Tales of the First Crusade Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jerusalem

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, the Roman Catholic Church became very powerful. Not only did it give people some reassurance during hard times, but the Church also launched successful missionary endeavors to convert pagan people in many parts of the Mediterranean World and beyond.

One of the options offered by the Roman Catholic Church, for its people to either obtain forgiveness for their sins or prove their devotion to God, was to embark on pilgrimages to sacred places. While there were some pilgrimage sites in Europe, such as Rome, the ultimate destination was the Holy Land - especially the city of Jerusalem - where Christ and his Disciples had lived and worked. That was quite an undertaking, as it was a long and dangerous journey.

Answer: Seljuk Turks

King David made Jerusalem his capital in approximately 1000 BC, and over time it was controlled by various groups of invaders. After the fall of the Roman Empire the city was taken by the Byzantine Empire, the Sassanids, the Byzantine Empire once again, and then an Arab army during the city's Early Muslim Period. The Muslims were pretty tolerant, and allowed Christians and Jews to visit the holy sites in the city. After the 7th century AD Jerusalem was a sacred place to three religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In 1073 Jerusalem was taken by the Seljuk Turks, a Muslim group from Central Asia that, over time, controlled much of the Middle East. They were not as tolerant of the pilgrims who wanted to visit Jerusalem, and the Byzantine Emperor decided to appeal to the pope for two reasons - he had lost some of his empire and wanted it back, and he needed help protecting the Christian pilgrims.

Answer: Urban II

Odo of Châtillon served the Catholic Church as Pope Urban II from 1088-1099. It took four years after his initial meeting with the Byzantine Emperor in 1091, but Urban II met with a Church council in Clermont, France, and appealed to both clergy and nobles to unite to free the Holy Land.

It wasn't long before the news spread throughout Europe, and people of all ages and stations were filled with religious zeal. He is also known for the establishment of the Roman Curia, which still assists in the running of the Catholic Church today. Urban II was beatified in 1881.

Answer: Provided with armor and weapons

There was hardly need to offer incentives to fight in the Crusades once the Pope offered forgiveness of sins, however, there were some valid concerns that needed to be addressed. If a nobleman took his knights to the Holy Land, then who would protect his fief? The Pope assured the nobles that the Church would. In a time when debt was common, the Pope also forgave debts.

In addition to what the Pope promised, fighting in the Crusades seemed like an opportunity for adventure at a time when people rarely left the land where they were born. Maybe one could acquire wealth or land where they were going, or do something brave in battle achieve a higher status. It is simply amazing that so many people wanted to go fight that the Pope had to make some basic rules about who could and could not go! It has been estimated that during the First Crusade about 5,000-10,000 knights traveled to the Holy Land, along with 25,000-50,000 foot soldiers, with about that same number of other people, such as peasants, who had little knowledge of fighting and no weapons or armor.

Answer: Reunite the Christian Church

Think about it! While trouble had been brewing between the Eastern and Western Churches for a long while, the Great Schism had just occurred in 1054. If the Pope could secure the assistance of the Eastern Christians to fight in the Crusades - which he did - it might also be that he would be able to free the Holy Land and reunite the two Churches.

Of course, this was not to be. The Crusades, which lasted over a period of 200 years, actually created more hard feelings between the two groups with each embroiled in both the religious and political conflicts of the time. It took until 1964 for the two Churches to agree to rescind the excommunication of Church leaders that had taken place in 1054.

Answer: Peter the Hermit

Peter the Hermit's launch of what is known as the People's Crusade is a prime example of the naivety of the people who participated. They were all fired up after receiving the promise that their sins would be forgiven, and really didn't even consider how they would supply their group on the long journey. After recruiting about 30,000 people who were predominately peasants, Peter decided to leave without the nobles.

Along the way, the group brutally attacked Jewish settlements, and, as they grew more desperate for food, they even attacked Christians. Needless to say, many members of the original group didn't complete even half of the journey, and few made it to the Holy Land, as they ended up being either killed or captured and sold into slavery.

Answer: Constantinople

European Christians would typically follow overland routes to the Holy Land, but there was a point when they also needed to travel by sea. The Byzantine Emperor extracted a promise from the Pope that if the Crusaders would capture former Byzantine cities, the cities would be returned to Byzantine control. In exchange, the Byzantine Emperor would see that the Roman Catholic Crusaders would have ships and guides, and even money and provisions.

Answer: Lance that stabbed Christ

The knights who set off in the First Crusade didn't seem to be having much luck. There was quite a bit of double-dealing from the Byzantine Emperor, as well as brutal attacks from their opponents. Ill equipped, running out of food, and troubled by disease, the army needed a boost. Peter Bartholomew, who was really just a peasant soldier, had a vision which guided him to a wall of a Church in Antioch.

The discovery of an old lance, reportedly the one that a Roman soldier had used to stab Christ, gave the group the inspiration they needed to continue fighting.

Answer: False

Eyewitness accounts reveal that the inhabitants of Jerusalem - whether they were Jews, Muslims, or Christians - had no choice in the matter. When the Christian army broke through the walls of the city on July 15, 1099, a massacre took place. It was so deadly and out of control that knights on horseback were said to have ridden through the streets knee deep in blood.

Historians today still debate whether this type of scenario actually took place. The Muslim historian, Ibn al-Athir, wrote in the early 1200s that 70,000 people were massacred. The fighting had brought many refugees to the city, but most people think the number was more like 40,000 people massacred. No matter how many were killed and regardless of the fact that this is what ancient and medieval people did after a siege, it didn't make the Christian army look good. They had taken the city that had been their main objective; now they had to figure out what to do with it.

Answer: Godfrey of Bouillon

The parts of the Holy Land that were now under Crusader control were divided into four states, which were then given to the commanding noblemen in the army to rule, along with a title. Godfrey of Bouillon, a French nobleman who had essentially been the leader of the First Crusade, was given the title King of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem for his contribution in taking over the city; he preferred, however, his title to be Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre.

Although sources do not agree how it happened, he died a very short time later - less than a year - but his successors ruled the city until 1187.