The Crusade: What Really Happened During The Dark Age's Most Horrific War? | Warfare | Chronicle

For nearly two centuries, generations of knights from England and Western Europe marched to do battle with the Saracen hordes who occupied the Holy Land. Bitter and bloody, these great battles are known to history as the Crusades. Perhaps most famous of all was Richard the Lionheart's struggle with Emperor Saladin on the burning sands of Palestine in 1190. The Crusades Knights of Christ features atmospheric reconstruction footage and spectacular computer effects to tell the dramatic story of the great conflict between Christianity and Islam. The program also features dramatized eyewitness accounts and expert comments and analysis.

Welcome to Chronicle; your home for all things medieval history! With documentaries covering everything from the collapse of the Roman Empire to the beginnings of the Renaissance, from Hastings to Charlemagne, we'll be exploring everything the Middle Ages have to offer.

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[RolfLongreach]

I am the only one who got Monty Python Vibes from the reenactments? 😅 I do enjoy these History Hit things. Keep them coming

[vvcv__]

I can't get enough of low budget, though informative, docs. Does anyone else remember when The History Channel did great shows with similar budgets?

[keiththorpe]

"How do I get to the Holy Land?"
"You head south to where the men speak Italian...Then you travel east, until they speak something else."

"How do I reach Jerusalem?"
"With really long arms."

[squish-dk]

43:30 im trying to learn about the crusades but im distracted by whoever is absolutely shredding on the flute

[Frostedminifirecracker]

I usually just listen, but the actors’ performances had me watching. 😊

However,

Is there anything left of the scenery’s after the Saladin actor was done chewing it?

[TihetrisWeathersby]

Love how detailed and laid out these documentaries are, This is the best medieval channel

[uqioosr]

Nothing better than night full of facts, myths a history ❤ 👍 Many thx to whole team 👍

[joshlesure]

Well done! By far, the best Medieval History channel!

[bluepov]

Did anyone else notice Deep Purple's Child in Time being covered by the orchestra?

[Bushwakbill]

Great video but I completely disagree with the biased commentary at the end.

[markmcflounder]

On the Dark Ages
"What is even more significant is that the centuries labeled as the 'Dark Ages' were 'one of the great innovative eras of mankind, ' as technology was developed and put into use 'on a scale no civilization had previously known.' In fact, as will be seen, it was during the 'Dark Ages' that Europe began the great technological leap forward that put it far ahead of the rest of the world. This has become so well known that rejection of the 'Dark Ages' as an unfounded myth is now reported in the respected dictionaries and encyclopedias that only a few years previously had accepted and promulgated that same myth. Thus, while earlier editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica had identified the five or six centuries after the fall of Rome as the 'Dark Ages, ' the fifteenth edition, published in 1981, dismissed that as an 'unacceptable' term because it incorrectly claims this to have been 'a period of intellectual darkness and barbarity.'" (Stark, Rodney: "God's Battalion", 2009, p 66)
The Wheel
"What we do know with absolute certainty is that following the Muslim conquest of Egypt, the rest of North Africa, and Spain, the wheel disappeared from this whole area! For centuries there were no carts or wagons... This did not happen because the Arabs lacked knowledge of the wheel, but because they thought it of little use. In their judgment, wheels required streets and roads. Camels and pedestrians required neither. Moreover, given their disdain for the wheel, it is doubtful that Muslims knew how to construct a proper harness to hook draft animals to carts and wagons. " (emphasis original, Stark, Rodney: "God's Battalion", 2009, pages 67, 68)
"Big draft horses also played a substantial role in the agricultural revolution that transformed Europe during the 'Dark Ages.' Food production per capita rose dramatically. Part of the reason was that horses could pull a plow twice as fast as could oxen; hence by switching to horses one farmer could plow twice as much land in the same amount of time. Of equal importance, the 'Dark Ages' farmers' big horses were pulling a far superior plow." (ibid p69)

"During the eighth century came the next step in the agricultural revolution... farmland belonging to each village was divided into three plots... One plot was planted in a winter crop such as wheat; the second, in a spring crop such as oats (an especially important crop once the horse became the primary draft animal), legumes... or vegetables; and the third plot was allowed to lie fallow (unplanted)... Not only did using the fallow plot for grazing keep down the weeds, but the manure spread by the cattle had dramatic effects on the land's fertility.
      "As a result, starting during the 'Dark Ages' most Europeans began to eat far better than had the common people anywhere, ever." (ibid. p70)

[nordan]

I for one am hoping that our leaders will gin up a good Crusade soon as I’ve stockpiled a shit load of sins that must be atoned for.

[KrisLapler]

Looked like a Monty Python 'fight' at the beginning.

[manfredconnor]

King Richard was held in Dürnstein (in present day Austria) not in Vienna.

[lw]

Greed and cruelty, that's what this seems to have been largely about....

[shelbytheds]

Cant hear narrator for all the damn background noise. Turned off

[brandonshofner]

Narrator needs to learn to keep his voice at a consistent volume.

[arcadecaptainYT]

When I ask my crush what her body count is 39:33

[jonnyba]

The music in the final part was really bugging me..I couldn't quite place it.. then realised its an orchestrial version of Child in Time by Deep Purple

[FullMetalXV]

Can barely hear the guy speaking with all the extra noises and musics and such.