In my opinion, the first crusade was the most successful crusade. It was launched by Pope Urban II in the year 1095. The stated goal of the first crusade was to capture the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. The first crusade very quickly turned into a migration and conquest of territory outside of Europe.

Urban planned the departure of the crusade for August 15, 1096, the Feast of the Assumption, but months before this a number of armies made up of peasants left for Jerusalem on their own. They were led by a monk named Peter the Hermit of Amiens. Urban expected a few thousand knights, but ended up with a migration numbering up to 100,000 people, most of which were unskilled fighters, including women and children.

Leaving Europe around the appointed time in August, the armies took different paths to Constantinople and gathered outside its city walls in December 1096. The crusaders arrived in Constantinople with little food, and expected help from Alexius I. Alexius agreed to send a Byzantine army under the command of Taticius to accompany the crusaders through Asia Minor. Many crusaders died on the march through Asia due to lack of food and water, as did many horses. Sometimes the crusaders would get lucky and christians would give them gifts of food and money, but when they didn't the crusaders were forced to loot and pillage whenever the oppurtunity presented itself.

Meanwhile a plague broke out, killing even more people, including the legate Adhemar. There were now even fewer horses than before, and Muslim peasants refused to give them food. In December, the capture of Ma'arrat al-Numan took place and the first act of cannibalism by the crusaders took place. In 1099, the march to Jerusalem was renewed, leaving Bohemund behind as the first Prince of Antioch.

On May 7 the Crusaders finally reached their targeted city, Jerusalem. Many soldiers even wept upon seeing the city they had traveled so long to reach. Again, many crusaders died due to the lack of food and water in Jerusalem. The crusaders put Jerusalem through a lengthy seige. Though only 1,500 soldiers remained of the crusaders, they got hope from a priest named Peter Desiderius, who claimed to have had a divine vision instructing them to fast and then march around the city walls barefoot. Over the course of that afternoon, the crusaders almost every inhabitant of Jerusalem, leading to them taking it over completely.

The first crusade was very successful and involved the siege of Jerusalem and Antioch. Though they used some very odd methods, such as cannibalism, Christians proved to the Muslims that they were willing to make incredible sacrifices to insure the defeat of their enemies. It worked and led to a very successful siege of Jerusalem, which was the overall main goal of the first crusade. The success of a mission is goal achievement, and this is what the Christians accomplished. Christian success also served to fire up support for successive ventures. It must have been a debilitating psychological defeat for the Muslims because there are still, to this day, strong anti-Christian sentiment on the part of the Muslims that has its roots in the Crusades. The first crusade was considered very successful because even though they lost many lives in the battles, they really expressed their faith in the Christian cause and their love for God.

Our school's blogs are pretty good thanks to Mr. Lockwood so it made it pretty tough to pick out the ones that I like because they are all pretty good. But I chose some that I favored over the rest.

The first blog is a good blog because it is more than just the bare minimum. Some blogs, including mine, are five links and no actual research. This blog is different because he found as much information on the topic as he could and shared it in a way that made it very easy to understand and also very entertaining to read.

My second blog of choice was decent, but was nothing spectacular. The blog has no links, which limits the amount of information on the blog, and also has very random and jumpy thoughts. It does not blend very well and was a little tougher than the first one to read.

The third blog that I am critiquing is also a little below average. It is pretty much the bare minimum, five links and he's done. This made the blog a little difficult to read. There are also grammatical errors throughout the blog.

The fourth blog is, in my opinion, the best blog that I have read so far. His blogs are incredibly detailed and well above average. His facts are plentiful and his links are perfectly on subject.

The final blog that I have critiqued is also a very good and indepth blog. It's by a senior which means he has had a whole lot of practice on blogging thanks to Mr. Lockwood. It is incredibly detailed and from the looks of it he spent a lot of time doing the research on them. This blog and the fourth blog that I critiqued are both very good and my two favorites out of the whole school.

Baseball is America's favorite past time and if you are a teen who doesn't enjoy baseball then you have some problems. The earliest reference to baseball came in 1744, but the first real thing happened in 1838 when Dr. Adam Ford had a contemporary description of the game. The first semiprofessional baseball club was the Cincinnati Red Stockings who assembled in 1869. Baseball has come a very long way since then and there are now 30 teams in the major leagues. Some kids, including me, would be lost without baseball, and I couldn't imagine how much spare time I would have if baseball was never invented.

