What Caused the First Crusade?

Why did Medieval Christian knights at the end of the 11th century march some 2,500 miles from France (and elsewhere in the Latin West) to Jerusalem and how were they able to conquer and create viable states in the Middle East? John Hamer of Toronto Centre place will look at the historical context of the First Crusade and its logistics and consider how Christian religious practices including the Peace of God, Truce of God, and pilgrimage resulted in indiscriminate massacres. How did the First Crusade succeed and why did the Crusades ultimately fail?

Join the livestream to participate in the discussion and to ask questions to our lecturer during the Q&A:

Other topics covered in this lecture include:
What is a Crusade?
Historical Context of the Crusades
Religious Pilgrimage
Medieval History
Just War
Theology of War

[Carlos-kepj]

Finding this channel is the best thing happened in 2023

[solomonkane]

The absolute best lectures on YouTube.

[hantms]

I so appreciate the focus on history without any desire to drag present-day politics into it or frame certain aspects of it in a modern context. Some of the questions at the end kind of went in that direction but they were all answered expertly and respectfully with a focus on the history and contexts of the time.

[JohnFBurrows]

I am always happy when I see this drop on a Tuesday evening ❤ thank you John and team

[rxw]

Fascinating stuff. Would love to hear more on the Muslim conquest. I’ve noticed that can often be minimized in discussions of the crusades.

[daydreamertarot]

Thank you for another fabulous lecture 🙂

[bowhunter]

I was born in the old city of Sidon, Lebanon where I spent my youth. Sidon has two crusaders' castles, one on the hill where the city starts (called the upper gate), and one in the sea, called the sea castle. There is also a huge crusader building know as Khan al Efreng. It looked to me like a barrack for an army. Also, there is a monastery that was left behind by the crusaders which still housed nuns and monks when I was living there. My house was about 200 yards from the sea castle and about 1000 yards from the land castle. When we were kids, we used to swim off the sea castle and play in the land castle which can be described as only stupid. I am surprised that none of us died. All these places are open for tourists. There is also a Phoenician temple and about 55 years ago, before my family emigrated, they discovered a huge cemetery in some caves (called the caves of Tabloon) where they found many mummies and sarcophagi that they attributed to the Egyptian domination and influence. Your presentation brought back memories. One thing that you didn't mention that when the crusaders entered Jerusalem, they asked the pope, what do we do with these Christian looking Arabs and he replied. kill them all the lord knows his own. I saw a program on PBS about the crusades and they mentioned that. Anyway, I really find your lectures to be interesting. I had to study the history of the crusades when I was growing up and I almost flunked.

[MrEgyPete]

The Coptic tradition is that nestorianism was the influence of islam. Mohammed’s uncle was Nestorian Priest.

[winstonbarquez]

We must learn the lessons of the past to have a better future.

[enidsnarb]

So great to watch ! Clear and simple but so well rounded and unbiased.

[romiguma]

Had the opportunity to participate in an archaeological dig in Madaba. I’ve seen that mosaic map before. It’s really cool.

[Stadtpark]

1:27:29 Urban II and the „Two Swords“
1:29:20 Urban II speech at Clermont
1:48:21 timeline of coastal Palestine
(after Rome became Christian)

2:34:19 The Knights-Templars question (Banking)
2:38:15 Crusades lead to Pogroms

[travisfoster]

I'm watching June 11, 24. I've been watching your lectures for quite awhile but just noticed I'd never gotten around to subscribing. Fixed that

[TheFost]

Great video John. It's interesting hearing how the catholic church developed into a political force, I would love to see a full episode about that.

[unrecognizedtalent]

Missed the start of the lecture, but the questionare was a ton of fun!

[MagicofAramis]

As someone who claims to be a time traveler, I am very grateful he didn't mention the incident with the Salamis.

[rondecambio]

I enjoyed this lecture enormously!!! Well done .

[stanleywilliams]

The kingdom of Heaven lays within you. You don’t need to go to a hotspot in the middle east God is with you right now. People fight to restore some dream that dream is just a fantasy. If you listen to the words of Jesus, you’ll know that the kingdom of heaven lies within you.

[jdjones]

Thank you for your excellent work, im so fortunate to have found this "place"..

[theleakyprophet]

"Judaism, Christianity, and Islam being rooted in first Temple Hebrew religion": can John please do a talk exploring the work of Margaret Barker and Temple theology