Lootlizard t1_ireljg0 wrote on October 7, 2022 at 2:00 PM

Yes, that was the main reason the pope called for the crusade. There were constant tiny wars going on and people were pretty over it. The Pope hoped that by creating a common enemy he could get all the Christian kingdoms to stop killing each other for 5 minutes. If a bunch of the craziest ones died fighting and you got the holy land back then all the better.

Prov0st t1_ireqnsd wrote on October 7, 2022 at 2:41 PM

And then in the fourth Crusade, instead of hitting their objective, they went for a side mission and hit the Byzantine empire instead.

[deleted] t1_irhmd9t wrote on October 8, 2022 at 5:48 AM

[removed]

Gerf93 t1_irezi0r wrote on October 7, 2022 at 3:47 PM

A bunch of the craziest ones? Them Hauteville boys are at it again, aren’t they?

Wintersbone7 t1_irfr9uh wrote on October 7, 2022 at 7:17 PM

Also,the byzantine empire appealed to the pope for help against the rising power of the “infidel“ muslim forces. The emperor would learn that wasn’t a good idea.

Vyzantinist t1_irhihx1 wrote on October 8, 2022 at 4:56 AM

To be fair, Alexios I wasn't expecting anything like a crusade. He simply asked the Pope to encourage western knights to head east to help the Byzantines in their struggles against the Turk. Pilgrims like Robert III of Flanders had previously sent knights to help the Byzantines, so Alexios was probably expecting if the Pope made appeals for the desperate plight of Orthodox Christians more western European knights would be willing to head east to fight for the empire.

Wintersbone7 t1_iri94dl wrote on October 8, 2022 at 11:45 AM

That’s exactly it. Thank you. Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true.