Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm editor Candice Gibson, joined by staff writer Jane mcgran pay. Candice,
Speaker 1: So you don't, Daren Watson. Um. You know, it's funny.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of words in our language that pack
Speaker 1: a whole lot of meaning, and sometimes you can say
Speaker 1: one of these words and start a riot without even
Speaker 1: meaning to. One of the ones I'm thinking of, is crusade.
Speaker 1: Sure that that's a hot button word for sure. If
Speaker 1: you look at like even President Bush, he mentions it,
Speaker 1: then a lot of uproar begins because he gets attacked
Speaker 1: for thinking that that this war on terrorism is suddenly
Speaker 1: a holy war about religion, right, And that's the trouble
Speaker 1: with using crusade even casually, Like if if you're on
Speaker 1: a crusade for restocking the office fridge with diet coke,
Speaker 1: you don't want to say that necessarily because the word
Speaker 1: invokes a lot of bloodshed and political strife too, and
Speaker 1: a lot of corruption. Really, if you look up at
Speaker 1: the crusades was all about, and it's hard to pinpoint
Speaker 1: what exactly that was because there were many, many Crusades,
Speaker 1: not just one. It was a whole series that spanned
Speaker 1: a couple of generations, began around and they started definitely
Speaker 1: centered around religion, but even in their earliest stages there
Speaker 1: were some political wheeling and dealing going on, that's true,
Speaker 1: And if you look at how the pope got mixed
Speaker 1: in with it, it was actually the empire, the emperor
Speaker 1: of the Byzantine Empire that went to the Pope and asked, hey,
Speaker 1: can you help us out because these these Muslims, these
Speaker 1: Celdru Muslims in particular, sorry to take over my um
Speaker 1: empire and my lands, and so can you come over
Speaker 1: here and help us? And the Pope saw this as
Speaker 1: both like political and religious because he was hoping to
Speaker 1: unite the East and West churches, which had separated actually
Speaker 1: a few decades before then, right in the Great Schism
Speaker 1: of and fifty four. And you know, it's funny because
Speaker 1: the emperor knew that if he allied with the Pope,
Speaker 1: he could get the manpower he needed to get his
Speaker 1: empire back, because he didn't have the forces to accomplish
Speaker 1: that goal. But back in Europe, there were nights from
Speaker 1: the funeral system who were just very listless, they were
Speaker 1: getting bored, they were causing trouble at home, and the
Speaker 1: Pope thought, while we've been trying to restore peace on
Speaker 1: the home front from these you know, boyish and and
Speaker 1: tumbling around nights, So if we can give them something
Speaker 1: constructive to do, like reclaim the Holy Land, while the
Speaker 1: win win for everyone. That's true, that's true, And they
Speaker 1: got more than they bargained for. Actually, um, the the
Speaker 1: speech at the Pope gave to instigate knights to to
Speaker 1: take up arms in March to the Holy and actually
Speaker 1: ended up spurring on even peasants who were very ill
Speaker 1: equipped to go and fight the sophisticated um Muslim warriors,
Speaker 1: you know. And that's something really important to mention. Two.
Speaker 1: Europe at this time was actually somewhat backward compared to
Speaker 1: the force is in the countries that they were about
Speaker 1: to go up again. They were sophisticated, they were more intelligent,
Speaker 1: they had better warfare, and Europe was you know, it
Speaker 1: was real, even in a dark time, and it actually
Speaker 1: cost a lot of money to go off and be
Speaker 1: a crusader. I think that knights had to mortgage their
Speaker 1: homes and liquefy their assets and then walk like three
Speaker 1: thousand miles to get over to, you know, where all
Speaker 1: the fighting was occurring. That's sure. I'm sure it wasn't
Speaker 1: an easy decision for them. It wasn't. And so when
Speaker 1: these peasants got inspired, especially into the charismatic guidance of
Speaker 1: Peter the Hermit, a disaster and so what I mean
Speaker 1: they were up against an enemy that had methods of
Speaker 1: warfare that no one was prepared for, you know, let
Speaker 1: alone the peasants, but even the nights then in training
Speaker 1: to be soldiers. And when they arrived at least where
Speaker 1: the Businestine numberor was, he he knew that the peasants
Speaker 1: weren't weren't equipped, and he kept on saying, like, no
Speaker 1: hold up until we can bring like real reinforcements to
Speaker 1: and they just marched on. And the Turkish leaders loved it.
