What Life Was Like for a Medieval Crusader

between 1096 and 1271 the Crusades were an incredibly dynamic time in human history that brought two great cultures into conflict new alliances were forged new trade routes were discovered and the social and political landscapes of two continents were changed forever but what was it actually like to be there in truth the experience of being a crusader could vary quite a bit noble knights faced completely different challenges and circumstances than common farmers at the same time regardless of who you were any given day could quickly vacillate between boring and terrifying exhilarating and tragic today we're going to take a look at what life was like for a medieval Crusader but before we get started be sure to subscribe to the weird History Channel and let us know in the comments below what other parts of medieval history you would like to hear about ok fasten your rosaries we're going on a crusade people in the Middle Ages love tales of wealthy heroes and brave knights which they would hear recanted in chansons de Geste or songs of deeds these songs were performed by professional entertainers who had seemed crowds and they were often popular with commoners nobles and Knights alike the most famous of these both then and now was the Song of Roland originally concerning the hero Roland doing battle with Basque forces it was rewritten prior to the Crusades to future Muslim antagonists instead the song was enormous ly popular and served as propaganda that drove recruitment think of it as something like the medieval equivalent of the movie Top Gun in the eighties [Music] in medieval times joining up with the Crusades was referred to as taking the cross this sounds symbolic but actually referred to a literal cross that Crusaders were expected to sew onto their tunic and other articles of clothing after a while this came to be expected of everyone who walked the road to Jerusalem even support personnel and non-combatants by the Third Crusade what had started out as an informal practice that represented one's personal commitment to the mission had morphed into a formal requirement different countries used different colored crosses and the color function almost as a form of identification like with modern sports jerseys or the houses of Hogwarts the Fleming's used green crosses the French used red an english used silver [Music] mounting a crusade was an advanced logistical challenge it entailed gathering tens of thousands of men their mounts and their equipment and then moving them from Europe all the way to the Middle East there was no single standard route and the journey was perilous leaders of the crusade also knew that the kind of religious fervor that drove a person to commit such an undertaking would only last so long it's no surprise that some armies actually just gave up at the halfway point and headed back home after the Middle Eastern port of Antioch was captured Crusaders could take the 1500 mile journey by sea however this came with a few wrinkles it required hiring or constructing large fleets which in turn required a large budget which in turn meant the army had to carry a large amount of money with them the trip to Genoa was itself incredibly dangerous for example on the Third Crusade a large crowd of pilgrims fell into the Rhone River after trying to cross a narrow bridge over a hundred men were lost in the current other routes were no less dangerous Frederick Barbarossa the Holy Roman Emperor and leader of the German Crusaders drowned in the Salif River while no one knows exactly how Frederick met his end one story holds that he stepped into the current with his armor on over the objections of his council and was instantly washed away his followers were so demoralized by his loss that many chose to return home not a bad move [Music] the hygiene practices of medieval Europeans were developed for their own environment which was mostly damp dark forests the holy land with its arid deserts was about as different as a climate could be Muslims on the other hand had sanitary practices that were much better suited to the heat in fact the tenants of their faith required them to engage in certain hygienic practices and rituals the Christian Crusaders quickly adopted many of these practices which included things like using scented oils to cover up sweat and body odour and washing with hard soap which it is believed was previously unknown to Europeans [Music] the armies of the Crusades were initially raised to challenge Muslims in their grip on the Holy Land but the license they were given embolden them in their persecution of a different group the Jews despite the fact that there was no official call to action against Jews from the Pope anti-semitism was a common byproduct of Crusaders sermons medieval era historian Albert of X wrote that there rose in a spirit of cruelty against the Jewish people scattered throughout he went on to describe the casual slaughter of Jewish people in the kingdom of Lorraine part of modern-day France other instances of violence were more organized for example count Emma Cho of Leiningen part of modern Germany led an army of Crusaders along the Rhine and Danube rivers massacring Jews in every city he passed through compared to later Crusades the First Crusade was more spontaneous and migratory that is to say many of the men brought their wives and children along account survived that verify the presence of women on military bases in various capacities some were there to serve men but others fought and sometimes even took leading military roles during the Second Crusade historians believed that eleanor of aquitaine the wife of france's king louis the seventh was a political and diplomatic leader who convinced her husband to join the siege of Antioch for many years there was a popular story about Eleanor herself leading a troop of 300 noble women into combat but historians now believe that's just a legend accounts of the role of women on the Third Crusade are conflicting the