This post is part of a series of posts on the Context of the First Crusade. In this post, we explore the situation in the East and the events there that led to the calling of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095.
The East in the 7th Century
In late antiquity, the balance of power in the East rested with two great empires – the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. As the old Roman Empire in the West diminished, it continued in the East as the Byzantine Empire and the struggle for control of the regions in the Middle East between the Persians and the re-branded Byzantine Empire continued.
The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641) succeeded where many of his predecessors had failed and managed to crush the Persian Empire. Heraclius recovered Syria from the Persians and the Holy Land was once again in Christian hands. However, a new power was emerging in the East, Islam.
G.W. Bowersock’s 2012 book ‘Empires in Collision in Late Antiquity’ has an aptly named chapter: Heraclius’ Gift to Islam: The Death of the Persian Empire’.1 For this no better sums up what Heraclius’ defeat of the Persians meant for the regions in the Middle East. With the Persian Empire defeated, Byzantium was alone in facing the rise of Islam.
The Islamic Empire spread rapidly and it absorbed the former Persian Empire. Their attention then turned towards Syria. The Muslims took Damascus in 634. Then Gaza and Antioch in 637. Their attention then turned to Jerusalem itself which fell to them in 638. The Byzantines had lost Syria, but more importantly, some of the most sacred sites for Christianity were now in the hands of Islam. A crushing economic blow for the Byzantines came in 641 when the Muslims took Alexandria and the grain from Egypt once said to have fed the Roman Empire was lost. Piece by piece, all of the Byzantine territories in North Africa were lost to Islam.
Attacks were made on Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire itself throughout the 7th century, all of which were thwarted. Had Constantinople fallen, Islam would have made significant inroads throughout Europe. Thus, Byzantium was an important buffer between Islam and the West.
Jerusalem after the Muslim Conquest
Following the Muslim occupation of Jerusalem, many Christians remained in Jerusalem. They were permitted to practice their religion but were deemed second-class citizens. Christians and Jews were subject to the dictates of the Pact of Umur. This document dating from perhaps as early as the 7th century sought to ensure peace and cooperation between Muslims and those of other faiths, so long as certain rules were followed by non-Muslims, such as:
We shall not build, in our cities or in their neighbourhood, new monasteries, Churches, convents, or monks’ cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night, such of them as fall in ruins or are situated in the quarters of the Muslims.
The Pact of Umar: Medieval Sourcebook.We shall not teach the Qur’an to our children.
We shall not manifest our religion publicly nor convert anyone to it. We shall not prevent any of our kin from entering Islam if they wish it.
We shall show respect toward the Muslims, and we shall rise from our seats when they wish to sit.
The Pact of Umar was generally enforced throughout the Arab Empire. Whenever Christians or Jews were conquered, such as in Spain, they were expected to adhere to these rules. So although Christians were permitted to practice their faith in Jerusalem, they were not permitted to preach and were under the yoke of their Muslim conquerors.
From the 7th century, many of the churches in Jerusalem had been left to decay. This is unsurprising since the Pact of Umar prevented new Churches from being built and there were imitations on repairing existing Christian structures.
Political difficulties weakened the links between the West and Palestine in the seventh century, but some contact remained.
For a considerable time following the fall of Jerusalem, there was a significant Latin presence in the Holy Land and correspondence between the Patriarchs in the East and their peers in the West continued.
Jerusalem was never forgotten by the West. It remained the spiritual centre of Christianity. Pilgrims continued to visit Jerusalem throughout the early medieval period.
1009 Destruction of the Holy Sepulchre
Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In 996, Fatimid caliph al-Hakim (985–1021) often referred to as the ‘Mad Caliph’ ascended to the throne aged 11. According to reports, he ordered all the dogs in his realm to be executed due to his dislike of their barking. He also attacked Jews and Christians forcing Jews and Christians to wear black hats to distinguish them from Muslims. And he then forced Christians to wear huge crosses.