Speaker 1: They had to stock at this situation like, this is
Speaker 1: how easy the crusades are gonna be. We don't have
Speaker 1: anything to worry about. That that gave him a certain
Speaker 1: confidence of him, it did, and it would be shattered later.
Speaker 1: But just to reinforce the point, the reason that so
Speaker 1: many people were inspired to go is that the pope
Speaker 1: told them a couple of things about the Crusades, one
Speaker 1: being that going to the Holy Land and reclaiming Jerusalem
Speaker 1: for Christianity would substitute for a journey of penance. And
Speaker 1: the other thing was that if you went and you
Speaker 1: accomplished this goal, you'd be absolved of all your sin
Speaker 1: and you'd have guaranteed entry to have And so basically,
Speaker 1: if you went and died on the battlefield, you know,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be so bad off if you ended up
Speaker 1: getting eternal life as a result. Exactly said, people thought,
Speaker 1: well what do I have to lars? And also if
Speaker 1: you look at what was instigating their motivations, at least
Speaker 1: the peasants who they were hearing stories about how the
Speaker 1: Muslims were performing atrocities on these pilgrims who just wanted
Speaker 1: to peacefully go to their to their holy lands. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't just um the control, the Muslim control of
Speaker 1: the Holy Lands that instigated this, because the Muslims had
Speaker 1: control over it for for decades before that. Um. What
Speaker 1: happened was that the cell Muslim Muslims actually came in
Speaker 1: and and the stories started coming out, whether true or not,
Speaker 1: that that they started abusing, violently, abusing the Pilgrims that came. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is what instigated at least peasants in Europe to
Speaker 1: say this is wrong and we need and that You
Speaker 1: can imagine how they can use that as a motivation
Speaker 1: to go to the Holy Land, right right. So they
Speaker 1: thought they were doing a very righteous deed when in
Speaker 1: fact the pope was scheming alongside his political ally and
Speaker 1: it didn't quite turn out like anyone thought it would
Speaker 1: because it wasn't a cut and dry deal. The Crusades
Speaker 1: stretched on for a really long time. And like we said,
Speaker 1: when the crusading forces most of them were French at
Speaker 1: least during the first Crusade. When they encounter the Muslims,
Speaker 1: they had all these tactics of warfare that no one
Speaker 1: was prepared for um one of which was called Greek fire.
Speaker 1: And essentially what this was is they went on load
Speaker 1: up pottery with fire and then catapulted at the crusaders. Brilliant, yeah,
Speaker 1: it really was, and it would shatter into pieces and
Speaker 1: fire would spread everywhere. Or else. They take rags soaked
Speaker 1: with um I think oil and studded with nails and
Speaker 1: set those ablaze and catapult those over. So the Crusaders
Speaker 1: had these moving wooden reinforcements like towers that they would
Speaker 1: you know, put up his bastion against the offensive forces.
Speaker 1: But then the nails from the fiery rags would just
Speaker 1: stick in burn everything down. And the Crusaders eventually got
Speaker 1: wise to this, and they would hang up animal skin
Speaker 1: soaked in vinegar to help propel the fire. And they
Speaker 1: also realized that there, uh, I guess, their movements on
Speaker 1: the field and their fancy lines and defense mechanisms weren't
Speaker 1: going to cut muster here. And so they got stronger armor,
Speaker 1: they invented the crossbow, and they had to get used
Speaker 1: to some of the unconventional warfare tactics like screaming and
Speaker 1: whistling and all these strange noises that the Muslim forces
Speaker 1: would make just to serve as a distraction. You know.
Speaker 1: It was it was a total just mess, I'm sure
Speaker 1: on the battlefield because it wasn't you know, gentlemen fighting.