itinerary impera gran Orem a Latin prose narrative of the Third Crusade written around 1220 claims that the only women who came along were servants however several other sources both Christian and Muslim speak of women doing things like executing prisoners preparing seizure Sheen's for combat and taking up arms one account even speaks of an unnamed woman who led 500 knights and Squires on missions against Muslim encampments in 1212 a young French boy named Stefan of cloyse claimed he received a letter from Jesus instructing him to lead a crusade much of the story has been mythologized and obscured by the passage of history but it is believed Stefan brought the letter to King Philip the second looking for support sadly Phil wasn't interested nonetheless Stefan started to preach and a fervor began to form at the same time a German boy called Nicholas of Cologne was raising a similar army in France Nicholas's army eventually merged with Stefan's army the resulting force was said to have included twenty to forty thousand children adolescents and adults their movement is what we now refer to as the Children's Crusade their plan was to take Jerusalem by traveling through Europe and over the Alps into the Middle East however for reasons that remain unclear they never made it some accounts claim that Pope Innocent the third convinced them to turn back after they reached Rome while other accounts say they were all captured and sold into slavery while the Fourth Crusade was initially called for by Pope Innocent a third as a means to retake Jerusalem things got off track fast Venetian traders refused to carry the Crusaders to Jerusalem unless they first reconquered the Christian city of Zara in the name of Italy the Crusaders obliged in November of 1202 and when the Pope found out he was not a happy camper the enraged pontiff excommunicated the Venetians and the Crusaders the latter was quickly rescinded but for reasons that are unclear the mission changed instead of checking Jerusalem the Crusaders would sack Constantinople the Byzantine Emperor eventually fled the city which was looted and then abandoned by the invaders who left it a shell of what it had been the purpose of the Crusades was to take control of the Holy Land but the motivations of the soldiers who fought in them were disparate some were fleeing debts while others were seeking their fortune some sought the glory of war and others were genuinely faithful for the first crusade Howe bourbon the second promised any Christian who helped out absolution for all their sins however in the later Crusades most just fought for their King during the Third Crusade that meant Richard the Lionheart if you are English Philip the second if you were French and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa if you were German most Crusaders wouldn't likely have had the drive to go to Jerusalem and fight without the influence of these men for example when Emperor Barbarossa died most of his army gave up and went home some even renounced their Christian faith and converted to Islam the Knights Templar started out as an organization that protected Christians in Jerusalem while it was under Muslim rule later the Pope endorsed the Knights and gave them several special privileges including an immunity to taxation as you probably guessed this made everyone want to be a Templar in their numbers swelled over time the scope of the night services grew in later Crusades they would protect travelers all along the route to the Holy Land as opposed to just in Jerusalem itself still later they grew into a powerful and disciplined army in their own right the Kings who sponsored the Crusades provided the bare minimum to their armies supply lines had to stretch all the way across the known world so rations were thin many Crusaders were forced to beg barter and forage or starve bartering with locals could be dangerous though one story tells of a crusader passing through the province of Lombardy in Italy he got into an argument with a local woman over the price of a loaf of bread so the townspeople trampled him four nights there was always the option of eating their horse but this would have been a last resort there was an embarrassing stigma to being a knight without a horse not to mention there would be considerably more vulnerable than combat due to the weight of their armor sadly eating horses may not have been the true last resort letters from the siege of Antioch suggest some Crusaders may have been reduced to cannibalism the crusade stance is one of the most gruesome and bloody conflicts in the history of humanity both sides committed atrocities throughout the conflict and they each had their own ways of dealing with hostages and prisoners for a crusader who you were captured by could make all the difference the legendary Muslim commander Saladin for example was known to be merciful he is said to have allowed Christian doctors to tend to his prisoners and after retaking Jerusalem in 1187 he released over a thousand of his captives however even Saladin had his limits the brilliant commander had a particular hatred for members of military orders like Knights Templar once captured he would have them immediately killed so what do you think did the Crusades have any success let us know in the comments below and while you're at it check out some of these other videos from our weird history

Channel: Weird History

Views: 918,949

Keywords: Life As A Crusader, Facts About The Crusades, Life Of Medieval Crusaders, History of the Crusades, Weird History, Weird History Medieval Era, Medieval Europe, Song of Roland, The Holy Land, Muslims, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, Female Crusaders, History of the middle east, Stephen of Cloyes, The Children’s Crusade, The Knights Templar, Crusaders, Saladin, Medieval Battles, Holy Wars, European History, Drunk History, Today I learned, Alternate History Hub, History

Id: N0amKCHwPLs

Length: 12min 3sec (723 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 26 2020