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The First Crusade, the true story
ekathimerini.com ^ | By Peter Frankopan

Posted on 02/27/2012 12:07:26 AM PST by DeaconBenjamin

Why was there a sudden need to recover the city where Jesus Christ lived and was crucified? The answer, writes Peter Frankopan, lies in the imperial capital of Constantinople.

On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II stood up at the Council of Clermont in central France to make an important announcement. Persians (by whom he meant the Turks), “a people rejected by God,” had risen up against the Christians in the East, he said. It was imperative for the knighthood of Europe to rush to defend their brethren. Take up arms, he urged, and defend the faithful who were suffering unspeakable deeds at the hands of the oppressors.

The story of the First Crusade has remained largely the same ever since. The expedition that eventually reached and captured Jerusalem in 1099 was conceived by the pope, who seized the chance to encourage men in Western Europe (above all France) to march to drive the Turks back from major Christian sites. It is a story that was commemorated in chronicles, poems and songs almost as soon as the Crusaders reached the Holy City; and it is a story that has been told for generations ever since.

And yet, underneath this tale of bravery, courage and devotion is the story of what really happened, a story that has been hidden in the mists: In the place of heroism is a tale of deception; in the place of honor is the breaking of some of the most sacred oaths in Christendom. At its heart lies the betrayal of the Byzantine Empire.

The speech made by the pope is so famous that it is rarely asked why he delivered it in the first place. Jerusalem, it should be remembered, fell to the Muslims many centuries before he gave his address. Why now, more than 450 years later, was there a sudden need to recover the city where Jesus Christ lived and was crucified?

The answer lies not in Rome or in Clermont, but in the imperial capital of Constantinople. In fact, it was in the heart of the Byzantine Empire that the expedition to the East was conceived; it was the emperor -- Alexios Komnenos -- who devised the campaign and took control of it; perhaps most importantly, it was specific strategic targets, set by the emperor, that the Crusade was designed to attack.

The reign of Alexios Komnenos is recorded by several texts, the most important of which is the remarkable “Alexiad,” written by his daughter Anna Komnene. It is an account written in high style, full of subtlety and hidden meanings -- many of which have remained hidden and unidentified since she wrote the text.

But her account has now finally been unraveled. What has emerged can be taken alongside other Byzantine, Arabic, Syriac and Armenian sources to present a startling and new picture of the empire on the eve of the First Crusade.

Rather than being in a healthy position, as has long been assumed, a series of disastrous events took place in and around Constantinople that led Byzantium to the brink of collapse. The emperor’s immediate family, rather than being a rock he could rely on, turned on him -- his own brothers and relatives joining a conspiracy to depose and if necessary murder him.

If that was not bad enough, major attacks in the Balkans by Serbian opportunists and by nomadic tribesmen increased pressure further still on the embattled ruler. And then in Asia Minor, the empire’s position simply collapsed.

Although the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 has long enjoyed notoriety for marking the turning point in the Turkish conquest of Anatolia, the moment when Byzantium lost control of the region, evidence from the texts and from lead seals now shows that the apparatus of government remained intact long after this military setback.

As a matter of fact, there are signs that the provincial administration was in good shape long after the supposed defining moment in the history of Asia Minor. Indeed, there were extensive -- and direct -- contacts between Alexios and the Turkish ruler of Baghdad, with much cooperation between the two until the latter’s death in 1092.

What happened next was catastrophe: Turkish warlords in Nicaea, Smyrna and elsewhere took matters into their own hands, and pushed the empire to the brink of collapse. The Aegean was devastated -- figures like St Christodoulos were forced to abandon their monasteries in Patmos because of incessant raids; suddenly Byzantium was left without even a foothold in the East; Constantinople itself was under threat.

Alexios took a bold decision. He turned to the pope, suggesting an end to the schism between the churches in return for military help. The pope did not need to be asked twice -- and headed straight for his home region, where he was confident of raising men.

To start with, Alexios’s gamble paid off. Nicaea was recovered first, followed by a series of other gains in Anatolia. But at Antioch he lost control. One of the leading figures, Bohemond, a handsome but devious fellow, realized that he could benefit personally from the Crusade and set about doing exactly that, insisting that he be given control of substantial territories, including Antioch.

