This is Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, with the History of Christianity Podcast #223, titled, “The First Crusade, Part 1.”
When I became a believer in Jesus Christ, I somehow had the false idea that Christianity began when I got saved. I had no concept of the hundreds of years of history that Christianity had gone through since the time of Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago. I have found that many believers, young and old, have the same false idea. The purpose of this broadcast is to dispel this notion by sharing with listeners the history of Christianity from the ministry of Jesus Christ all the way up until the present day in an easy-to-understand format. You don’t have to worry: this is not a lecture. This is a look at the basic facts and figures of Christian history that every believer and every person needs to be aware of.
Our Scripture for today is Mark 16:20 which reads: “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”
Our History of Christianity quote today is from Athanasius of Alexandria. He said: “Christians, instead of arming themselves with swords, extend their hands in prayer.”
Today, in the History of Christianity, we are looking at “The First Crusade, Part 1” from Dr. Justo L. Gonzalez’s fine book, The Story of Christianity (Volume 1).
For centuries, Christians had held the Holy Land in high esteem, and pilgrimages to its holy places had become one of the highest acts of devotion. Already in the fourth century, Constantine’s mother had considered a visit to the holy places of Palestine an act of devotion. Shortly thereafter, a Spanish nun named Etheria [UH-THEE-REE-UH], but commonly known as Egeria [UH-JEE-REE-UH], traveled to the Holy Land and left detailed notes of its places, customs, and Christian rituals. Her account, the Pe-re-gri-na-ti-o Ae-ther-i-ae, was still circulating in the eleventh century, and is an example of the manner in which the Christian West looked to the holy places as objects of devotion.
Those holy places had been in Muslim hands for centuries. But now the rise of the Seljuk [SEL-JUHK] Turks, who had become Muslim and were threatening the Byzantine Empire, reminded many of the earlier losses at the time of the Arab conquests. If the West were to save the Byzantines from that threat, it was to be expected that relations between the two branches of the church, broken since 1054, would be restored. Thus, Gregory VII had already envisioned a great Western army that would save Constantinople and retake the Holy Land. But the time was not yet ripe, and it was Urban II who, at the Council of Clermont in 1095, responding to a request for support against the Turks from Byzantine Emperor Alexis I, proclaimed the great enterprise, to which those present responded with cries of Deus vult [DEH-UHS VULT]–“God wills it.”
It was a difficult time in many parts of Europe, where crops had failed and disease ran rampant. Therefore, the call to go to a foreign land as soldiers of Christ was received with enthusiasm by many, both of the lower classes and of the nobility. The apocalyptic dreams that for centuries had been repressed, and that had been revitalized earlier, in expectation of the new millennium, now emerged again. Some had visions of comets, angels, or the Holy City suspended over the eastern horizon. Soon a disorganized mob, under the very loose leadership of Peter the Hermit, set out from Cologne [KUH-LOWN] for Jerusalem. Along the way, they fed on the land, on which they fell like locusts, and had to fight other Christians who defended their goods and crops. They also practiced their war against the infidel by killing thousands of Jews. Eventually, most of this initial wave lost their lives, and a few joined the ranks of the more organized crusaders.
The formal Crusade was led by Adhemar [AH-DEH-MAAR], bishop of Puy [PWEE], whom Urban had named his personal representative. Other leaders were Godfrey of Bouillon [BOOL-YAAN], Raymond of Saint-Gilles [SAINT JILL], Bohemond [BO-HEH-MOND], and Tancred [TANG-KRID]. By various routes, the crusaders converged at Constantinople, where they were well received by Emperor Alexius, and where Peter the Hermit joined them with the remnant of his ragged army. With the help of the Byzantines, they took Nicea [NAHY-SEE-UH], which had been the capital of the Turks–and which the Byzantines entered first, for the emperor feared that the crusaders would sack the city. They then marched on Antioch, and endured many sufferings while crossing Asia Minor. Before the walls of Tarsus, Tancred [TANG-KRID] and Baldwin, Godfrey’s younger brother, quarreled, and Baldwin decided to abandon the enterprise and accept the offer of the Armenians to establish himself as their leader, under the title of Count of Edessa [IH-DES-UH]. The rest continued their long march to Antioch, to which they finally laid seige, as they had done earlier before Nicea [NAHY-SEE-UH].
The siege of Antioch was a difficult enterprise. The besieged had more supplies than the crusaders, who were about to run out of food and had been plagued by desertions, when an Armenian Christian who resided in the city opened a gate to them. At the cry of “God wills it,” the crusaders entered the city, while its Turkish defenders sought refuge in the citadel. But four days later a large Turkish army arrived, and the crusaders found themselves besieged while the citadel itself had not yet surrendered to them. Hungry and discouraged, the crusaders began to doubt the wisdom of the entire enterprise.
Then someone said he had a vision, that the Holy Lance with which Christ’s side had been pierced lay buried in Antioch. Led by the seer, they dug where he told them. And they found a spear! Convinced that this was the Holy Lance, the crusaders resolved to continue their enterprise. After five days of fasting and prayer, as indicated by the visionary who had told them of the Holy Lance, they sallied against the much larger Turkish army. Their standard was the Holy Lance. They were possessed of such frenzied zeal that the Turks broke and ran, and the crusaders helped themselves to all the provisions that the Turks had brought with them. They also captured many women who had been left behind in the Turkish camp, and an eyewitness boasting of the holiness of the Christian army says: “We did nothing evil to them, but simple speared them through.”
Next time, we will continue looking at “The First Crusade.”
Let’s pray.
—PRAYER—
Dear friend, simply knowing the facts about Christian history without knowing the One on Whom this faith is based will do you no good. If you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, may I encourage you to get to know Him today. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can be a part of the church in this life and in the life to come. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will. Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Until next time, remember that history is truly His story.
The History of Christianity 