Crusades: The Other Side Muslim views and Issues of the

Crusades

Objectives

• The students will be able to recognize and give details towards the Muslims’ view of the Crusades

• The students will be able to identify key figures of the Crusades from the Muslim side

• The students will be able identify the effects of the Crusades on the Middle East.

Prior to the Crusades

Prior to the Crusades

• Many people in the west believe that all Muslims were the same

• The Islamic World was split into many factions based on politics, geography, and religious interpretation

• Sunni

• Abbasid

• Seljuk

• Shiite

• Fatimid

Prior to the Crusades

• The first contact/conflict of Christian and Islamic forces came between the Byzantines and the Muslims

• For many years these two groups fought over territory but never with the zeal that was seen during the Crusades.

• Eventually both sides came to an understanding.

Prior to the Crusades • Jerusalem had been an open city in which

Christians of both Eastern and Western faiths found much freedom.

• During this time between the 8th and 10th century many Christians of the Middle Eastern region converted to Islam since both religions shared many similarities.

Prior to the Crusades • Seljuk Turks coming out of Turkestan in

Central Asia were gaining control and once they made it to the Middle East they wished to expand into Byzantine lands.

• Between the years of 1063 and 1071 the Byzantines and the Muslims clashed. In the end, the Byzantines were pushed back.

The 1st Crusade

1st Crusade • The Muslims had contact with the west for

many years.

• The Byzantines and the Muslims had minor skirmishes from years in Asia Minor

• The Muslims believed that all European forces were like the Byzantines

1st Crusade

• Prior to the First Crusade, a minor force came from Europe

• The force was led by Peter the Hermit

• The Muslims destroyed the ‘Crusaders’ of Peter the Hermit

1st Crusade • With the loss of the major city Antioch,

Muslims and also native Christians were looted.

• Within the city of Antioch the Muslims experienced the violence of the Crusaders. Crusaders murdered and looted the majority of the city

1st Crusade • Beside the attacks and sieges of the

Crusaders, the Muslims were introduced to another killer, disease

• During the Crusade the Europeans were able to introduce many illnesses, the worst was an outbreak of Typhoid which killed a significant amount of people on both sides of religion.

1st Crusade • The reputation of the Crusaders was now

known up and down the coast

• The cities of Tripoli, Beirut, and Acre were willing to pay off the Crusaders than to fight them.

• .

Siege of Jerusalem

• The Muslims drove out all the Christians of the city and prepared for a long siege.

• The Muslims of Jerusalem were overrun by the Crusaders.

• The Crusaders were believed to be destined by their liberation of many holy places and also the city of Bethlehem.

Results of the 1st Crusade

• This is the only loss that the Muslims experienced during the 7 crusades.

• Mostly disorganization and unpreparedness cost them the 1st Crusade

• For years, the Muslims had skirmishes with the Byzantines. They believed that the Christians of the West would be the same.

Results of the 1st Crusade

• A new force entered the Muslim world, it was led by a man named Hassan-I-Sabah.

• The name of this group was the Assassins.

• The Assassins were fanatical about religion. They did not care whom they had to fight.

• Both the Muslims and Christians learned to fear them.

The 2nd Crusade

2nd Crusade 1147-1149

• Imad al-Din Zengi attacks Tripoli in 1137

• He then takes Edessa in 1144, slaughtering Christians in the form of revenge

• Bernard the Monk pushes for the defense of the Holy Land March 31, 1146

2nd Crusade 1147-1149

• New Crusaders arrived in the Middle East only to find that many of the Europeans that stayed from the 1st Crusade had established a very comfortable life

• There became a blending of East and West in terms of culture and lifestyle.

The 3rd Crusade

Saladin (1137-1193)

• Influenced by two men, Zengi and Nur al-Din

• Zengi (Uncle) introduced Saladin to Nur al-Din and became an officer

• Zengi was influencial during 2nd Crusade, captured Edessa

• Between the years of 1164-1169 defended Cairo

Saladin (1137-1193)

• Saladin finds himself fighting Muslims in Egypt (Assassins try to kill him 1174-75)

• After total victory within Islam, Saladin eliminated crusader fortress in 1177

• Saladin defeats Christian forces at the Horns of Hattin, July 1187

• Doesn’t stop by Oct. 1187 controls Jerusalem

3rd Crusade 1189-1192

• Saladin and the leader of the Assassins, Rashid ed-Din Sinan were in negotiations with the leader of the Franks, Amalric.

• After a very positive meeting, the leader of the Knights Templar, Reynald of Chatillon ambushed and killed many of the people that attended the meeting (1173).

Saladin vs. the Templars

3rd Crusade 1189-1192

• After the Battle of Hattin Saladin sells the living soldiers into slavery.

• The Knights Templar are tortured and killed, and Reynald the most hated of them all is beheaded in Saladin’s presence.

• Jerusalem stays in the hands of the Muslims.

3rd Crusade 1189-1192 • King Guy is released by Saladin but not

until he promises to stay out of the ‘war.’

• Guy turns around and comes back in with the support of King Phillip II of France.

3rd Crusade 1189-1192 • Saladin who is the hero of the 3rd Crusade

faces a dilemma with Richard III

• He knows that he can’t defeat Richard for the city so he has to come to a compromise

• Both sides realize that they need to save face with their people

• In the end, Saladin ends up look like the victor.

After the 3rd Crusade

• Saladin dies in 1193 and the unity of the region disappears, and his legend grows

• The 4th Crusade saw the Crusaders aim for the Byzantines rather than the Muslims.

• The remaining Crusades were more a victory for the Muslims because of the political problems and lack of focus of the Europeans.