ByzantiumThe Turkish

Threatand

The Crusades

Byzantine Empire in 650

Byzantine Empire in 717

Rus of Kiev converted to Byzantine Christianity in 988.

1015

Basil II, “The Bulgur Slayer” (958-1025)

Byzantine Empire in 1025

The Seljuk Turks

• Convert to Islam beginning in early 900s.

• One of many Turkic peoples

• Adopted Persian culture

• Captured Baghdad in 1055

• Conquered Damascus from Fatimids in 1079.

• Defeat Byzantines in 1071 and . . .

• Created Seljuk sultanate throughout Middle East except for Egypt.

The Turks

The Crusades

The Crusades• Alexios I asks Pope Urban II for aid.

• 1st - 1096 – Jerusalem taken

• 2nd – 1145– Saladin re-takes Jerusalem, 1187

• 3rd - 1189• 4th - 1202• 5th - 1217• 6th - 1128• 7th - 1248• 8th - 1270

Alexios I Komnenos asks Pope Urban II for help against the Turks in 1095.

“All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins.”

Why the Crusades?

• Synod of Charroux, 989: “Peace of God”– peasants and clergy immune from violence– added later• women and children• merchants

• Council of Toulouges, 1027: “Truce of God”– No warfare on certain days during the year

"Know, O King, that I am King of Kings, and superior to all, who are under the sky. You are now permitted to greet me, on my arrival, and to receive me with magnificence, as befits my nobility.“

- Hugh I of Vermandois (son of Henry I of France and Ann of Kiev) to Alexius I Comnenus

Trade with the East

• Two major trade routes: – the Silk Road East Africa– East Africa to India.

• Christians not allowed east of the Mediterranean.

• Limited Indian Ocean trade to Muslims, Jews, and Indians.

• Expanded trade led to spread of bubonic plague outbreak of 1346.