Editing First Crusade (section)

==Historical context==
Christian and Muslim states had been in conflict since the latter's founding in the 7th century. During the century following the death of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] in 632, Muslim forces [[Jerusalem#Early Muslim period|captured Jerusalem]] and the [[Levant]], [[North Africa]], and most of the [[Iberian Peninsula]], all of which had previously been under Christian rule. By the 11th century, Christians were gradually reversing Islamic control of Iberia through the ''[[Reconquista]]'', but their ties to the Holy Land had deteriorated. Muslim authorities in the Levant often enforced harsh rules against any overt expressions of the Christian faith.{{Sfn|Riley-Smith|1998|pp=37–38|loc=Holy Sepulcre, Holy War}}

The First Crusade was the response of the Christian world to the expansion of Islam, through the Fatimids and Seljuks, into the Holy Land and Byzantium. In Western Europe, Jerusalem was increasingly seen as worthy of penitential [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimages]]. While the Seljuk hold on Jerusalem was weak (the group later lost the city to the Fatimids), returning pilgrims reported difficulties and the oppression of Christians. The Byzantine need for military support coincided with an increase in the willingness of the western European warrior class to accept papal military command.{{sfn|Riley-Smith|2005|pp=10–12|loc=The Birth of the Crusading Movement}}

===Situation in Europe===
By the 11th century, the population of Europe had increased greatly as technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish. The Catholic Church had become a dominant influence on Western civilization. Society was organized by [[manorialism]] and [[feudalism]], political structures whereby knights and other nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands and manors.<ref>[[Sidney Painter|Painter, Sidney]] (1969). "[http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0001/reference/history.crusone.i0016.pdf Western Europe on the Eve of the Crusades] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104204618/http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0001/reference/history.crusone.i0016.pdf |date=4 January 2023}}". In Setton, K., ''A History of the Crusades: Volume I''. pp. 3–30.</ref>

In the period from 1050 until 1080, the [[Gregorian Reform]] movement developed increasingly more assertive policies, eager to increase its power and influence. This prompted conflict with eastern Christians rooted in the doctrine of [[papal supremacy]]. The Eastern church viewed the pope as only one of the [[five patriarchs]] of the Church, alongside the patriarchates of [[Patriarch of Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[Patriarch of Antioch|Antioch]], [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Constantinople]] and [[Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]]. In 1054 differences in custom, creed and practice spurred [[Pope Leo IX]] to send a legation to Patriarch [[Michael I Cerularius]] of Constantinople, which ended in mutual excommunication and an [[East–West Schism]].<ref>Adrian Fortescue (1912). "[[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/The Eastern Schism|The Eastern Schism]]". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. '''13.''' New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref>

Early Christians were used to the employment of violence for communal purposes. A Christian theology of war inevitably evolved from the point when Roman citizenship and Christianity became linked. Citizens were required to fight against the empire's enemies. Dating from the works of the 4th-century theologian [[Augustine of Hippo]], a doctrine of [[Religious war#Christianity|holy war]] developed. Augustine wrote that aggressive war was sinful, but war could be justified if proclaimed by a legitimate authority such as a king or bishop, it was defensive or for the recovery of lands, and it did not involve excessive violence. The breakdown of the [[Carolingian Empire]] in Western Europe created a warrior caste who now had little to do but fight amongst themselves. Violent acts were commonly used for dispute resolution, and the papacy attempted to mitigate it.{{sfn|Asbridge|2012|pp=14–15|loc=Warfare and Violence in Latin Europe}}

[[Pope Alexander II]] developed recruitment systems via oaths for military resourcing that [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]] further extended across Europe. These were deployed by the Church in the Christian conflicts with Muslims in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and for the [[Norman conquest of Sicily]]. Gregory&nbsp;VII went further in 1074, planning a display of military power to reinforce the principle of papal sovereignty in a holy war supporting Byzantium against the Seljuks, but was unable to build support for this. Theologian [[Anselm of Lucca]] took the decisive step towards an authentic crusader ideology, stating that fighting for legitimate purposes could result in the remission of sins.{{sfn|Runciman|1951|pp=83–92|loc=Holy Peace and Holy War}}

