Ellie Pleggenkuhle RSP 1 Crusades

World History
Ellie Pleggenkuhle
RSP 1
December 2014

Competition occurs when two or more parties contend in pursuit of a desired object, whether that object is concrete or abstract. Throughout history, competition has been the driving source in the advancement of societies and empires, and is a factor that continues to drive many significant world events in today’s day and age.
One of the prevalent pieces of the overlaying theme is that of religious competition.
Urban II’s Speech at Clermont
, written by Pope Urban II, contains prime examples of the conflict between the Christians and the Muslims, as well as the Western and Eastern
Christians. The document tells of the ways that the Christians were being “oppressed and attacked,” their sacred places being “defiled.” Jerusalem was “groaning under the “Saracen yoke,” Saracen referring to people of the Muslim faith; which tells of the Muslim overtake, or power over the Holy Land. “The West must march to the defense of the East,” tells of the call to unite the Western and Eastern Christians in conflict against the Arab people during the crusades. The competition between the Muslims and Christians for the Holy Land is an issue that continues to plague the middle east today. Another source is that of
Ibn al­Athir
(modified).
Ibn al Athir was an historian who witnessed (the third) and wrote a history on the crusades. As he recalls, Jerusalem was “taken from the north” and the people “put to the sword by the Franks.” Ibn al­Athir tells of the other side, where the Muslims were brutalized and oppressed by the Christian Franks, as the Franks “slaughtered more than 70,000 people;” slaughtering many of the people who dedicated their lives to the “religious seclusion in the Holy Place.” The document also tells of the greed of the Franks who “stripped the Dome of the Rock (sacred shrine) of more than forty silver candelabra and more than twenty good ones, and a great deal more booty.” This account serves as another example of the conflict and competition for the ruling­power of the Holy Land.
An additional piece of the theme is that of competition in trade.
An Account of the
Goods of a Captured Caravan, 1192
, written by Geoffrey de Vinsauf, tells of the persecution of the Turks by the English during the crusades. King Richard captured a Turkish caravan during the year 1192, revealing the diversity of the many goods, transferred between Asia and
Europe. This caravan, became “the spoil of the victors,” and the Turks surrendered in hope that their “lives should be spared.” Not only were their goods taken, but the Turks gave the
English additional supplies and gifts, all that they had, again, in hopes of survival. The determination of the English to control the trade routes, began this issue of trade conflict.
License to Venice to Trade with The Saracens, 1198 written by Pope Innocent III, serves as another example as competitive trade. The people of Venice were punished for “giving arms, iron, or wood” to the Saracens, and made slaves to the captors of the cities and
Consuls. The the people were oppressed by their own government for any consorting with the
Saracens, “as long as the war between them and us shall last.” They did not want the people of Venice to “aid the Saracens” in any way, so that they could get ahead in trade, and hopefully the war.

A final piece of the theme is that of territorial competition.
Urban II Speech at
Clermont
, written by Urban II also has a strong emphasis on the conflict over territory. As previously mentioned, the Holy Land, was and still is a place highly disputed and sought after.
It was “groaning under the Saracen yoke,” the “sepulchre...turned into a mosque,” and
“pilgrims...prevented from access to the Holy Land.”
Ibn al­Athir (modified)
, written by Ibn al­Athir also exemplified the territorial conflict in the Holy Land. He told of how the Franks killed the men of the city, the children and women taken prisoner, and the homes torn apart, as well as the 70,000 people that were killed so that the Franks could take control of the land. In conclusion, one can see that indeed competition has been the driving source in the advancement of societies and empires, and is what continues to drive many significant world events. A modern example of how competition drives world history and events is that the competition for the Holy Land in Jerusalem continues today. The Palestinians and Israel continue to dispute the biblical and evidential history, competing and conflicting over both territorial and religious aspects of humanity. This will continue to be the case and will continue to drive other historical events and progressions.