History of the Crusades.

the Crusades. episodes.

Episode 2, the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire prior to the First Crusade.

Hello again.

Last week we took a brief look at Latin Christendom in the 1090s.

Today we are turning eastward to look at the political and religious situation there just prior to the First Crusade.

Firstly, we are going to look at the Middle East.

In the early 600s AD, the desert lands of the Arabian Peninsula were

populated by warring tribes of pagans, but this was all about to change.

In 610 a 40 year old Arabian businessman experienced

visitations by the archangel Gabriel in which she received the text of a

new scripture. This man later became known as the Prophet Muhammad

and the scriptures he received formed the basis of the Quran and a new religion, Islam was created.

Mohammed's message was similar to that of Jesus, Abraham and Moses who had come before him.

The message was this, there is only one God and pagan gods should no longer be worshipped.

Mohammed attempted to convert the pagans around the city of Mecca.

It did not go well. He was forced to flee to the nearby city of Medina, where he took

up arms and waged war against Mecca, finally defeating the city some 10 years later.

To cut a long story short, Islam then spread and spread.

By the time of his death, the warring tribes of the entire Arabian Peninsula were united by Islam. This was a significant development.

Individuals living in Arabia were used to struggling against each other. Once you were born into a certain tribe,

you were destined to fight against other tribes

...