[[File:Map of the Iberian Peninsula (1060).svg|thumb|upright=1.6|alt=map of Iberia 1060|Christian and Muslim holdings in Iberia in 1060]]<!-- note - the map is deliberately enlarged as per MOS:IMGSIZE -->
On the Iberian Peninsula, there was no significant Christian polity. The Christian realms of [[Kingdom of León|León]], [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]] and [[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]] lacked a common identity and shared history based on tribe or ethnicity so they frequently united and divided during the 11th and 12th centuries. Although small, all developed an aristocratic military technique and, in 1031, the disintegration of the [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] in southern Spain created the opportunity for the territorial gains that later became known as the ''[[Reconquista]]''. In 1063, [[William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine|William VIII of Aquitaine]] led a combined force of French, [[Aragon]]ese and [[wikt:Catalans|Catalan]] knights in the [[Crusade of Barbastro|Siege of Barbastro]], taking the city that had been in Muslim hands since the year 711. This had the full support of Alexander II, and a truce was declared in Catalonia with indulgences granted to the participants. It was a holy war but differed from the First Crusade in that there was no pilgrimage, no vow, and no formal authorisation by the church.{{sfn|Lock|2006|pp=205–213|loc=Crusades in the Iberian Peninsula}} Shortly before the First Crusade, Urban II had encouraged the Iberian Christians to take [[Tarragona]], using much of the same symbolism and rhetoric that was later used to preach the crusade to the people of Europe.{{sfn|Riley-Smith|2005|pp=4–7|loc=A war of liberation}}

The [[Italo-Normans]] were successful in seizing much of Southern Italy and Sicily from the Byzantines and North African Arabs in the decades before the First Crusade.{{sfn|Asbridge|2012|pp=5–8|loc=Western Europe in the Eleventh Century}} This brought them into conflict with the papacy leading to a campaign against them by [[Pope Leo IX]] who they defeated at the [[Battle of Civitate]]. Nevertheless, when they invaded Muslim Sicily in 1059, they did so under the papal banner ''[[Gonfalone of the Church|Invexillum sancti Petrior]]'', or banner of St. Peter.{{sfn|Lock|2006|pp=306–308|loc=The Proto-Crusades, or the Prehistory of Crusading}} [[Robert Guiscard]] captured the Byzantine city of [[Bari]] in 1071 and campaigned along the Eastern [[Adriatic]] coast around [[Dyrrachium]] in 1081 and 1085.{{sfn|Tyerman|2019|p=46|loc=The Mediterranean Crisis and the Background to the First Crusade}}

===Situation in the East===
{{Main|Byzantine–Seljuk wars}}

[[File:Map of the Byzantine Empire (867-1081).svg|thumb|alt=map of the Byzantine Empire (9–11th centuries)|upright=1.6 |The Byzantine Empire (867–1081)]]
Since its founding, the Byzantine Empire was a historic centre of wealth, culture and military power.<ref>Papayianni, Aphrodite (2006). "Byzantine Empire". In ''The Crusades – An Encyclopedia''. pp. 188–196.</ref> Under [[Basil II]], the territorial recovery of the empire reached its furthest extent in 1025. The Empire's frontiers stretched east to Iran, Bulgaria and much of southern Italy were under control, and piracy in the Mediterranean Sea had been suppressed. Relations with the Empire's Islamic neighbours were no more quarrelsome than relations with the [[Slavs]] or Western Christians. [[Italo-Normans|Normans]] in Italy; [[Pechenegs]], [[Serbs]] and [[Cumans]] to the north; and Seljuk Turks in the east all competed with the Empire, and to meet these challenges the emperors recruited mercenaries, even on occasion from their enemies.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2017|pp=120–141|loc=Basil II (976–1025)}}
 
The Islamic world also experienced great success since its foundation in the 7th century, with major changes to come.<ref>[[H. A. R. Gibb|Gibb, Hamilton A. R.]] (1969). "[http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0001/reference/history.crusone.i0018.pdf The Caliphate and the Arab States] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601084159/http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0001/reference/history.crusone.i0018.pdf |date=1 June 2023 }}". In Setton, K., ''A History of the Crusades: Volume I''. pp. 81–98.</ref> The first waves of [[Turkic migration]] into the Middle East enmeshed Arab and Turkic history from the 9th{{nbsp}}century. The status quo in Western Asia was challenged by later waves of Turkish migration, particularly the arrival of the [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk Turks]] in the 10th{{nbsp}}century.{{sfn|Peacock|2015|pp=20–71|loc=The Rise of the Seljuks, c. 965 –1092}} These were a minor ruling clan from Transoxania. They converted to Islam and migrated to Iran to seek their fortune. In the following two decades they conquered Iran, Iraq and the Near East. The Seljuks and their followers were Sunni Muslims, which led to conflict in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and Syria with the Shi'ite [[Fatimid Caliphate]]. 

