The Crusades and the Knights Templar



[ and Number]

[Date Submitted]

The Crusades and the Knights Templar

Introduction

In the modern world, the term 'crusade' has a major social, cultural, religious and political impact on Christian States as well as modern society. There were several different impacts of Crusades over Christians across the world. During the eleventh century, Christians engaged Muslims in a number of bloody wars in order to save their Holy Land. After the spread of Islam in Arabia, Muslims expanded their religion across different continents. Muslim armies expanded their terrories by conquering Christian lands and this created a wide range of problems for the people living on these lands. This was the main reason why crusades were launched with the aim of slowing down the advance of Islam into Europe soon after the conquest of Jerusalem and Byzantine Empire and its conversion into a Muslim state (Madden, 1999). Christian states united out of fear of the growing influence of Muslims and, for this purpose, Popes declared war against Christians. These military offensives by the Christians were known as Crusades.

These holy wars or Crusades continued for many years and had a major impact on the world. Some people consider it as the main reason for the discovery of America while others identify it as the reason for the cause for taxation system in Europe. There are different perceptions associated with Crusades in the modern world. Therefore, it is always important to understand the need and importance of crusades as well as crusaders. Crusades that began with the Popes were more organized in their operations. For example, they were organized according to different religious and Knightly orders. Some of the most feared among them were the Templars, the Teutonic Knights, the Hospitallers and the Knights of Saint Lazarus (Barber, 1994).

Thesis Statement

Crusades were the holy wars that had a major impact on the geopolitics of the world while Crusaders were compelled to volunteer and take up the cross to save their Holy land from Muslims.

Discussion

What were the Crusades?

Crusades were the holy wars and the military campaigns that were started by the Christians or the followers of the cross (Folda, 2005). These wars were mainly started by Christians of Europeans States against the invading armies of Muslims. Hence, the religious element of crusades is the most important factor that distinguishes it from war. There were various definitions for crusades a number of different perceptions and points of view were closely associated with them. The main reason is the participation and direct involvement of Popes in the conflict - “the war was authorized by the pope as vicar of Christ” (Riley-Smith, 2011).

As defined by Riley-Smith, “Crusades were penitential war pilgrimages that were fought not only in the Levant and throughout the eastern Mediterranean region, but also along the Baltic shoreline, in North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Poland, Hungary and the Balkans, and even within Western Europe (Riley-Smith, 2011, p.9). In the beginning, these wars were mainly against the Muslims. However, with the passage of time, Crusades were ...