Well I was just surfing the web and I stumbled upon something that, to tell you the truth, freaked me out. The Jetsons, a tv show from the early 60s, used flying cars for transportation. It will never actually happen right? Wrong! The first flying car has already been made. Now are people gonna get killed by drunk flyers? Or is a teen gonna take their dad's flying car and go for a joy fly? To me it sounds unreal. But only rich actors or athletes will be able to buy them right? Wrong again! The starting cost is $1 million but once they are mass produced the price might come all the way down to $60, 000! They fly up to 50 feet high and travel at 200- 400 MPH. There are actually people who think the see flying cars in the world now! People claim to have seen flying cars in New York, San Francisco, Florida, and Los Angeles. If you ask me I'd say that these people are complete whackos. But hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion no matter how crazy it might sound. If they do make a flying car and it looks anything like this, I am making a promise to myself to never buy one. I think I'll stick to the ground before being caught dead in one of these.

Kobe Bryant based his game off of Michael Jordan's, the all time great. But the real question is, who is the better player? Well let's compare. Both players are 6'6" and their weight is very similar. Both Kobe and Michael could nail the jump shots that most viewed as impossible. But there is one large barrier that in my mind, just might separate the two. January 22, 2006 was a night that Lakers' fans, like me, will probably never forget. He started the night average for him, 26 points, and finished with a total of more than I even hope to score this whole year in basketball, 81. This is the second highest points scored ever in one game , behind Wilt Chamberlain and his 100 point phenomenon. Wilt Chamberlain is said to be the greatest player to ever play the game and on March 2, 1962 he showed why many people thought this. So in my opinion Kobe Bryant might be a hair better than Michael Jordan, but neither even compare to Wilt, the all time great.

The First Crusade was the only crusade that reached it's objective of recover the Holy Sepulcher. The movie we have been watching stated that "The First Crusade was better known as the cannibilism crusade". Pope Urban II made one crucial mistake, offering his men Papal Indulgences and telling them that no matter what they did that they would go directly to Heaven. The Crusaders had their own battle cry, "Deus lo volt", which means God wills it. This is what they would scream in battle. The First Crusade led to the capturing of Jerusalem. Though this power only lasted for less than a couple hundred years, the First Crusade was still a major turning point in the growth of Western power. The largest positive outcome of the First Crusade was it's success in establishing the Crusader states of Edessa, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Tripoli.

The Third Crusade, which was also known as the Kings' Crusade, was mainly trying to capture the Holy Land from Saladin. Gregory VIII, the new pope, did not try to have the church lead the crusade. Instead he had Archbishop Joscius of Tyre go directly to France to appeal to the kings. Saladin knew that Richard's objective was to capture Jerusalem so Saladin followed Richard very closely. The final treaty was signed on September 2, 1192 and Jerusalem was to stay in Muslim hands.

A Privilege Granted by Pope Eugenius III
"Moreover, by the authority vested by God in us, we who with paternal care provide for your safety and the needs of the church, have promised and granted to those who from a spirit of devotion have decided to enter upon and accomplish such a holy and necessary undertaking and task, that remission of sins which our predecessor Pope Urban instituted. We have also commanded that their wives and children, their property and possessions, shall be under the protection of the holy church, of ourselves, of the archbishops, bishops and other prelates of the church of God. Moreover, we ordain by our apostolic authority that until their return or death is fully proven, no law suit shall be instituted hereafter in regard to any property of which they were in peaceful possession when they took the cross.
Those who with pure hearts enter upon such a sacred journey and who are in debt shall pay no interest. And if they or others for them are bound by oath or promise to pay interest, we free them by our apostolic authority. And after they have sought aid of their relatives or lords of whom they hold their fiefs, and the latter are unable or unwilling to advance them money, we allow them freely to mortgage their lands and other possessions to churches, ecclesiastics or other Christians, and their lords shall have no redress.
Following the institution of our predecessor, and through the authority of omnipotent God and of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles - which is vested in us by God - we grant absolution and remission of sins, so that those who devoutly undertake and accomplish such a holy journey, or who die by the way, shall obtain absolution for all their sins which they confess with humble and contrite heart, and shall receive from the Remunerator of all the reward of eternal life."

Source:Dana C. Munro, "Urban and the Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1895), 12

The Second Crusade began when the Muslims recaptured Edessa. The Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugenius III in 1145. Four key participants in the Second Crusade were King Louis VII, Conrad III, and Bernard of Clairvaux. Conrad's poorly disciplined troops created tension in Constantinople, where they arrived in September . The downfall of the Second Crusade had many reasons. One being poor strategic planning. The Second Crusade ended in July of 1148 .

Due to St. Bernard's popularity they had him write a letter promoting it. In it he says "God hath commanded me. Slay them not, lest my people forget."
He also says that when he gets enough troops "all Israel shall be saved".

http://www.crusades-encyclopedia.com/psbernardcallforcrusade.html