This was not easy, for the knights had given solemn oaths to Alexios as they passed through Constantinople on their way east. The emperor had demanded that the senior figures swear vows to him over some of the most holy Christian relics -- the Holy Cross and the crown of thorns -- that they would hand over any gains they made to him. It was hard to see how these could be conveniently put to one side.

And yet they were. Although many did not agree, Bohemond managed to take Antioch for himself, declaring boldly that his oath was invalid. He then promptly wrote to the pope, accusing Alexios of not doing enough to help the Crusade and of actively conspiring against the best interests of the Christian knights. It was the first salvo of what quickly became a vicious -- and highly effective -- campaign to destroy the reputation of Alexios and in fact of the Byzantine Empire in Western Europe. Neither recovered.

It also resulted in the real origins of the Crusade being concealed. Rather than Alexios and Byzantium being at the heart of the story, contemporary accounts made sure that the focus remained elsewhere -- on the pope and on those brave knights who set off for Jerusalem.

History, they say, is written by the winners. In the case of the First Crusade, it has taken nearly a millennium to show just how true this is. But finally the time has come for Alexios Komnenos to step out of the shadows.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: catholics; christians; churchhistory; crusades; history; worldhistory
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Christians in the Middle East could use a Pope Urban II these days...


21 posted on 02/27/2012 6:58:04 AM PST by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

“[A]n account written in high style, full of subtlety and hidden meanings — many of which have remained hidden and unidentified since she wrote the text” is open to divergent interpretations. And I don’t think Byzantium is considered to have been in “a healthy position” at this time either. Where does the author think the phrase “Byzantine” politics came from? Fratricidal brothers and plots upon plots are the modern image of Byzantium.

But it is important to see that even after the schism, the East and West Churches could still work together, even if the alliance was undermined from within by worldly ambition.


22 posted on 02/27/2012 7:09:20 AM PST by heartwood
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To: LibFreeUSA; Library Lady
"Would it possible to imagine Jesus Christ leading the Crusades"

The Jeaus bloodline or Davidic bloodline. All the Royal Houses of Europe are of the bloodline.

Back then Primo Genitur had created a large number of Royals who had titles but were landless.They thought that because of their bloodlines they had claims to these lands thru-out the Levant.

Commoners participated because the Pope promised them entry into heaven.

Even today most people consider Steve Runciman's 3volume history of the Crusades to be the authority on the Crusades. The first volume covers the first Crusade and ends with Templers being pushed into the sea.

23 posted on 02/27/2012 7:39:16 AM PST by Ben Ficklin
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To: mountainlion
Charles Martel or Charles the Hammer the great grandfather of Charlemagne was the first to COMPETENTLY defend WESTERN Europe from the invading Muslims.

Spain and southern France had been lost through incompetent defense.

24 posted on 02/27/2012 9:34:33 AM PST by DeaconBenjamin (A trillion here, a trillion there, soon you're NOT talking real money)
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To: U-238

I have visited 3 Crusader sites but didn’t need to go to the Middle East to do so: Karytaina and Chlemoutsi in Greece (built by the Franks after they took Greece from the Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade) and Zadar in Croatia (attacked by the Fourth Crusade at the behest of the Venetians although it was ruled by a Christian ruler, the king of Hungary).


25 posted on 02/27/2012 1:33:44 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: All

I think we are already in a modern day Crusades. The Muslims fired their first shot on September 11th. Its a modern day Christendom versus Moslem. This time instead of spears it will be bullets and bombs.


26 posted on 02/27/2012 4:09:40 PM PST by U-238
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To: All

To quote the “War Scroll”, “The Sons of Light of Against the Sons of Darkness”. The Sons of Light(Chirstendom) and the Sons of Darkness(Muslim).


27 posted on 02/27/2012 4:15:27 PM PST by U-238
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To: DeaconBenjamin
The leaders of the Crusades cited that the promised aide never came - this was especially apparent after the siege of Antioch when help in terms of food would have been especially appropriate.

Stephen of Bloise fled the siege, to the shame of his wife - the daughter of William the Conqueror. He returned and hoped to do better. The letters between him and his wife are a historic treasure.

