Y203: the Crusades and the Crusader States 1095-1192 | OCR A-Level History A (H505)

Y203: the Crusades and the Crusader States 1095-1192

80 questions
8 subtopics
Non-British period study, one of twenty-four
Y201 to Y224

The Crusades and the Crusader States 1095–1192 is unit Y203 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them.

Its four key topics are the First Crusade, the Crusader States in the 12th Century, the Second Crusade and the Third Crusade. 80 recall questions across 8 subtopics.

Sample questions from Y203: the Crusades and the Crusader States 1095-1192

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The First Crusade: situation in Western Europe, Urban II’s aims and appeal at Clermont

How did Christian thinking come to permit a holy war?

Show the answer
The idea of a just war fought at God's command was combined with the papacy's readiness to bless armies fighting for the Church, so warfare could be presented not merely as permissible but as an act of penance earning spiritual reward.
The First Crusade: motives of Crusaders, capture of Edessa, Antioch and Jerusalem

Why did the First Crusade suffer from divided leadership?

Show the answer
It had no single commander, only a council of princes of comparable rank such as Raymond of Toulouse, Bohemond and Godfrey of Bouillon, so every major decision required agreement among rivals who distrusted one another.
The Crusader States in the 12th Century: Establishment, problems of succession and internal rivalries

Why was the capture of the coastal ports so important to the survival of the states?

Show the answer
The ports were reduced one by one with the help of Italian fleets, and they gave Outremer the harbours through which reinforcements, pilgrims, supplies and money arrived from the West, while their customs revenues became the crown's main income.
The Crusader States in the 12th Century: manpower, castles, the military orders and finance

Why were so many castles handed over to the military orders?

Show the answer
The great fortresses cost more to garrison and maintain than most lay lords could afford, whereas the orders had European estates producing a steady income and a permanent body of trained men.
The Second Crusade: Zengi, the fall of Edessa and the call to crusade

What was Zengi's relationship with Damascus?

Show the answer
He repeatedly tried to take Damascus, which drove its rulers into an alliance with the Kingdom of Jerusalem against him.
The Second Crusade: events in Anatolia, Antioch, Acre and impact of the failure of the Second Crusade

What was decided at the council of Acre in 1148?

Show the answer
The kings, the queen mother and the barons of Jerusalem agreed to attack Damascus rather than march north against Nur ad-Din.
The Third Crusade: development of the idea of Jihad, Zengi, Nur ad Din and Saladin, problems in Outremer

Why did Saladin need to be seen as the leader of jihad?

Show the answer
He spent most of the years after 1174 fighting fellow Muslims, taking Damascus and then subduing Aleppo and Mosul, and as a Kurdish officer who had displaced his old master's family he lacked hereditary legitimacy, so championing the war against the Franks was what justified both his rule and those campaigns.
The Third Crusade: reasons for the failure and consequences of the Third Crusade for the West

Why did Philip Augustus leave the crusade in 1191?

Show the answer
He had been seriously ill, he had achieved his vow with the fall of Acre, and the death of the count of Flanders offered him an opportunity in France that he did not want to leave to Richard's advantage.

The 8 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The First Crusade: situation in Western Europe, Urban II’s aims and appeal at Clermont	Recall questions on the situation in Western Europe, the idea of Holy War, the Appeal of Alexius 1095, urban II’s aims and appeal at Clermont.	9
The First Crusade: motives of Crusaders, capture of Edessa, Antioch and Jerusalem	Recall questions on motives of Crusaders, the People’s Crusade, leadership of the First Crusade and divisions, journey across Anatolia, the capture of Edessa, Antioch and Jerusalem.	11
The Crusader States in the 12th Century: Establishment, problems of succession and internal rivalries	Recall questions on establishment, development, reasons for survival of Crusader States, including Jerusalem and Antioch, the role of rulers, western aid, problems of succession, including the death of Baldwin II, internal rivalries including Baldwin III and Melisende, the events of 1183–1186.	8
The Crusader States in the 12th Century: manpower, castles, the military orders and finance	Recall questions on the manpower shortage in Outremer, Muslim disunity, the functions of great castles, the Templars and Hospitallers, their military value and political problems, and royal revenue and taxation in Jerusalem.	12
The Second Crusade: Zengi, the fall of Edessa and the call to crusade	Recall questions on the weakness of the crusader states in the 1130s and 1140s, Zengi’s rise and jihad, the fall of Edessa in 1144, Eugenius III’s crusading bull and Bernard of Clairvaux’s role.	9
The Second Crusade: events in Anatolia, Antioch, Acre and impact of the failure of the Second Crusade	Recall questions on events in Anatolia, Antioch, Acre, siege of Damascus, the Islamic response to the Second Crusade and the impact of the failure of the Second Crusade on the West.	11
The Third Crusade: development of the idea of Jihad, Zengi, Nur ad Din and Saladin, problems in Outremer	Recall questions on the development of the idea of Jihad, Zengi, Nur ad Din and Saladin, problems in Outremer, Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem.	9
The Third Crusade: reasons for the failure and consequences of the Third Crusade for the West	Recall questions on reasons for the failure of Frederick Barbarossa’s expedition, the roles of Richard I and Philip Augustus, events at Acre and Jaffa, consequences of the Third Crusade for the West, Outremer and the Islamic world.	11

Y203: the Crusades and the Crusader States 1095-1192 is 80 of the 6,240 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.