The aims of the crusades
The Christian military expeditions called the Crusades were organized mainly to recapture Palestine during the Middle Ages. Palestine, also called the Holy Land, was important to Christians because it was the region where Jesus Christ had lived. Palestine lay along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and Muslims had taken control of it from Christians.
Pope Urban II, who called for the First Crusade, wanted to defend Christianity against the Muslims and to recover the holy places. He also wished to gain power and prestige for himself at the expense of a rival claiming to be pope. Urban believed that a military expedition against the Turks would unite the Christian knights and nobles of Western Europe and end their continual fighting with one another.
Many crusaders also joined the expeditions for other than religious reasons. French knights participated to win more land. Italian merchants hoped to expand trade in Middle Eastern ports. Many priests and monks wanted valuable religious relics. Large numbers of poor people joined the expeditions simply to escape the hardships of their normal lives.
Excerpt adapted from the "Crusades" article, The World Book Encyclopedia © 1999