A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey: The Perception of Jerusalem before the Crusades

Abstract

Jerusalem, one of the oldest known cities,
with its settlement dating back to 3,000 B.C., is a unique place considered as being sacred by the three great
divine religions. It started being a frequent destination
of pilgrims who wished to visit the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, from the VIth century, when Christianity
gained freedom. While there were some interruptions
in the visits of the Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem,
which passed into Islamic rule in 638, they did continue until the time the Crusades began. Jerusalem, which
remained under Islamic rule for more than four centuries, enjoyed a calm and prosperous period during
this time. Jerusalem, which is very much worthy of the
phrase, “sacred land flowing with milk and honey,” as
depicted in the Old Testament, was very wealthy due
to its function as the meeting point of commercial activities, as well as being a great centre of religion
throughout history. Indeed, the tales of the riches seen
by the Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem became a topic
which was frequently talked about among the people
in a very short time. When the weak economic and social structure of eleventh century Europe is taken into
consideration, it is easy to understand the reasons for
the love of and desire to attain Jerusalem. Our paper
will discuss the perception of Jerusalem, which was
the motivation behind the Crusades, following the famous Sermon at Clermont, when Pope Urban II made his call for the Crusades, on the axis of its economic
dimensions in addition to its religious dimensions, by
taking into account the sources from the period.