Were Christians responsible for the Crusades?
Image via WikipediaThere were certainly atrocities committed as part of the Crusades: the sack of Jerusalem stands as one glaring example which we should lament as Christians.
However, to be fair the Crusades as a whole must be set against both the backdrop, and immediate context of Islamic expansion through warfare and conquest. The Byzantine Empire, the great empire of eastern Christendom, was under continued assault and invasion. North Africa had fallen to the Muslims; Spain had been invaded.
While the French mainland invasions from Spain had been repelled prior, there were regular attacks by Muslim raiding parties along Mediterranean coastal France, Italy, Greece, etc. This is one reasons why medieval (and later!) Greek, Italian and French villages along the coasts sit atop fortified hills – Muslim raiding parties which killed the men, sexually assaulted/captured the women, and took the children as slaves back to North Africa/Palestine.
The medieval world was a religio-political world. The two were not separated as they are today in a secular West. As such, when the Byzantines asked Western Europe (in part via the Pope) for assistance, it was seen as Christians asking Christians for help in defending their national boundaries and the lives of their citizens.
Why the move during the Crusades to take Palestine/Jerusalem? One reason is the errant medieval theology of meritorious pilgrimages to pray at sacred locations/relics where grace was believed to be more accessible. Another is that these were still seen as lands wrongfully and forcefully conquered by the Muslims.
Thirdly, in terms of military and geo-political strategy attempting to retake Jerusalem and the surrounding regions was seen as beneficial in aiding the Byzantines in their self-defense by opening a second front. This was for a good deal of time effective in minimizing Muslim military attempts against the Byzantines.
The Byzantines despite being “Christian” had plenty of issues themselves, as did the other European “Christian” kingdoms. This was abundantly evident in the Fourth Crusade, perhaps the worst of them all in terms of violence against civilians. It occurred when the “Christian” Venetians decided to take the opportunity to take out their chief economic competitor, “Christian” Byzantium/Constantinople.
I believe there were genuine Christians caught in the midst of it all. Undoubtedly some who sinned and failed. Others were simply seeking to be faithful in their context.
Bernard of Clairvaux, the great medieval preacher, appreciated by Calvin and Luther, was an instrumental figure in raising some of the Crusader support: to me it seems likely he was a believer. Historically I think there are some good reasons to see him as promoting a just war, despite the evident failures (theologically and militarily) in the midst of it all.
