The Primary Cause of the Crusades. Religion versus Money

Abstract or Introduction

The study examines the primary cause of the crusades. The crusades were an enterprise constructed out of inherently religious concerns. Jerusalem had been closed to Christian pilgrims and the Christian Byzantines were under threat from Muslim factions to the east.

A similar trend was followed in the subsequent three major crusades. An alleged Muslim aggression would be countered by an apparently righteous Christian counter-attack. This threat was labelled by the papacy as a threat to all of Christendom and, for a population whose lives were dominated by religion, this was a very grave threat indeed. For kings and nobility religion was at once a fashionable expense and a very real subject of devotion. For the poor, the church was a place for conversation and celebration, confession and communion; with entire communities gathering there to do everything from celebrating Michaelmas to listening to a sermon condemning them all as sinners.

Inevitably, religion would provide an underlying stimulus and justification for this act of violence undertaken in the name of God; but it would by no means be the only influence. As it is in today's society, money was an inescapable necessity of life and the restrictions which it imposed would play an important role in deciding the course and outcome of the crusades. Furthermore, any venture which required international cooperation, and especially one of this magnitude, would inevitably be restricted by the uncompromising labyrinth of temporal and papal politics.