• The First Crusade was called in 1095 by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, to, among other things, redirect the energies of warring barons from warring against each other to reclaiming the Holy Land (the Peace of God movement and Deus le volt! – God wills it!). The First Crusade captured Jerusalem in July 1099 (aided by divisions in the Islamic world) and established the Crusader states.
• Called by the eloquent propagandist Cistercian monk, Bernard of Clairvaux, the Second Crusade ended in disaster, crushed outside the walls of Damascus.
• The Third Crusade went up against a united Egyptian and Syrian Arab empire led by Saladin (who had recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 and remains the preeminent hero of the Islamic World). Although the largest military endeavor of the Middle Ages, the Third Crusade failed to recapture Jerusalem.
• The Fourth Crusade captured and sacked Constantinople in 1204, and the Fifth Crusade resulted in Frederick negotiating for temporary occupation of Jerusalem. All others failed as well.
• The Mamluk capture of Acre in 1291 brought the end of Outremer (lands “across the sea”).

On the one hand, a historian recently wrote "The impact of the Crusades on the Islamic world was not nearly so great as on Europe. . . though charged with the stuff of romance, the Crusades had little lasting impact on Islamic lands. . . The challenge to the Muslims, with their impotent calif and endemic political fragmentation was unification to face the European enemy."  He also noted "The three crusades of the eleventh and twelfth centuries signaled the end of western Europe's centuries of isolation, not just political but intellectual" and that "...later Crusades often combined religious motives with actions to improve Latin Christians' competitive advantage in the trades from the East."

On the other hand, while the West spoke of a "crusade," the Arab world spoke of "the Frankish invasion." Journalist Amin Maalouf in The Crusades Through Arab Eyes (1984) notes "The Arab world—simultaneously fascinated and terrified by these Franj [Franks], whom they encountered as barbarians and defeated, but who subsequently managed to dominate the earth—cannot bring itself to consider the Crusades a mere episode in the bygone past. It is often surprising to discover the extent to which the attitude of the Arabs (and the Muslims in general) towards the West is still influenced, even today, by events that supposedly ended some seven centuries ago."

Point of View:

1) Muslim Reaction -- The Crusaders in Muslim Eyes , item V (from Paul Halsall, University of North Florida, see also his Crusades and European Expansion lecture outline).

• Halsall notes that the Crusades were a surprise to the Muslim world.
• In 1095 Spanish Muslims certainly felt pressure from Christians, but that was long way off from Palestine.
• Muslims did not understand the crusaders. At first thought they were Byzantine employees.
• Arabs were shocked by the barbarism of Crusaders - e.g. at conquest of Jerusalem.
• This attitude of cultural superiority, fact-based though it was, prevented the Muslims learning anything from the Franji. E.g. some Latins learned Arabic, but little record of Muslims learning any Western language.
• Gradually, Arabs came to see Crusaders as attackers of Muslim land. Around 1140 attitudes hardened.

2) Carol Hillenbrand’s recent work The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (2000), confirms Paul Halsall, comments (see above) on the relative unimportance of the Crusades in the wider Muslim world during the Middle Ages.

See Why the Crusades still Matter – Discussion with Carole Hillenbrand & Thomas Madden, National Catholic Reporter, February 24, 2006

Activity and Discussion Questions:

Activity 1:

Read Urban II: Speech at Council of Clermont, 1095, Fulcher of Chartres version and the
Robert the Monk version.

1. What, according to Pope Urban, has happened to the world as a result of God's servants not keeping his laws? (include evidence)
2. What is the purpose of his exhortation to all "to carry aid promptly " to the Greek Christians
3. What are those who die doing so, promised?

Read Fulcher of Chartres: The Capture of Jerusalem, 1099, and The Fall of Jerusalem, The Gesta Version.

4. Describe briefly what happened when the city fell to the Franks. How do the Franks view the Muslims?
5. What did the Crusaders do once the city was captured?

 Activity 2:

Go to Internet Islamic History Sourcebook the Interaction with the West section (you may read others items but this section is required). Go to the second item, Usmah Ibn Munqidh (1095-1188): Autobiography: Excerpts on the Franks, c.1175 CE.

6. How does this Muslim warrior and courtier react to a proposal to send his son to Europe?
7. How does he regard Frankish Medicine (give examples)?
8. Describe some of his other views on the Franks he encounters.
9. How did contact with Christians encourage Muslims to define themselves?

Activity 3

Go to The Crusader States and The Empire of Sultan Salah Al-Din and study the map. View the map page 313 in your textbook (note the detail of the Crusader states). View additional maps Europe during the Age of the Crusades (scroll for full view) and Crusade States

10. How many States are there?
11. Describe their location and borderlands. Why do you think the Crusaders were unable to hold the region?
12. Describe the Krak des Chevaliers as an archetype of a medieval castle, also called the Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din ~ a World Heritage site, see three interior images at the Gallery tab. What does its construction and history suggest about the Crusaders and Muslims?
13. Look at a map of the Middle East today.
14. Identify the modern states that occupy the land of the Crusaders and Ottomans.
15. Describe the differences you note.
16. Why does the area remain a contested landscape?

Assignment:

Your Unit 3, Topic Discussion assignment is in two parts:

Part 1, select one of the three above activities (your choice). Visit all sites, read and answer questions in a two page report prepared for class discussion (see calendar for due date). The activity takes the place of a study guide for unit 3.

Part 2, based on a close reading of the primary documents listed above and class discussions, write a position paper that represents either the Crusader or Muslim point of view (p.o.v.).

Note:

• You will be expected to make full use of the primary sources you have read, even if we have not discussed them in class in order to build a strong evidence based argument.
• Evidence from primary sources will make a stronger support for your argument than will evidence drawn from secondary sources. use suggested materials.
• Make sure your position paper is written in your own words.
• DO NOT copy and paste from web sources or "edit" phrases without credit.
• Material on the Crusades on the Web is extensive - avoid plagiarism.

Specific assignment instructions will be distributed following the class discussion session (see calendar).

What is a position paper? A position paper presents an arguable opinion about an issue. Your job is to take one side of the argument and persuade your reader that your knowledge of the topic is extensive and your position well-founded. It is important to support your argument with evidence to ensure the validity of your position, as well as to address the counter-position to show that you are well informed about both sides