His persecution of the Christians culminated in his ordering the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009. This site held great significance for Christians as the site of Christ’s crucifixion. His reason for doing so was his dislike of the multitude of Christians who came to make pilgrimage to the site at Easter.2
John France argued that there was little Latin response to the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in contemporary Western Literature. Indeed he argued that it was a singular event with little significance in the West, especially given that the Holy Sepulchre was rebuilt by al-Hakim’s successor by 1048.3
Traditionally, it has been argued that there was little response to this destruction from the West. However, some scholars have recently challenged this assumption and point to some evidence of a response for instance, a letter from Pope Sergius IV which calls for aid for Jerusalem. However, its authenticity has been questioned and is perhaps a matter for another post.
Some historians also point out that many First Crusade historians were seemingly unaware of the destruction. But perhaps this was due to a lack of a grasp on history rather than a disinterest in events in the Holy Land. Furthermore, by the time of the First Crusade and its calling, the Holy Sepulchre had been rebuilt so its destruction was perhaps no longer an issue.
1071 The Battle of Manzikert
Byzantine forces numbering perhaps some 100,000 men under the leadership of Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes were defeated in 1071 by a Seljuk Turk army under Sultan Alp Arlsan. They were trying to secure a fortress close to Lake Van in Armenia against the growing power of the Seljuk Turks. The battle was fought on 26th August near the fortress of Mantizkert in modern-day Turkey.
In a humiliating defeat for the Byzantines, their Emperor was captured. Initially, Alp Arslan refused to believe this was the Empeor given his dishevelled appearance. Romanos was imprisoned for 8 days and brutally blinded, thus excluding him from the role of Emperor and he was forced to retire to a monastery.
The peace that once existed between Alp Arslan and Romanos was destroyed at Manzikert. Peace that had prevented indiscriminate Seljuk raiding of Byzantine lands in Asia Minor.
Manzikert and the subsequent loss of Byzantine lands in Asia Minor did not initially prevent pilgrims from travelling to Jerusalem. However, in the last decade of the eleventh century, the Seljuk Turks prevented passage to these travellers.
The battle is significant, not just for the event itself, nor the impact on the balance of power in the East between Byzantium and the Muslims, but for what it did to the Byzantine Empire itself. The removal of Romanos from power led to a decade-long civil war in Byzantium. This weakened Byzantium and left it vulnerable to attack. Byzantium’s neighbours, such as the Normans took advantage of this weakness and further weakened the Empire.
The defeat at Manzikert was a significant event in the East that led to the calling of the First Crusade.
The East on the Eve of the First Crusade
News of the loss of Byzantine lands in Asia Minor spread throughout Europe.
In 1086 the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus worked with the Sultan of Baghdad, Malik-Shah to curb the increasing power of the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. Both rulers were concerned with this growing formidable foe.
But when Malik Shah died in 1092, the Byzantines were robbed of a useful ally. They were left to face the Seljuk Turks alone. Alexius could do little but watch Byzantine territory in Asia Minor fall into the hands of the Seljuk Turks throughout the 1090s.
Significant losses included Cilicia and Tarsus and in 1095 Alexius sent an appeal to Pope Urban II requesting aid from the West. The response to this call for aid to the East came in the form of the First Crusade. The Byzantines worried an attack could be launched on Constantinople itself. The Seljuk Turks needed to be stopped otherwise all Byzantine territory would fall. The situation in the East in the years immediately preceding the First Crusade appeared dire.
If you enjoyed this post on events in the East prior to the First Crusade, then please see other posts in this series.
* Featured image After Heinrich Bünting , CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bibliography
Baldwin, M.W., The Byzantine Empire in the Eleventh Century, in M.W. Baldwin (ed.), A History of the Crusades, Volume 1, The First Hundred Years, pp. 177-219.
Bowersock, G.W., Empires in Collision in Late Antiquity, (2012).
Browning, R., The Byzantine Empire (Revised Edition), (1992).
Falk, A., Franks and Saracens: Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades, (2010).
France, J., “The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Crusade”, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 4, (Jan. 1996), p.p. 1-17.
Footnotes
- G.W. Bowersock, Empires in Collision in Late Antiquity, (2012). ↩︎
- A. Falk, Franks and Saracens: Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades, (2010), p. 75. ↩︎
- J. France, “The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Crusade”, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 4, (Jan. 1996), p. 13. ↩︎
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