Why did people go on crusades?

Answer 1

People went on crusades because there was a beautiful dome-called the dome of the rock, it was built on the rock where Mohamed was said to of sat and prayed and it was so holy that no Muslim was allowed to tread on this rock, also touch the rock, look at this rock or even breath on it, as it was so holy when visiting the dome. Therefore the Christians fought to get Jerusalem back while the Muslims fought to keep Jerusalem. These wars were said to last sometimes nearly 200 years. The middle ages were harsh for these religious people who went on crusades.

People went on crusades because they were there as a punishment or been paid by someone who had a punishement. They also went because they receive gold, silver and life stock to take home to their families. They sometimes went for Jesus, to a place were he was hung on the cross and buried and they would fight for him because he died for them.

Answer 2

There are a whole variety of reasons and Jonathan Phillips puts this very well that for all intents and purposes there were probably as many reasons for going on crusade as there were crusaders.

On the first crusade, the primary motivation seems to be religion. Most of the charters suggest that people were going because they believed it would save their souls and they would gain entry to heaven with a sinless record. There's been an argument raised that landless younger sons went so as to acquire wealth but this is dismissed by most historians in this field today and is considered somewhat outdated; if you want to read more on this topic I advise looking into books by...

Jonathan Riley-Smith,

Jonathan Phillips,

Thomas Asbridge

and there are a few others - Jotischky is worth a look but I find him a tad dry usually.

Hope this helped!