The purpose of the Crusades was to gain and keep control over the holy land, known as Palestine, where Jesus resided. The western Christians didn’t think that it was right to have people of a different religion ruling the holy lands. The thought was that the invasion would reunite the Western and Eastern Christian faiths (Kagan, Pg. 212). With the help of Pope Urban’s speech the Christians became inspired by his words and were eager to defend what they thought was rightfully theirs. …show more content…
The Pope promised the people that if they went to battle and died that their sins would be removed and they would no longer be placed in purgatory. Purgatory is a time after death where they would remain while their sins would be purified. Christians wanted to live an eternal life in heaven, if they went to purgatory their chances of going to heaven could have been diminished. That along with the sheer fascination with being able to go to the holy land prompted the battle and made the victory of the first crusades a success (Kagan,