ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions-varying in size, strength and degree of success-occurred between 1096 and 1291.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Crusades. The Holy Land is the city of Jerusalem. It was religious land because Jesus and Muhammad had lived there. This land was sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Detailed explanation-3: -Only a handful of the Crusaders continued to the Holy Land thereafter. The conquest of Constantinople was followed by the fragmentation of the Byzantine Empire into three states centered in Nicaea, Trebizond and Epirus.

Detailed explanation-4: -On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II makes perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of “Deus vult!” or “God wills it!”

Detailed explanation-5: -The movement helped both to militarize the medieval western Church and to sustain criticism of that militarization. It arguably helped solidify the pope’s control over the Church and made certain financial innovations central to Church operations. And it both reflected and influenced devotional trends.