Causes and Effects of the Crusades
The Crusades were a series of holy wars that lasted two hundred years. The purpose of the Crusades was to “regain” the Holy Land which is Palestine and the Holy City which Was Jerusalem from Muslim controls. Pope Urban the second ordered these wars in 1096CE. He gathered the kings and knights to Europe to discuss the problem in the holy land. This discussion led to the series of the crusades with the knights which were called the crusaders. The effects of the Crusades on Europe of the middle Ages were an important factor in the history of the progress of civilization. I will be discussing the causes and effects of the crusade years and the causes and effects of the crusades. The crusades began with pope Urban. Once he said, “A grave report has come from the lands around Jerusalem... That a race absolutely alien to God... has invaded the land of the Christians...They have burned our churches to the ground or thy have enslaved the churches to their own rites...” they cut open the navel of those whom they chose to torment… drag them around and flog them before killing them as they lay on the ground with all their entrails out... What can I say of the appalling violation of women? When pope urban said this, everyone responded… “Deus Vult!” (God wills it!). This speech made a lot of people angry which forced them to join the crusades and fight for their holy land. The crusades ended with many different types of effects. They were both positive and negative. A positive effect during these times was Cultural diffusion being increased when foreign products such as silk, rice, perfumes, coffee, and different spices were brought back from the Muslim culture. When the crusades ended Jerusalem was open to all faiths once again and the whole reason the crusades joined together was a success. When this happened, new learning ways were exchanged and the Muslims developed a new way of building with heavy stones and this was an act of cultural diffusion because this idea was
Bibliography: Gibbon, Edward. “The Crusades, Without U.N.” Time Magazine. Monday, March 5th, 1951. Page 343. Lamb, Harold. “God Wills It!” Time Magazine. Monday, March 17, 1930. Page 56-57. Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. New York: Oxford Publishing, 1995. “The Crusades” The Encyclopedia Britannica@ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/144695/Crusades