The crusades: Frankish perspective
By: Alegría Bermeo Alejandra Dueñas Martina Sáenz 1
Index: Who were the franks? What is the significance of Jerusalem to the franks?
What caused the crusades?
What was the impact of the crusades in the franks?
What were the major events that impacted the franks?
What is the perception of other groups?
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Alegria Bermeo Who were the Franks? Franks were a group of people of great importance in Europe. This group of people lived in Gaul and were part of the Germanic tribes which were characterized because of its decentralization, pagan religion, speaking different languages, and don’t having a proper education. But afterwards, one of the leaders of the Germanic tribes named Clovis which was part of the Merovingian Dynasty started making a process of change in the tribes uniting all of them and changing the religion to Christianity. The Franks didn’t know much about Islam or the Muslim culture when CharlesMartel, the first leader of the Carolingian Dynasty, face them on the battle of tours and could actually defeat them stopping the stop of the Islam culture in Europe and allowed Christianity to spread. Afterwards, other leaders of this dynasty such as Pepin the Short which gave land to the church and shifted the loyalty from the Byzantines to the Franks making the empire spread. Also, another leader named Charlemagne did great achievements on the Franks Empire such as uniting and expanding the empire, investing in public good and education, making equal power for everybody at the empire, and starting the Holy Roman Empire. The Franks had a period of time of a lot of Golden Ages and good things. As the Franks had Golden Ages, they also suffered a decline and Dark Ages. This happened when the sons of Louis the Pious, after he died, divide the empire into the 3 parts one for each son. The result of this was that there were a lot of invasions so they couldn’t defend their empire anymore. So, system called feudalism was created. This was a system of exchange in which local communities had self-sufficiency. In each of this communities existed a local pope, king, vassals, knights, peasants and serfs. By making this system, even though they passed thru difficult times, eventually the invasions stopped and system became efficient. After years passed and the Franks were established, they received a letter from the Byzantines. In this letter the Byzantines explained that they needed help and protection from them, otherwise the Muslims will attack them and their empire will end. Therefore, a decision was made by the Franks. Pope Urban II decided to protect the Byzantines and he tells all the people that the persons that will go to war, as a result will reach salvation. This way most of the people in the empire went to war starting the period of time known as the Crusades.
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Martina Saenz What is the significance of Jerusalem to the Franks?
The meaning of jerusalem to the Europeans (franks) is very connected to their religion. Part of there religion is Jesus and Jesus Christ take a great part in there. Jerusalem was the place were Jesus was bought as a child. It also was the place were Jesus was arrest , has his trial, his crucifixion, dead, resurrection and ascension. Europeans view jerualem as a holy city were there religion base was created. For Christians the Connection of Jerusalem was really and let them connect to god. In the medieval times Christians think that Jerusalem was the center city in the entire world because is recognize like a holy city.
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Alejandra DueĂąas What caused the Crusades?
The Crusades were a Holy War against the Muslims to conquer Jerusalem. In this war, many different religions fought against to obtain the Holy lands, which was Jerusalem. The Franks, was one powerful group that fought against the Muslims, in order to help their Christians brothers, The Byzantine Empire. From their perspective, the Crusades were caused by religious, social and economic problems. This started because Alexios I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantines, wrote a letter to Pope Urban II asking for help because the Muslims were attacking them. Pope Urban II told a speech to his people and convinced them to fight against the Muslims. Pope Urban II wanted to fight and help the Byzantines so he could have power over the Eastern Orthodox Church and by doing this he would join the two churches under the power of the Pope. So mainly, the Crusades were caused by religious forces to obtain power in the name of God. The crusades were caused by economic and social problems as well. The Byzantines couldn’t afford fighting alone against the Muslims, because the Muslims were too powerful so they asked for help to the Franks. Pope Urban II, agreed to fight because after defeating the Muslims, they were going to be able to trade and have better commerce. Finally, the crusades were caused also by social problems because the Byzantines and the Franks were two different empires that had different point of views but they had a common enemy, and after defeating the Muslims, the Pope, wanted to join the two Churches under his power. In conclusion, the causes of the Crusades were a combination of religious, economic and social forces.
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Alegria Bermeo What was the impact of the crusades in the Franks? The crusades had many different impacts on the Franks. One of the many impacts was in its culture. An example of this is in the armors when they used the Muslims idea of overlaying it with linen stair coats in order to avoid it burning in the sun. Also, they started copying their clothing style in the way that women now used long tunics, and both men and women used fur in winter just like the Muslims. Another impact it had on the Franks was in their own health and hygiene. After the crusades, the Franks copied the pleasure of taking baths. Now Europeans bathed more often and created bath halls. Also, they changed their diet now having a habit of eating exotic foods such as quinces, figs, peaches, plums, almonds, and more. Also, another impact it had was of the Muslims physicians. They took to Europe the ideal of having a good diet and leaving on a clean environment which help them have a better health. Furthermore, they used their techniques in medicine because they were much more improved in things such surgery, anesthetics, drugs and ointments which were made of different plants and minerals. On the other hand, they also took habit of always practicing their fighting skills, so the knights in Europe were always hunting or doing tournaments to practice. One more impact it had was on its trading because even though they weren’t successful on the Crusades, Europeans were able to penetrate on commercial markets In conclusion, these are all the big impacts the Crusades had on the Franks and how it benefits it.
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Alejandra Due単as What were the major events that impacted your group?
Many events impacted the Franks during and after the Crusades. The major event that impacted the Franks was that in the First Crusade they were able to conquer the Holy lands which was Jerusalem. This was very important because they conquer the land were Jesus died. The other major event that impacted the Franks was that the Muslims in the Third Crusade took Jerusalem away. Also, an impact it had was in its trading because in one of the crusades they were able to make more trading and they created commercial markets. During the 200 years of the Crusades there were many events like negotiations, conquers and many things.
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Martina Saenz What are the perceptions of other groups? The franks saw the other groups in different forms most of all negative components on the conquest of Constantinople. In the medieval times Christianity was the dominant religion. The Catholic Church not only has the higher moral authority, but also bishops govern the Christians states. Christians developed out Judaism in the Middle East. The attitude Christians has with Jews was ambivalent that was forcing all the Jews to convert to Christianity or let them practice other religion under many restrictions in the society as a constant reminder that Christians are superior. Christians saw the Byzantines as weak, effeminate, manipulate and treacherous during the crusades there was a little love lost between Christendom.
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