Nathan W. Bingham

They began to be more interested in traveling to holy sites. They began to become convinced that this was a way to become more holy, to go to holy places. And one of the places the really hardy wanted to go to was Jerusalem, to see the place where Jesus had died and where Jesus had been raised from the dead. And the really hardy, because it was a long and difficult trip, expensive trip,

They began to be more interested in traveling to holy sites. They began to become convinced that this was a way to become more holy, to go to holy places. And one of the places the really hardy wanted to go to was Jerusalem, to see the place where Jesus had died and where Jesus had been raised from the dead. And the really hardy, because it was a long and difficult trip, expensive trip,

The hardy knew that there was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem built by Constantine's mother based on a vision that she had where the crucifixion had taken place. And they wanted to see those holy sites. They believed it would be a blessing. It would make them more spiritual to be physically near to these holy sites. And so they wanted to travel there.

The hardy knew that there was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem built by Constantine's mother based on a vision that she had where the crucifixion had taken place. And they wanted to see those holy sites. They believed it would be a blessing. It would make them more spiritual to be physically near to these holy sites. And so they wanted to travel there.

And rumors began to come back to Europe that the Muslims were hassling and making difficult the pilgrimage of Christians to Jerusalem.

And rumors began to come back to Europe that the Muslims were hassling and making difficult the pilgrimage of Christians to Jerusalem.

It's difficult to know whether that's actually true or not, but that was increasingly the conviction of Europeans, that the Muslims were interfering with Christian efforts to visit the holy places, and that began to build this sense that Christians ought to be going, ought to win again the holy sites where Christ had lived and died and been raised, and that this would have...

It's difficult to know whether that's actually true or not, but that was increasingly the conviction of Europeans, that the Muslims were interfering with Christian efforts to visit the holy places, and that began to build this sense that Christians ought to be going, ought to win again the holy sites where Christ had lived and died and been raised, and that this would have...

eschatological significance to recapture the holy city and so in response to the preaching particularly of Pope Urban II right at the end of the ten hundreds about 1095 suddenly there burst out this energy and this passion to travel and to recapture Jerusalem for the Christians and there is a kind of Mystery in history. I think we saw it. We talked very briefly about the rise of Islam.

eschatological significance to recapture the holy city and so in response to the preaching particularly of Pope Urban II right at the end of the ten hundreds about 1095 suddenly there burst out this energy and this passion to travel and to recapture Jerusalem for the Christians and there is a kind of Mystery in history. I think we saw it. We talked very briefly about the rise of Islam.

Why was it all of a sudden, all of this energy amongst the Arabs, all of this expansionism amongst the people that had been very sort of quiet and not all that, you know, expansive before? Or we go back further to the Romans themselves. If you go to Italy today, it's a little hard to think of the Italians being eager to go out and have an empire of the whole of the Mediterranean basin.

Why was it all of a sudden, all of this energy amongst the Arabs, all of this expansionism amongst the people that had been very sort of quiet and not all that, you know, expansive before? Or we go back further to the Romans themselves. If you go to Italy today, it's a little hard to think of the Italians being eager to go out and have an empire of the whole of the Mediterranean basin.

There seems to sort of come a moment in history, and I'm not sure we can always understand all of the mystery that's involved there, that suddenly there's a level of energy that's never seen before. That seems to be what happens with the Crusades. All of a sudden,

There seems to sort of come a moment in history, and I'm not sure we can always understand all of the mystery that's involved there, that suddenly there's a level of energy that's never seen before. That seems to be what happens with the Crusades. All of a sudden,

Common people and nobility, great and small, rich and poor, powerful and insignificant, were gripped by this vision of doing something for Christ, doing, they thought, something really important for Christ by traveling to Jerusalem to capture it for Christ. Now, some have said, and no doubt truly, that the popes were glad to divert the nobility.

Common people and nobility, great and small, rich and poor, powerful and insignificant, were gripped by this vision of doing something for Christ, doing, they thought, something really important for Christ by traveling to Jerusalem to capture it for Christ. Now, some have said, and no doubt truly, that the popes were glad to divert the nobility.

This is just the time that's leading up to the investiture controversy that we already talked about. And it might be that the Pope thought it'd be nice to have an emperor or two out in the Far East, or for them, the Far East, as opposed to being here in Europe. But that doesn't seem to have been the principal motivation. There seems to have simply been this ideal.

This is just the time that's leading up to the investiture controversy that we already talked about. And it might be that the Pope thought it'd be nice to have an emperor or two out in the Far East, or for them, the Far East, as opposed to being here in Europe. But that doesn't seem to have been the principal motivation. There seems to have simply been this ideal.

And they didn't initially call it crusades. That was a word that was adopted later. maybe as much as a century or two later, but crusade captures the sense of it because crusade was a French word that meant the way of the cross. They saw themselves sacrificing themselves, as Jesus had, taking up a cross, taking up self-denial to recapture the holy city for an eschatological purpose.

And they didn't initially call it crusades. That was a word that was adopted later. maybe as much as a century or two later, but crusade captures the sense of it because crusade was a French word that meant the way of the cross. They saw themselves sacrificing themselves, as Jesus had, taking up a cross, taking up self-denial to recapture the holy city for an eschatological purpose.