Crusades

The Crusades By:Theint Win

**Introduction **

In medieval time there were holy wars between the Muslims and Christians called the Crusades. The Muslims and Christians were fighting over Jerusalem because it was holy land for both religions. It was holy for the Muslims because there was a Dome Rock and it was also where Muhammad died and went to heaven. It was important for the Christians because it was where Jesus was born and from where he went to heaven. The crusades took many hundred years and many thousands of people died.


 * Time line**
 * = First Crusade ||= 1096-1099 ||
 * = Second Crusade ||= 1144-1192 ||
 * = Third Crusade ||= 1187-1192 ||
 * = Fourth Crusade ||= 1202-1204 ||
 * = Children's Crusade ||= 1212 ||
 * = Fifth Crusade ||= 1217-1221 ||
 * = Sixth Crusade ||= 1228-1229 ||
 * = Seventh Crusade ||= 1248-1254 ||
 * = Eight Crusade ||= 1270 ||

** Children’s Crusade **

There were eight major crusades and two children’s crusades. The first children’s crusade didn’t reach where the fighting was going on because the people didn’t let them go because the adults thought the children shouldn’t be fighting. The second children’s crusade was lead by a 12 year old boy named Stephen from France. They reached the place where the crusades took place. However, the children were taken to Tunisia and sold into the slavery. Some died in shipwreck on San Pietro island of Sardinia and some died from starvation.

**Good things about the Crusade**

There are lots of good things about the crusades. Some peasants went on a crusade because they wanted to escape from slavery and lots of people became merchants. The trading started and European merchants brought some silk, spices from China and many people discovered many wonderful things from other countries and brought them back. Many cities developed near the water because there were ships with goods. The knights and medieval people got lots of good medicine from the Arabs and Persians.

**How the Crusades ended**

The crusades ended because the nobles were running out of money to afford the soldiers. The new discoveries were being made so the people ran out of interest in crusades. The merchants brought back new ideas and changes to Europe, so the people were interested in their own country and they were also new discoveries in the western world. At the end the Muslims settled on Jerusalem but the holy war still continue today.

**My opinion**

I am happy that lots of good things happened during the crusades. I think the Christians and Muslims should have shared the land so thousand of people wouldn’t have died from the crusades.

**Information sources**

Child, John. Kelly, Nigel. Whittock, Marth. The Crusades Peter Bedrick Books, 1994

The Crusades. Medieval-life.net 2000. []

The Christian Crusades. 2010. [|http://www.gbgm-umd.org]

The Crusades. 2000. []

[|atheism.about.com/.../ blxtn_crus_ill28.htm][|atheism.about.com/.../ blxtn_crus_ill28.htm]



[|www.gwu.edu/.../ timeline/timeline1.cfm]