Showing results by author "Luigi Russo" in All Categories

Il rogo del 18 marzo 1314 decretò la fine di Giacomo di Molay, ultimo Gran Maestro Templare, ma non cancellò affatto il ricordo di un potente ordine monastico-cavalleresco nato nel XII secolo per la difesa dei pellegrini che giungevano in Terrasanta e che con il tempo aveva accumulato un potere enorme, giungendo ad occupare un ruolo chiave nella Cristianità dell'epoca.

The great reigns of the crusades are on the edge of collapsing. In the beginning of A.D. 1200, political problems arose internally and conflicts with the papacy pushed the importance of the Holy Land into the background. However, the arrival of a new and young French king, Louis IX, whose religious fervor was beyond that of the other sovereigns of his time, changed the situation. The Muslim army found itself again confronted with the crusaders.

Pope Urbano raised an appeal in 1095 that significantly changed European medieval history. The mandate was to reconquer Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre, which for centuries had been in the hands of the Muslims. During the 12th century, Islamic leaders fought to extinguish Christian reigns that were founded after the first crusade. They were only partially successful in 1187 under the Kurdish leader Saladin. Jerusalem returned into Islamic hands, but the idea of the crusades was far from extinction.

Pope Innocent III, during the course of his papacy (1198-1216), gave a great impulse to the movement of the crusades, but this had no effect on the holy land. The crusaders conquered the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, and founded a new empire; however, the never reached Jerusalem.