Final Capstone Project Essay

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Meisha Osmanski
Professor Parker
History 499
21 January 2014
Crusaders: The new martyrs “A belief in God often means believing in fighting on behalf of God, and in being rewarded in paradise.”1 When someone thinks of martyrs most people do not think of the Crusaders as being part of that group. In our modern definition it is seen as a helpless person who died due to a religious act of violence. When in actuality a martyr according to Webster’s dictionary is defined as “a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his or her religion. 2. a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause: 3. a person who undergoes severe or constant suffering: 4. a person who seeks sympathy or attention by feigning or exaggerating pain, deprivation, etc.”2 With this type of view and definition of a martyr one can clearly see that the Crusaders were well within their bounds to believe that they too should be considered martyrs. Before the Crusades the martyr was not usually considered as someone who would fight and kill and consequently possibly die in honor of said religion. The concept and idea of Christian martyrdom started from one of its leading figures Jesus Christ.

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This example or idea that Jesus Christ was the original martyr in the Christian religion has lead to centuries of people either wanting to become martyrs or people who see martyrdom as an instant way to gain access to heaven. “Martyrdom was hugely important in early Christian theology. The first Christians believed that Jesus’s promise, ‘Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of,’ was an invitation to martyrdom. Dying for the faith guaranteed immediate passage to heaven, where martyrs sit on a throne next to God himself.”3 Once the persecution that started in the early Roman Empire had ended, why did the Christians exchange one type of martyrdom for another? Instead of just being bystanders that were forced to comply with certain rules or die, they would become the ones doing the killing for their religion due to nonconformity by other “heathen” religions. The Christian church would develop a new type of martyr. This new martyr would not only be just a man or women of religion but would also be warriors that would fight and die in the protection of their beliefs. The popes and the religious leaders would capitalize on the fear of the common follower and offer immediate entry into heaven. Dying for your religion will be seen as a way to ensure their entry into heaven and the popes and religious leaders would use this fear as a way to ensure they would have soldiers to fight their battles and their Holy War.
Part 1: The rise and fall of Christian persecution and martyrdom in early Roman Empire.

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This desire to become a martyr for the Christian Church is something you see long before the times of the Crusaders and their Holy Wars. “Christians were first, and horribly, targeted for persecution as a group by the emperor Nero in 64 AD. A colossal fire broke out at Rome, and destroyed much of the city. Rumors abounded that Nero himself was responsible. He certainly took advantage of the resulting devastation of the city, building a lavish private palace on part of the site of the fire.”5 Nero would use the Christian followers as a scapegoat for the fire that killed so many and made many of the Roman people become homeless. Since Nero was suspected of starting the fire himself he used the already hated Christians as a way for suspicion to fall on the Christians and not himself. Because the Christian religion is monotheistic and only sees that there is one God, which directly conflicts with the thoughts and everyday practices of the average pagan Roman it made it easy for
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Nero to convince the Roman people of their guilt. The Christian religion would go as far as saying the gods of pagan religions are demons. “This negative image of the
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