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Post by noons on May 19, 2009 2:46:54 GMT
I do intend to do my own research on this as well, but possibly someone here can answer this. Certainly religious issues played a huge role in the Crusades to the Middle East. But is there also evidence that European leaders at the time believed that they would be overrun by Muslim empires? If that was true, then they (the Europeans) were almost right several times.
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Post by timoneill on May 19, 2009 10:42:22 GMT
But is there also evidence that European leaders at the time believed that they would be overrun by Muslim empires? None that I can think of. The main motivation was to free Christian holy places that had been captured centuries before, not some defensive war against possible Islamic encroachment on Europe.
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Post by humphreyclarke on May 19, 2009 11:42:13 GMT
Call me a cynic but I would also, as with the case of someone like Bohemond I, cite more wordly concerns as well. In Bohemond's case it was the lure of being able to carve out an eastern principality although presumably he also had genuine religious motivations as well.
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Post by James Hannam on May 19, 2009 13:03:29 GMT
None that I can think of. The main motivation was to free Christian holy places that had been captured centuries before, not some defensive war against possible Islamic encroachment on Europe. I would note, however, that the request from Alexis for help from the West was explicitly because he needed additional military resources to defend the Byzantine Empire from encroaching Turkish advance. So from the Byzantine point of view the crusades were intended as defensive and probably did help the Byzantines prior to the fourth crusade. Best wishes James
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