Pope Urban II proposed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to cleanse Christians of their sins. He claimed Muslims were tormenting Christian pilgrims, motivating between 60,000-100,000 Christians to join the First Crusade with little military experience. Their faith guided them as resources depleted, leading to violence out of desperation. Though the bloodshed was excessive, the Crusaders successfully reclaimed Jerusalem for Christianity, viewing it as a miracle despite the cruel journey. However, this spurred lasting animosity between Christianity and Islam.

1. Personal Selected Reading The First Crusade: A New History The Roots of Conflict Between Christianity and Islam By Courtney Scherer

2. Medieval Christianity emphasized the need for one to fear the contamination of sin tremendously, in fear of eternal damnation. These people often lived as monks desperate to achieve purity. Pope Urban II proposed a way for one to be promised a soul cleansed of sin—a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where they could be blessed and made pure. This was something these people could not refuse.

3. Pope Urban gave a series of sermons encouraging his Christian people fight for their faith by making a pilgrimage to recover their divine city of Jerusalem from the alien people—Islam. He claimed, without factual evidence, that these people were tormenting Christian pilgrims who traveled to the Holy Land, in which case they did not deserve to be given mercy due to their truly inhumane demeanor. This powerful proclamation brought about an enormous, unforeseen wave of between 60,000 and 100,000 people prepared to set out on the First Crusade, a battle spurred by passionate religious zeal yet known, for these above reasons, for unspeakable brutality .

4. This massive army lacked centralized rule and overall organization. Many of these soldiers were entering this battle with little or no military experience, making their undying devotion to their religious duties their guiding light throughout many of these unbelievably troubling, daunting circumstances. Resources were constantly depleting due to the sheer mass of the soldiers, giving high vulnerability to starvation and madness. As desperation grew so did the acts of merciless violence. Yet, faith grew stronger as these zealous Christians overcame each and every seemingly insurmountable hurdle.

5. Ultimately, the events of this First Crusade can be seen as nothing short of miraculous. Yes, the bloodshed was excessive, but in the end these Christian rejoiced in having reached their final destination, and were able to successfully recover their Holy City from Islamic rule. It was a cruel road that led to a passionate exuberance, which made these religious warriors forever proud to have made the painful journey. These crusaders made their fair share of mistakes, and yet we can't necessarily view them as nothing more than a group fueled by fanatic hatred, but rather a group fueled by the fear of burning in the fiery depths of Hell for all eternity. Regardless, from this point on both Islam and Christianity generally remain deeply rooted in their animosity towards one another, which has led to an impenetrable wall creating strong divisions between these religions.