and one, Hugh of Vermandois, was required as a hostage of sorts to keep the others in line. Godfrey of Boullion was the leader, and there was a clear path that they had to take: Nicea, Dorylaenum, Antioch, and finally to Jerusalem.
There is little coordination in the second wave. When they get to Nicea, it is already being besieged by Byzantines. The Byzantines capture it, and the second wave continues on, not happy that they don't get to claim Nicea as their own. They also do not trust the Byzantine's. The troops of Bohemond and Raymond split as they advance on Dorylaenum. Kilij Arslan nearly gets the better of Bohemond's troops when Raymond comes to the rescue. Kilij, now weary of the Crusader's battle abilities, decides he has to be smarter rather than stronger. Therefore, Kilij engages in the 'scorched earth' policy, weakening the spoils for the crusaders, poisoning the land and the water supply. The direct result of this is humiliation, desperation, dehydration, and starvation for the Crusaders. Their horses die off and they are left to march without horses with heavy armour and supplies all the way to Antioch. Baldwin, Godfrey's brother, takes a small force and establishes the first Crusader state of Edessa.
Famine, illness, and mass desertion (including that of Stephen of Blois) leaves the crusaders weak, and they besiege Antioch for many months. The people inside open the gates, and unfortunately, the Crusaders engage in cannibalism and are then themselves besieged by Kilij in 1098. Many of the Crusaders see visions and are delirious, but by some miracle, the crusaders find the holy relic of the spear that stabbed Jesus, and they have hope. To appear as though they have more troops than they do, they arrange themselves in a complicated manner. Kilij misses his chance to defeat them and by the time the Crusaders are all outside of Antioch, and they continue on undefeated and with new religious zeal, believing they are truly on the path of doing God's work.
Finally, the crusaders arrive at Jerusalem. Jerusalem did not have allies as many were afraid of the stories about the crusaders. No one wanted to tangle with those who were able to take Antioch, nor were they all that anxious to encounter the cannibals within the Crusader ranks. All the people within Jerusalem were able to do was remove the resources, such as lumber, to try and prevent the crusaders from building weapons. However, lumber was found nearby in the cave in mass, and siege weapons were built. Two siege castles were built along with a battering ram, and naval reinforcements from Genoa and England arrived, albeit late. The siege weapons were effective and when the Crusaders made it over the walls, it was a slaughter. There was no discernment of whether the people inside were friend or foe: all were murdered. This was the end of the second wave.
The third wave brought back deserters, such as Stefen of Blois. The third wave was largely a matter of logistics. It brought about the establishment of the crusading ideal with knights as monks where they know poverty, celibacy, and do God's work. This established the Knights Templar and the Hospitaliers. The first of the crusader states were established, including the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The lands were divided among the nobles, and the last in question was who would rule Jerusalem. Many turned it down as they did not want to claim Kingship over a holy land, but in the end, Godfrey of Boullion took up the duty, though under the title 'First Ruler of Jerusalem, Defender of the Holy Sepulchre.' This was not a long-lasting affair as he died in 1100, but his brother, Baldwin, who had previously been ruling Edessa, took up the title of King of Jerusalem and that was that.
The impact of the first crusade cannot be understated. In some ways it was not successful, particularly given that there were eight official crusades and numerous untitled crusades, but it set the stage for securing a foothold in the East and giving hope for subsequent attempts to keep strength. It was arguably the only successful crusade, but it would depend on what grounds 'success' falls under as I think it certainly failed to protect Christians. They set out to 'save Christians from the infidels’, but they were worse than the supposed infidels, killing all they came across indiscriminately even when those the Crusaders encountered were Christian. That seems a heavy failure in all senses. If looking at it from the perspective of obtaining objective only, then yes, capturing Jerusalem was a win, but morally, it was an epic fail and subsequent attempts did not really get better.
The indiscriminate slaughter of all the Crusaders came across did not help their relations with the East. In fact, it's almost impressive how much they destroyed the relationship with the Byzantine Emperor because they acted no better than the Turks or the Mongols, in all realness. Later on, as Byzantium falls, there is little to no reinforcement from East to West as Christian strongholds fall, and it is because neither side trusted the other. The seeds were sown in the very beginning here. There was only one way the relationship could go after all of this mayhem, and that was down that drain (which it did).