[[File:Varqa fighting on horseback.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Anatolian Seljuk horseman, in ''[[Varka and Golshah]]'', mid-13th century miniature (detail), [[Konya]], Sultanate of Rum.<ref>These knights were equipped with long swords and bows, and for protection used large shields ("kite-shields"), lamellar armour and ''[[hauberk]]'' mail {{cite book |last1=Gorelik |first1=Michael |title=Oriental Armour of the Near and Middle East from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Centuries as Shown in Works of Art (in Islamic Arms and Armour) |date=1979 |publisher=Robert Elgood |page=Fig.38 |location=London |isbn=978-0859674706 |url=http://warfare.6te.net/Gorelik-Oriental_Armour.htm}}</ref><ref name="AAOS">{{cite journal |last1=Sabuhi |first1=Ahmadov Ahmad oglu |title=The miniatures of the manuscript "Varka and Gulshah" as a source for the study of weapons of XII–XIII centuries in Azerbaijan |journal=Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences |date=July–August 2015|issue=7–8 |pages=14–16 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305236939}}</ref>]] The Seljuks were nomads, Turkish-speaking, and occasionally shamanistic, unlike their sedentary, Arabic-speaking subjects.{{sfn|Cahen|1968|pp=66–72|loc=The First Incursions before 1071}} This was a difference that weakened power structures when combined with the Seljuks' habitual governance of territory based on political preferment and competition between independent princes rather than geography. [[Romanos IV Diogenes]] attempted to suppress the Seljuks' sporadic raiding, but was defeated at the [[Battle of Manzikert]] in 1071, the only time in history that a Byzantine emperor became the prisoner of a Muslim commander. The battle was a stinging setback that presaged notable Seljuk gains, and contributed to the call for the First Crusade.{{sfn|Asbridge|2012|pp=27–28|loc=Islam and Christian Europe on the eve of the Crusades}} Key cities such as [[Nicaea#Byzantine period|Nicaea]] and [[Antioch#Arab conquest and Byzantine reconquest|Antioch]] were lost in 1081 and 1086 respectively, cities that were especially famous in the West due to their historical significance and would later also be targets of reconquest by the crusader armies.<ref>Cahen (1969). "[http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0001/reference/history.crusone.i0020.pdf The Turkish Invasion: The Selchükids] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025035747/http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/HistCrus/0001/0001/reference/history.crusone.i0020.pdf |date=25 October 2022 }}." In Setton, K., ''A History of the Crusades: Volume I.'' pp. 99–132.</ref>

From 1092, the status quo in the Middle East disintegrated following the death of the effective ruler of the Seljuk Empire, [[Nizam al-Mulk]]. This was closely followed by the deaths of the Seljuk sultan [[Malik-Shah I|Malik-Shah]] and the Fatimid caliph [[al-Mustansir Billah]]. Wracked by confusion and division, the Islamic world disregarded the world beyond, so that, when the First Crusade arrived, it came as a surprise. Malik-Shah was succeeded in the Anatolian [[Sultanate of Rum|Sultanate of Rûm]] by [[Kilij Arslan I|Kilij Arslan]], and in Syria by his brother [[Tutush I]] who started a civil war against [[Berkyaruq]] to become sultan himself. When Tutush was killed in 1095, his sons [[Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan|Ridwan]] and [[Duqaq (Seljuk ruler of Damascus)|Duqaq]] inherited [[Aleppo#Seljuq and Ayyubid periods|Aleppo]] and [[Damascus#Seljuq and Ayyubid periods|Damascus]], respectively, further dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other, as well as [[Kerbogha]], the [[List of rulers of Mosul#Seljuk Atabegs|atabeg of Mosul]]. Egypt and much of Palestine were controlled by the Fatimids. The Fatimids, under the nominal rule of caliph [[al-Musta'li]] but actually controlled by vizier [[al-Afdal Shahanshah]], lost Jerusalem to the Seljuks in 1073 but succeeded in recapturing the city in 1098 from the [[Artuqids]], a smaller Turkish tribe associated with the Seljuks, just before the arrival of the crusaders.{{sfn|Peacock|2015|pp=72–123|loc=The Great Seljuk Empire and the Sultanate of Iraq, 1092–1194}}