Speaker 1: It was mayhem, really, that's true. And given how much
Speaker 1: they had to overcome, and surprising that the Crusades were
Speaker 1: able to eventually see Jerusalem and break in with their
Speaker 1: their their catapults and their ladders, and uh, they were
Speaker 1: able once they got in there, they ended up pillaging
Speaker 1: the city in ways that, um, according to our modern sensibilities,
Speaker 1: is pretty horrible, like they actually burned down a synagogue
Speaker 1: full of innocent Jews and uh. And you know, it
Speaker 1: certainly doesn't justify what they were doing, but it was
Speaker 1: seen as is sort of similar to what other other
Speaker 1: armies at the time we're doing, and that doesn't excuse it,
Speaker 1: but um, but people nowadays see it as such like
Speaker 1: one of the things that gets associated with the Crusades
Speaker 1: was how vicious they were, and so this is one
Speaker 1: of the reasons and the stiege of Jerusalem I think
Speaker 1: is one of the most salient events in all of
Speaker 1: the Crusades. And the sort of mantra that they had
Speaker 1: going in the first Crusade and all the other Crusades
Speaker 1: that followed it was that God wills it, and no
Speaker 1: matter what happened, you know, no matter how many people
Speaker 1: died or how bad things got, it was God's will
Speaker 1: that they were going and fighting. And even when the
Speaker 1: Crusaders were stricken with disease or were so hungry that
Speaker 1: they cut open their animal stomachs to drink the blood,
Speaker 1: I know, really gory. Again, God wills it and when
Speaker 1: they see to Jerusalem, they were sober raft I mean,
Speaker 1: they were on death store step. They didn't have anything
Speaker 1: going for them really, And then um, one of the
Speaker 1: crusaders had a vision that they were supposed to march
Speaker 1: barefoot around Jerusalem, surround the city, and then slowly work
Speaker 1: their way inward. And that's exactly what they did. Like
Speaker 1: it worked, it did, and like you were saying, I mean,
Speaker 1: all all heck brokely after that, it was quite a mess.
Speaker 1: But for all the successes, and again when he said
Speaker 1: term loosely, for all the successes at the crusade, there
Speaker 1: were some really awful tragedies to on the crusader's behalf.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's true. And if you look at one
Speaker 1: of the crusades, at least it's loosely defined as a crusade,
Speaker 1: because the pope certainly didn't um back, it's called the
Speaker 1: children's Crusade. I was actually taught this in my you know,
Speaker 1: Catholic school upbringing, and uh, my teacher would tell us
Speaker 1: of the story where these thousands and thousands of kids
Speaker 1: were loaded on on ships to cross the Mediterranean and
Speaker 1: go towards the Holy Land, um to hopefully um through
Speaker 1: their childish innocence, you know, convert the hearts of the
Speaker 1: Muslims and and win over the land uh for Christian forces.
Speaker 1: When actually, um, the children were basically sent to short
Speaker 1: death and either either shipwreck or sold into slavery. It
Speaker 1: was just a total disaster and all the kids ended
Speaker 1: up either dying or you know. Um. So that's actually
Speaker 1: a legend. But what actually happened is a little bit
Speaker 1: more fuzzy. Historians are not sure it happened at all,
Speaker 1: but it dates back to these two different kids who
Speaker 1: actually didn't know each other. Uh, Stephen in France and
Speaker 1: Nicholas in Germany. Both of them claimed separately to get visions,
Speaker 1: divine visions of Christ telling them you need to get
Speaker 1: control of the Holy Land and uh, and you need
Speaker 1: to go to the Holy Land and get it for
Speaker 1: the Christian forces. And Nicholas actually went to the Mediterranean
Speaker 1: and he believed that it would dry up by the
Speaker 1: time he got there. Um. Stephen in France went to
Speaker 1: the King of France saying he had a letter for him,
Speaker 1: and the King of France was less than impressed. He
Speaker 1: he was like, oh, go home, like come back when
Speaker 1: you're older, if you still believe this or whatever um
Speaker 1: and what happened to these kids, and there were probably
Speaker 1: thousands of kids that that were gathered up as a
Speaker 1: as a following for these two different Stephen and Nicholas.
