The society is divided into different social classes with the aristocrats being the highest social level. In this ranking, they are the upper class of people who holds authority over the society with and hereditary ranks and titles. Aristocrats may also be used to refer to the members of the military caste in other societies and most commonly to a priestly dynasty below the monarch in a hereditary society. Crusades were military responses by European Christians from 1095 in response to the spread of Islam which had spread vastly through the meddle-east. The move was to recapture the holy land which had fallen under the Islam influence. The initial crusades were less successful as they encountered stiff rebellion from the Islamic side who had reorganized earlier. The aristle families practised primogeniture during the period of crusades whereby the firstborn inherited everything and the subsequent siblings got nothing. This paper explains the appeal that many aristocrat younger brother found in the opportunity to participate in the crusades.
The first opportunity that the aristocrat’s younger brothers found in participating in crusades were to make money and acquire wealth. The wealth acquisition was in the form of recovery of the lands and property was confiscated by the Muslim wave who had conquered the most of middle-east. With most of the aristle siblings having nothing to inherit from their ruler families, this was a golden opportunity for them to gain wealth ( Wise, 1978). The pope urban II had promised that the crusade participants who helped in the re-acquisition of the lost property would be rewarded. He promised that the participants would have their sins forgiven, which was a precious moment for Knights who had committed crimes in the land. The engaged in the fights to receive forgiveness to enable them to live a righteous life thereafter.
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Secondly, the thirst for adventure made many of the young aristocrats’ brothers to join crusaded. The crusades were taking place in many countries in the middle east and parts of Europe. The participants were to travel to wherever there was an uprising to neutralize the situation and reclaim the land and the property (Wise, 1978). This meant that they would transverse several countries and kingdoms while flashing out the Muslim fighters. This was one of its kind opportunity for Many Christian participants to travel and explore the world. The crusade had people from different parts of the continents thus it enabled different people to meet and interact which formed part of the adventure.
Lastly, the king encouraged the troublesome knights to engage in the crusades to reduce their presence in their countries. Just like today where there are rebellious personnel within military forces, these troublesome individuals existed even in the earlier monarchies. For this reason, the kings of these regions sent them to join the crusade to lessen their presence and ease the pressure they brought. This meant that the kings were only left with loyal guards which guaranteed them peace and stability of the land ( Paul, 2012). In many cases, these individuals were troublesome due to greed of owning property too and the coming of the crusades allowed them to fulfil their desire through reclaiming the captured properties.
In conclusion, the young aristocrats’ brothers found their way in the crusades due to various reasons and motivations. For instance, some joined to acquire property, others needed to take part in the adventurous voyage while others were sent by the kings to join due to their troublesome nature. Even though many of the crusaders died in the mission, the least who were left were still motivated to fight on to redeem the holy land as God wanted and they finally were able to limit the spread of Islam which was spreading too fast.
References
Paul, N. L. (2012). To follow in their footsteps: The crusades and family memory in the high Middle Ages. Cornell University Press.
Wise, T. (1978). The Wars of the Crusades, 1096-1291. Osprey.