===Persecution of Christians===
According to historian [[Jonathan Riley-Smith]] and [[Rodney Stark]], Muslim authorities in the Holy Land often enforced harsh rules "against any open expressions of the Christian faith":<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQ1DnLPPXGIC|page=37-38 |title=The First Crusaders, 1095-1131 |isbn=978-0-521-64603-1 |last1=Riley-Smith |first1=Jonathan |date=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtI90AEACAAJ|title=A history of the crusades, volume 1: the first hundred years|date=1969 |page=78|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-299-06670-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.9783/9781512818642-012/html?lang=en|title=the pilgrimages to palestine before 1095|chapter=D. The Pilgrimages to Palestine before 1095 |date=11 November 2016 |pages=68–80 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |doi=10.9783/9781512818642-012 |isbn=978-1-5128-1864-2 |last1=Runciman |first1=Steven }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0E-_EAAAQBAJ|title=How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity|date=11 July 2023 |page=102|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-68451-622-3 }}</ref>
{{quote|In 1026 Richard of Saint-Vanne was stoned to death after he was seen saying Mass. Muslim officials also ignored the constant robberies and massacres of Christian pilgrims, such as an incident in 1064 in which Muslims ambushed four German bishops and a party of several thousand pilgrims as they entered the Holy Land, slaughtering two-thirds of them}}

The [[Persecution of Christians#Crusades|persecution of Christians]] became even worse after the Seljuk Turks invasion. Villages occupied by Turks along the route to Jerusalem began exacting tolls on Christian pilgrims. In principle, the Seljuks allowed pilgrims access to Jerusalem, but they often imposed huge tariffs and condoned local attacks. Many pilgrims were kidnapped and sold into slavery while others were tortured. Soon only large, well-armed groups would dare to attempt a pilgrimage, and even so, many died and many more turned back. The pilgrims that survived these extremely dangerous journeys, “returned to the West weary and impoverished, with a dreadful tale to tell.” News of these deadly attacks on pilgrims as well as the persecution of the native Eastern Christians caused anger in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IiwTAQAAIAAJ |title=A History of the Crusades |date=3 December 1987 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-34770-9 |page=1:79}}</ref>

News of these persecutions reached European Christians in the West in the few years after the [[Battle of Manzikert]]. A Frankish eyewitness says: "Far and wide they [Muslim Turks] ravaged cities and castles together with their settlements. Churches were razed down to the ground. Of the clergyman and monks whom they captured, some were slaughtered while others were with unspeakable wickedness given up, priests and all, to their dire dominion and nuns—alas for the sorrow of it!—were subjected to their lusts."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frankopan |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-xIMAEACAAJ |title=The First Crusade: The Call from the East |publisher=Vintage |year=2013 |isbn=9780099555032 |pages=59–60}}</ref> It was in this climate that the Byzantine emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos]] wrote a letter to [[Robert II, Count of Flanders|Robert II of Flanders]] saying:
{{blockquote|The holy places are desecrated and destroyed in countless ways. Noble matrons and their daughters, robbed of everything, are violated one after another, like animals. Some [of their attackers] shamelessly place virgins in front of their own mothers and force them to sing wicked and obscene songs until they have finished having their ways with them... men of every age and description, boys, youths, old men, nobles, peasants and what is worse still and yet more distressing, clerics and monks and woe of unprecedented woes, even bishops are defiled with the sin of sodomy and it is now trumpeted abroad that one bishop has succumbed to this abominable sin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frankopan |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-xIMAEACAAJ |title=The First Crusade: The Call from the East |publisher=Vintage |year=2013 |isbn=9780099555032 |page=61}}</ref>}}

The emperor warned that if Constantinople fell to the Turks, not only would thousands more Christians be tortured, raped and murdered, but “the most holy relics of the Saviour,” gathered over the centuries, would be lost. “Therefore in the name of God... we implore you to bring this city all the faithful soldiers of Christ... in your coming you will find your reward in heaven, and if you do not come, God will condemn you.”<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JUyPcvrYXUC |title=The Dream and the Tomb: A History of the Crusades |date=1984 |page=28-29|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8128-2945-7 }}</ref>