The Crusades

by Peter Lillback, Ph.D. , President and Professor of Historical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

“The Illuminati went deep underground where they began mixing with other refugee groups fleeing the Catholic purges—mystics, alchemists, occultists, Muslims, Jews. Over the years, the Illuminati began absorbing new members. A new Illuminati emerged. A darker Illuminati. A deeply anti-Christian Illuminati.” (Angels and Demons, p. 25.)

The Crusades and the Inquisition: “Roman Purges” for the Defeat of Infidels and Heretics

The story of what Robert Langdon, the symbologist in Angels and Demons, calls “the Catholic purges” develops primarily in the period from AD1000 to AD1300 which is often called the High Middle Ages. During this time the integration of all of western civilization was in the hands of the Roman Catholic faith.

Because the church and the various political kingdoms were so enmeshed, a natural consequence was the union of political power with spiritual and ecclesiastical power. The inevitable result was the use of force to address those who disagreed with the church, and with those who rejected the claims of the Christian faith.

This use of force expressed itself in two different ways. Internally, Christendom—the name for this integration of power in the hands of Roman Catholicism—pursued and persecuted those opposed to Roman Catholic teaching through the Inquisition. The Inquisition resisted and persecuted those deemed heretical by the Roman Catholic authorities. The Cathari, the Illuminati, Freemasons, Jews and various fore-runners of the Protestant Reformation are examples of groups that faced the fury of the Inquisitors.

Externally, Christendom launched the Crusades—Catholic-led holy wars—to drive the “Infidels”, namely the Muslims, from the Holy Land. The aftermath of the ultimately unsuccessful crusades also involved further military conflict to meet the challenge of the remnants of the crusading Catholic armies. This is especially seen in the case of the Knights Templar. After their defeat in the Holy Land, the Knights Templar had formed secret societies and as such had become a financial and military threat to the Pope and the princes. They were attacked by French King Philip IV in 1307 and dissolved as an order of the Church by Pope Clement V in 1312.

Thus the Inquisition and the Crusades had in common the desire by the use of force to stem the advance of Anti-Christian and anti-Roman Catholic teaching and power. The Inquisition was an internal war waged by political, judicial and social forces. The crusades were external wars waged by military and economic forces.

Although the Inquisition and Crusades have been especially associated with the Medieval era, they continued on into the Reformation (1500-1650) and beyond. The Protestant Huguenots in France experienced the full force of both the Inquisition and the Crusading spirit in the “wars of religion”. The Spanish Armada that sank in 1588 off the shores of England was an unsuccessful Roman Catholic Crusade intended to defeat the “infidel” Protestants of England.

The Background of the Crusades

Penance and Pilgrimage
The background of the Crusades begins with the notion of pilgrimage for satisfying a sin against God for pilgrimages were a form of penance. (Cf. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales). Penance developed to be spiritually therapeutic in nature. Its intent was to help ease a guilty conscience, or to sublimate temptation. But over time penance evolved into a means of exacting a penalty for sin. For severe sins, the greatest of all pilgrimages was a journey to the Holy Land and to Jerusalem.

Thus the crusades themselves were pilgrimages. Because many never safely returned, absolutions were given in advance. Some in the Church taught that the mere intention of making the crusade was deemed sufficient to cancel all of the temporal effects of sin. Thus the idea of indulgences also developed with the crusading spirit. Indulgences became an effective recruitment tool to build the numbers for the crusading army.

Reclaiming the Holy Land from the Muslim Conquest
One of the main difficulties in taking a pilgrimage to Jerusalem was that the Muslims controlled the Holy Land. This fact became increasingly upsetting to the church.. While it is not known if there was any serious conflict between pilgrims and the Muslims in the Holy Land, it is clear that the Muslims had used the sword to conquer North Africa and to take the Holy Land from the Christian Roman Empire. Thus the Crusades were a series of attempts to wrest back the Holy Land from Muslim control.

Major Causes and Motives for the Crusades.

Among the many distinct causes or motives for the Crusades, the following are worthy of consideration:

Religious cause—to free the Holy Land from the Muslims.
Economic cause—large famines had impoverished Europe making the trip to the Holy Land a viable alternative for making a living.
Adventure motive—an opportunity to escape the feudal manor and see the world.
Love of plunder—the crusades provided an opportunity to gain wealth and new territory.
The Ecumenical cause—perhaps the crusading armies would unite the eastern and western churches.
The Penitential motive—the pope promised forgiveness for all sins past, present and future as well as eternal life to all who went on the crusades.

Religious Innovations Resulting from the Crusades.

The Crusades created new military monastic orders
The Knights Templar and the Knights of St. John are examples of military orders that were established in the context of the Crusades. They were composed of warriors who took monastic vows. Any territory they conquered was claimed for their order. Thus the knights that conquered the temple area claimed it for themselves, and called themselves the Knights Templar (Knights of the Temple). Throughout the Middle East, as a result of this phenomenon, there were little kingdoms made up of European crusaders who remained behind to possess their conquered lands. Often they also developed skills in piracy as had their Muslim opponents.

The Crusades brought a new interest in the use of relics.
Originally, relics were items that had belonged to a martyr. Later relics also included the belongings of a holy person after his death. These included things that the person had touched or used which were thought to have special power for healing or spiritual protection or even salvation. The goa1of many pilgrimages was to visit a special relic for just such purposes.

With the advent of the Crusades, however, there were now many new seemingly more powerful relics. These included the relics from the martyrs who gave their life for the cause of Christ in the Crusades. Especially important, however, were all of the relics brought back directly from the Holy Land. Such relics purported to be nails and splinters from the cross of Christ, clothing the apostles and Christ had worn, etc. These appeared to be more sacred than the previously known relics held by the Church. Thus the desire to find such relics helped to spur on the Crusades as well. For example, consider the quest to find the "holy grail", the cup that was used by Christ and the apostles at the Last Supper!

