A lot of myths, about five, are about the Crusades, but what are these myths really real? What is the truth about the misconceptions about the wars between Christians and Muslims? Inspired by Pope Innocent III, the Christians took the Pope’s advice and launched a fourth Crusade against the Muslims. However, the Crusaders would soon be sidetracked.
The first and most misconception is that the Crusades started with unprovoked attacks by the Christians. An unprovoked attack is when the attacker attacks someone or another country for no reason except, apparently, to fight. This is not true, however, since the Muslims had already owned most of the land that the Christians were living on at the time. Therefore, the Christians called out a war with the Muslims to free themselves from Muslim rule. Another myth is that the Crusaders were having difficulties with money. The truth, however, is that the Crusaders were actually already wealthy.
The last three myths seem to make Christians look like terrible people, when in fact most Christians are really nice and loving (depends on the person and how he/she sees Christianity). These last misconceptions are as follows:
- The Christians tried to force the Muslims to accept their beliefs.
- The Christians even had a “Children’s Crusade”.
- Because of the Christians, the Crusades led the Muslims to terrorize in the twentieth and twenty-first-century.
These, of course, are all myths. The truth is the Christians didn’t try to force Christianity into the minds of the Muslims, the Christians didn’t use children to help win the Crusades, and the Christians did not lead the Muslims to terrorist attacks. In fact, the Christians were outnumbered by the Muslims, and they never even tried to stuff Christianity down the Muslims’ necks. The “Children’s Crusades” were neither a crusade or a crusade of children. It was a mass movement of poor people depending on the wealth of the Crusaders. Lastly, the Crusades were just minor episodes to the Muslims, since they had defeated the Christians in most of the Crusades. Therefore, five myths about the Crusades are just that – myths.
After agreeing with Pope Innocent III, the Crusaders were sidetracked by a problem proposed by Prince Alexius, the next to rule Constantinople. Alexius had wanted to take Constantinople back from the Muslims. If the Crusaders helped the Prince, Alexius would pay them. Innocent warned the Christians not have anything to do with Prince Alexius, but they decided against Innocent’s warnings and helped what they supposed was their friend. They really needed the money.
The Christians, feeling that they were bringing the rightful heir, had brought the Prince to his country and failed to form an uprising with the people of Constantinople. This then led the Crusaders to attack, and eventually Alexius to flee, as he had found out the people disliked him. The Crusaders took over Constantinople and were paid only half of the money Alexius III had promised, by the new heir to the throne, Alexius IV. Eventually, Alexius pays off the other half with his dead ancestors tomb-ridden jewels. The people, outraged by this, supported another man, Mourzouphius, to become king. Alexius IV was then strangled and killed. This was the Fourth Crusade.
~Perrissa
Perrissa's 10th Grade School Blog 