Causes of the Crusades in the context of Jerusalem Massacre

The crusades come to the agenda with the claims of the rescue of the holy land or the crusaders' pursuit of material interests. However, while these two reasons were discussed, the massacres during the expeditions were consciously ignored by some historians. The Western-centered understanding of history has built events or phenomena as they wish, highlighting the issues that they deem valuable for themselves, leaving the experiences they thought that it would be against them among the dusty pages of history. Considering this aspect, the crusades consist of a chain of important events that reveal the massacres regardless of the reasons. The aim of this article is to examine the reasons of the Crusades through the Jerusalem massacre. The main sources of the study will be the crusade chronicles, both the objectives at the starting point of the expedition will be easily determined and the reality of the objectives will be tested on the basis of the arrivals. Thus, the massacres of the crusaders in Jerusalem will be revealed and the reasons or aims of the crusades will become more visible