The History of the Crusades

The First Crusade (1095-1099).

The impulse for this first crusade came from the Christian Roman emperor of the east who petitioned the Pope to stop the Turks who were threatening Constantinople.
Urban II called the synod of Clermont where he called for the crusade and promised a plenary indulgence (forgiveness of all sins) to all who would go.
The two stages of the first crusade.
- The unorganized stage--This was led by Walter the Penniless and Peter the Hermit. It was composed of untrained and unruly peasants. They were successful in killing a vast number of Jews on their journey, but they were devastated by the Turks.
- The organized stage--This was under the leadership of the well organized armies of the various kings. They captured Antioch and Jerusalem and set up the Latin Kingdom. It was during this crusade that the defenders of Jerusalem and the temple were organized and called the Knights Templar (started c. 1118).

The Second Crusade (1147-1149).

It was called for due to the Muslim attack on the Latin Kingdom and the fall of Edessa.
This was popularized by Bernard of Clairvaux.
The result was the miserable defeat of the crusaders in Antioch.

The Crusade of the Kings—the Third Crusade (1189-1192).

This was caused by the seizure of Jerusalem by the Turks
The course of the crusade.
Fredrick Barbarossa marched with the German army, but he drowned on the journey. With their king dead, his army returned home.
Philip Augustus was the French king, but he returned home with his army when he could not agree with Richard the Lionhearted (quarreled over who would lead armies).
Richard the Lionhearted, the king of England, was the remaining leader and he was able to capture the city of Acre near Jerusalem, but not Jerusalem itself.
The result was a three-year truce, and free access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.

The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204).

This was called by Innocent III, but was answered by only a relatively small number of knights.
They were not able to pay the passage charges demanded by the Venetians--so they never made it to fight the Turks.
Instead, the Venetians and the crusaders agreed to band together and attack Constantinople!
After plundering the city, they set up the Latin Kingdom of Constantinople and forgot entirely about taking the Holy Land.

The Children's Crusade (1212)--not called the Fifth Crusade,

It was started by a 12 year-old French boy named Stephen. He claimed to have had a visitation by Christ who had given him a letter for French King Philip Augustus.
He attracted large crowds by his preaching, and soon proclaimed that children could take the Holy Land by their innocence whereas the knights could not do so by force.
Soon children from age six and up started forming bands to plan for the crusade. Eventually tens of thousands of children attempted to make the crusade.
One group made it to Genoa, but was refused passage to the Holy Land.
Some of these returned home, but many went to Rome to appeal to the Pope--he encouraged them to disband and go home.
Another group went to Marseilles where they received passage to North Africa, and were subsequently sold into slavery!
At the outset, they had believed that the sea would part and they would march and take Jerusalem!
This tragically illustrates the superstitious mind of the Medieval period. Parents obviously had to permit their children to believe these things and allow them to attempt it.

The Last Crusades.

The Fifth Crusade (1218-1221). The crusade attempted to conquer Egypt. but failed to take Cairo and failed in general.
The Sixth Crusade (1228-1229). This was led by Fredrick II of Germany. He gained access to Jerusalem by treaty, but did not conquer the city.
The Seventh Crusade (1248-1254). This was led by Louis IX of France. His armies were defeated by the Egyptian Moslems.

The Conclusion and Consequences of the Crusades (1291).

While the seventh crusade was the last actual march into the Holy Land, there were still key outposts of crusaders in the Holy Land itself. The last stronghold was Acre near Jerusalem which had been taken by Richard on the Third Crusade. This fell to the Muslims in 1291 and thereby ended the era of the Crusades. Europe had spent its last energy on the quest to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims and had failed to accomplish her goal.

While the Crusades were ultimately a failure in terms of their expressed purpose, they were quite successful in altering European isolationism and culture in various ways. Some of the more important consequences of the Crusades were:

Opening up central Asia and China to the west.
Returning Europe to a money economy from a bartering system.
The beginning of the end of the feudal system.
Helping to create a nationalistic spirit led by powerful kings.
The stimulation of international trade.
The creation of new economic activity resulting in the growth of towns with an emerging middle class of traders and businessmen.
The contacts with the east and the Muslims brought new educational stimuli to the west, particularly the love for classical culture and the rediscovery of Aristotle’s writings and thought.

Thus the Crusades, a major aspect of what Langdon termed “the Catholic purges” in Angels and Demons, helped to bring to an end the system that had prevailed in Europe from the fall of Rome and from the beginnings of feudalism under Charlemagne.

But perhaps most importantly, key ideas that sustained the Crusades are not warranted by the teaching of Scripture. No where do we find in the Bible the notion that doing something like penance and pilgrimage brings forgiveness of sins. Instead, we are taught that salvation—the forgiveness of our sins before God and eternal life—are the result of faith. (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-10). Moreover, while international political concerns may have warranted aspects of the Crusades, the Bible’s emphasis is not upon gaining the geographical territory of the Holy Land or on controlling the earthly city of Jerusalem. Instead, the Bible’s emphasis is on the attainment of the New Heaven and the New Earth by faith in Christ. According to the Scriptures, saving faith brings the believer to the eternal blessings of life with God in the Heavenly Jerusalem. (Galatians 4:21-31; Hebrews 11:8-16; Revelation 21-22).

Back to Angels and Demons Truth Home

Illuminati Ambigrams Articles

The Crusades

Angels and Demonds Truth