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The Causes and Effects of the Crusades - Academic
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What were the Crusades?
The Crusades were holy wars fought between Christians in Europe and Muslims in the Middle East between 1095 and
1291. Although the main goal of the Crusades was to take control of Jerusalem away from the Muslims, there were many
reasons why European knights and others were willing to travel and fight a war in a foreign land.
Why were Europeans willing to fight the Crusades?
For centuries, Christians traveled from Europe to Jerusalem. In the 11th century, however, the Seljuk Turks, who were
Muslim, began to interfere with these pilgrimages (religious journeys). In 1071, the Seljuk Turks fought against the
Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert. The Byzantines, who were Christian, lost. The Byzantine emperor asked the
Christians in Europe to help protect his empire from the Turks. In 1095, Pope Urban II called for a crusade against the
Muslims to regain control of Jerusalem.
Read the following list of reasons and decide whether the reason is religious, political, or economic. Then, put a letter next
to each reason: R (religious – dealing with Christianity or Islam), P (political – dealing with kings, lords, nobles, popes),
and E (economic – dealing with trade and money).
Religious, Political or
Reason
Economic?
The desire to take control of Jerusalem away from Muslims.
The belief that fighting in a crusade would give you forgiveness of sins.
The chance to travel and make money.
The desire to defend the Byzantine empire from the Turks.
The opportunity for younger sons of European nobles to get new land in the Middle
East.
The possibility of opening up new trade routes between Europe and the Middle East.
Take another look at the reasons why Europeans were willing to fight. Which one would have convinced you most to go
on a crusade? Why?
Continue to the next page
Timeline of the First Four Crusades
There were nine Crusades fought by European Christians against Muslims. The following chart summarizes the first
four.
Crusades Years
Summary
At the urging of Pope Urban II in 1095, the First Crusade won in taking Jerusalem and was the most
First
1095-
successful from the European point of view. When Jerusalem fell in 1099, crusaders massacred Jews,
1099
Christians and Muslims alike. Then the leaders divided up the land into territories, each governed by
a European feudal lord.
Second
11471149
The Second Crusade started when Europeans lost control of territory that they had previously
controlled, to the Muslims. Led by King Louis VII of France and King Conrad III of Germany, the
Europeans failed to regain any land and the crusade was a failure from a European point of view.
The Third Crusade was a response to Jerusalem’s fall in 1187 to Salah al-Din (Saladin). Three great
Third
11891192
armies from Europe were led by Richard the Lion-hearted of England, Philip II of France, and the
Holy Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Europe’s greatest warrior. However, Frederick
accidentally drowned, the other two kings quarreled, and the whole crusade failed from a European
point of view.
Instead of going to Jerusalem, the Fourth Crusade went to the Byzantine Empire’s capital,
Fourth
1201-
Constantinople, for various reasons. The European armies looted (robbed) the city and overthrew the
1204
Byzantine emperor. The main outcomes of the Fourth Crusade were to deepen the division between
Greek and Latin Christianity and to hasten the Byzantine Empire’s decline.
1) Why did the first crusade begin? What happened in Jerusalem?
2) Why was the second crusade seen as a failure?
3) What was the purpose of the third crusade?
4) What made the fourth crusade different from the first three?
Effects of the Crusades
Read the following, after each section summarize 1 of the major ideas in the organizer.
Luxury Goods
Having experienced the luxuries of the East, many Europeans returned home with a desire to possess more of
the rich goods they had seen. They brought back rugs, silks, spices, camphor, musk, ivory, and pearls. This
desire made trade and commerce necessary. Hundreds of Italian merchants settled in Asia Minor and set up
trading stations. At these stations they could buy and ship home the new articles, which Muslim caravans were
bringing from China, India and the Spice Islands. This trade was extremely profitable to the Italian merchants,
who took advantage of the fact that boats had been improved and made larger during the Crusades. For
Europeans, this increased trade was one of the important outcomes of the Crusades.
Feudalism Weakens The Crusades also weakened both feudalism and the manorial system of medieval
Europe. Many knights left their fiefs to fight in the Crusades, and many serfs were freed for service in the
crusader armies. The Crusades also increased the use of money throughout Europe. A crusading knight could
not pay his expenses with sacks of grain and needed a simpler way to pay for goods.
Political Changes in Europe and the East
Nearly 200 years of struggle between the crusaders produced important political changes in the Muslim world.
After the Fourth Crusade the Muslims won nearly all of Asia Minor. Although a split between the Greek
Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches destroyed the last chance of a united Christian front against the
Muslims, the death of Saladin in 1193 led to political fragmentation in the united Muslims.
An Exchange of Ideas
Intellectually, the Crusades produced some positive results. Through the conflict over the Holy Land, Muslims
learned how to improve their defenses and build better protections, which would later influence the designs of
castles in Europe. A school of translators had been established, and Arabic works on science and philosophy
were translated into Latin and circulated throughout leading universities of Europe. The sophisticated urban
culture of Muslims also instructed its Christian conquerors in the planning and construction of cities, and the art
of scholarship of the Muslim world continued to influence others.
Trade and Commerce
Another means of interchange took place in the form of trade and commerce between the Europeans and the
Muslims. All of the major seaports of the Mediterranean were inhabited by a wide variety of peoples, all
brought together in the interest of exchanging goods and services. In this manner, exchange of languages took
place. For example, the words sugar, syrup, cotton, admiral, magazine, and many others came directly from
Arabic. The introduction of paper led eventually to the development of the printing press in Europe. The
Muslim pointed arch led to the contribution of enormous cathedrals with their vaulted ceilings. The silks and
spices of India and China were exchanged for furs, leather goods, and wood from Europe. With such an
enormous exchange of goods and ideas, the Muslims were able to create an advanced civilization.
Luxury Goods
Feudalism Weakens
Political Changes in Europe and the
East
An Exchange of Ideas
Trade and Commerce