Day 5 - First Elluminate Meeting

Today I was so impressed with everyone's presentations of what they learned during the week, specifically about how the Crusades affected the art and architecture of Romanesque and Gothic periods.  It was very educational for me, since I am having trouble getting a text book.  I thought it was great that each person focused on something different and that we all viewed the assignment so differently.  It was like turning a silent movie into a 3-D extravaganza!

My presentation was not a fleshed out as I had wished; I took a lot in as I was researching, such as how the cathedrals evolved over time as the Crusades wore on for instance, thatched roofs were replaced by stone ceilings, to keep them from burning down during battles.  This gave rise to the perfection of the vaulting systems use during the Romanesque and Gothic periods.  An interesting fact I picked up during class presentations was that a cathedral would be built where ever the crusaders were victorious, as a way of taking back the Holy lands, spreading Christianity, and also to serve as an outpost for return journeys and future Crusades.

Here is what I presented during class:

The crusades lasted almost 200 years from 1095 and 1291.  The were religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by the Holy Roman Empire, especially the Francs.  The crusades were a way of keeping people's minds off of their troubles at home, give them an opportunity to seek treasure and riches for their home country in the name of religion, and also as a way of igniting the passion and loyalty to the church.

Above is a medieval image of Peter the Hermit leading knights, soldiers and women toward Jerusalem during the First Crusade.  He started marching with 40,000 men & women from Cologne in April, 1096, and arrived with 30,000 men & women at Constantinople at the end of July.  It was said to be a war of the paupers - very poor people who were wards of the church - they were empowered as spiritual soldiers by the crusade leaders.

In the image below, Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, gives an impassioned sermon to take back the Holy Land in the 15th century.  A way of firing people up in the name of Christianity and the church...  a kind of religious propoganda.  The Catholic Church and rulers during these times perfected using this kind of religiously impassioned pleas to incite conflicts and wars throughout the ages, many times for political or monetary gain.