William the Carpenter - called that because of the way he used an axe to cleave flesh fled also - and Tancred (later Prince of Galilee) the cousin of Bohemund was sent to bring him back.

The Doge of Venice had the last laugh on Constantinople and the Crusade impulse they had unleashed.

28 posted on 02/27/2012 4:30:20 PM PST by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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To: Houghton M.
Sorry but Fulcher of Chartres says it happened and he would know since he was there.

Fulk of Chartres: The Capture of Jerusalem, 1099

29 posted on 02/27/2012 5:21:22 PM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: DeaconBenjamin; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; ...

Thanks DeaconBenjamin, and from the FRchives: the first crusade the true story site:freerepublic.com
Google

30 posted on 02/29/2012 5:28:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this FReepathon!)
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To: Timber Rattler

Sorry. The first rule of historical research is NOT to take any source uncritically.

You flunked History 101.


31 posted on 03/01/2012 11:54:21 AM PST by Houghton M.
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To: Timber Rattler

You also flunk FReeper 101. We don’t take things uncritically here. Ask Dan Rather.


32 posted on 03/01/2012 11:55:06 AM PST by Houghton M.
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To: Houghton M.
And you just flunked Basic History 101 since it's a well known documented fact that the Crusaders' Sack of Jerusalem occurred in 1099. Fulcher of Chartres is a far cry from Dan Rather and his account of the massacre there has been proven beyond a doubt. He was part of the crusading army and had no reason to make the story up, especially since it was his friends doing the killing and looting. And there are other contemporary sources that confirm the massacre.

Just because you want to believe that the crusaders behaved nobly at the climax of the First Crusade and that the massacre is a myth does not mean that it is so.

And I suppose that you think that the crusaders' sack of Christian Constantinople in 1204 never happened either.

33 posted on 03/01/2012 12:27:48 PM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: Timber Rattler

You just flunked reading 101. I said the “massacre” was greatly exaggerated. That the blood did not flow in the streets. That’s the current consensus of historians. I read them. There was a sack. Not as Fulcher described it. If you take every chronicler as telling the literal truth with no critical analysis at all
you
are
a
dupe.


34 posted on 03/01/2012 8:01:16 PM PST by Houghton M.
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To: Houghton M.
I said the “massacre” was greatly exaggerated.

And you would still be wrong.

There was a sack. Not as Fulcher described it.

Oh, I guess the fact that he was there and saw it first hand doesn't lend any credibility to his account.

Are you dense or just willfully ignorant.

35 posted on 03/01/2012 9:32:16 PM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: Timber Rattler

Any intelligent person knows that eyewitness accounts can vary. Historians’ rule no. 1 is to evaluate all sources critically.

Calling me names doesn’t change the fact that you are the one violating the basic FR principle: evaluate things critically.

All I said is that most historians do not take Fulcher literally. They have discovered Muslim eyewitness sources that contradict him.

They are just being historians. You are being obstinate.


36 posted on 03/03/2012 2:45:51 PM PST by Houghton M.
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To: Houghton M.
Calling me names doesn’t change the fact that you are the one violating the basic FR principle: evaluate things critically.

In post #34, you were the one who called me a dupe, pal.

All I said is that most historians do not take Fulcher literally. They have discovered Muslim eyewitness sources that contradict him.

Complete BS. Please point out these new Muslim sources that paint the Crusaders as nice guys after they captured Jerusalem.

And you did not answer my question about the sack of Constantinople, which undermines your whole silly assertion.

37 posted on 03/04/2012 3:49:39 AM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: Timber Rattler

Dupe is not a name. It describes behavior.


38 posted on 03/04/2012 6:07:27 PM PST by Houghton M.
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To: Timber Rattler

Read Jonathan Riley Smith, “Rethinking the Crusades,” First Things, 101 (March 2000, 20-23 (www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0003/opinion/riley-smith.html)

and the half-dozen books he’s written. Then read Thomas Madden’s half-dozen books. You’ll find contemporary Muslim accounts that report that about 1/3 the number killed in the sack as compared to accounts written long after the events. You’ll find all the citations in these two historians’ books. They are two of the world’s leading crusade experts.

But your mind is made up. Enjoy your tunnel.


39 posted on 03/04/2012 6:12:36 PM PST by Houghton M.
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