Speaker 1: What happened to them was probably a tragedy. But it's
Speaker 1: important to note that, you know, the Church wasn't behind
Speaker 1: these and so if you call them a crusade, you
Speaker 1: have to take that with a grain of salt. And
Speaker 1: also actually historians even questioned whether these were children at
Speaker 1: all because the word used in in the research was
Speaker 1: actually poo air, which is Latin word for boy, but
Speaker 1: if you um look at the use back then, it
Speaker 1: could have been just a word for like a lower
Speaker 1: standing man. So we're not even sure about anything that happened.
Speaker 1: And that's what's so difficult about interpreting the Crusades and
Speaker 1: recording at for posterity all the events that took place.
Speaker 1: A lot of the tales that we now were handed
Speaker 1: down through oral history or or they were accounts that
Speaker 1: were you know, bias depending on someone's religion or political affiliation.
Speaker 1: And as we mentioned before, as the Crusades went on,
Speaker 1: they got more and more political, and one of the
Speaker 1: major reasons for this was that the land that the
Speaker 1: crusaders want, they weren't quite sure what to do with that,
Speaker 1: and the answer seeing pretty obvious. You know, you get
Speaker 1: back to the Byzantine Empire, that's who the Pope was
Speaker 1: aligned within the first place, you would think, I guess
Speaker 1: people felt that they were entitled to it. I mean,
Speaker 1: they endured that much to win it, and so betrayals
Speaker 1: behind that as well, like the crusading forces thought that
Speaker 1: the empire, the Byzantine Empire had trade them in some senses,
Speaker 1: so that at that point they felt like they were
Speaker 1: entitled the land themselves, and so lots of mix ups happening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so they became crusader states, but they didn't last very
Speaker 1: long because they didn't have any sort of strong centralized government.
Speaker 1: So they were eventually overtaken again by the Muslim forces.
Speaker 1: This happened over and over again, and eventually, like even
Speaker 1: even the Pope started saying like, if you go and
Speaker 1: fight the so called crusade, you're going to be excommunicated.
Speaker 1: And yet people still went on thinking God wills it,
Speaker 1: God wills it. It's crazy. And if you look at
Speaker 1: different artists renderings of the crusaders coming home. They're usually
Speaker 1: old men with long beards to look very bedraggled, their
Speaker 1: straddling horses that look like they're on their last leg literally,
Speaker 1: And to me, that's the perfect representation of the end
Speaker 1: of the Crusades. You know, we can come home and
Speaker 1: they're like, wait, what were we fighting for? I'm not
Speaker 1: quite sure what happened. And the fact that the beginning
Speaker 1: of the Crusades was based on a political decision and
Speaker 1: you know, somewhat a bit of lies and the first place,
Speaker 1: makes it really hard to figure out how it impacts
Speaker 1: history today. It even does, And that's actually the question
Speaker 1: I was thinking about for you was how does or
Speaker 1: held deeply the Crusades impact history. That's a tough question.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think some people might say that
Speaker 1: all the events of the Crusades have impacted relations between
Speaker 1: Europe and the Middle East and you know, power struggles
Speaker 1: between the Church and the state today and and a
Speaker 1: lot of historians say that that's fiction, that because the
Speaker 1: Crusades were so twisted politically, and because they took place
Speaker 1: during such a dark time in Europe that really there's
Speaker 1: sort of a blip on the radar. And I certainly
Speaker 1: didn't seem like that at the time. And maybe, you know,
Speaker 1: when we look back and we look today at people
Speaker 1: who are demanding, you know, reparations or at least an
Speaker 1: apology from the church, they seem like quite a big deal.
Speaker 1: But I think most historians agree that it's just a
Speaker 1: part of the past. It didn't really influence how things
Speaker 1: are today. It's crazy right now, it really is. But
Speaker 1: there's so much more, obviously, to learn about the Crusades.
Speaker 1: You can read about them on how stuff works dot com.
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