Oral Histoire seconde

« Intro : In this oral, I am going to be discussing how religion was a factor of exchange as well as a factor of war in medieval Mediterranean spaces. In this purpose, I will, as a first step, analyze the impact religion had on conflicts, and then on a second step, its impact on exchanges.

This analysis would so enable me to estimate the importance of these two factors, and so to figure out to what extent they are comparable. Part 1: To get started, let’s look at my first point which covers the impact religion had on conflicts. Firstly, when we know that the Mediterranean spaces were divided into three different religions, crusades are the perfect examples of conflicts due to religious dissensions. When Pope Urban the second called the Christians to free Jerusalem and the Holy Land in 1095, one part of the crusaders would be massacred the following year by the Turkish army.

In 1099, the second part would seize Jerusalem were Jews and Muslims would also be massacred.

In the same purpose, during the third crusade, hundreds of Muslim hostages had been beheaded by King Richard the first.

It is possible to draw essential conclusions from these facts. The first would be that religion was indeed a factor of conflicts, and the second would be that it was also a factor of war as people were sent to free areas, which implies fights on road and fights in the specific area.

It is illustrated by King Richard the first and Saladin, fighting in Jerusalem. This is similar to the sack of Constantinople in 1204, but in the case, it is only one religion that would be factor of conflict between its followers. Thus, it is how catholic crusaders coming from France, England and Germany, supported by a city state such as Venice, participated in the sack of Constantinople, a city that adheres to the orthodox Christianity.

This point is crucial as crusades were a matter of religion since wars were made in the name of God.

Moreover, it was such a factor of war to the extent that 8 crusades in total were organized, which shows the importance of religious tensions in medieval Mediterranean spaces. Part 2: However, religion was not.... »