Outcomes of the Crusades

The Crusades was a military campaign of Christians in Western Europe whose purpose is to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims. The papistic Catholic Church stimulated most of the support for the war, showing its intolerance to both Islam and Orthodox Christianity. Although spiritual in nature, the Crusades had become a bloody frenzy. Six military campaigns comprised the period, starting from the First Crusade in 1096, inspired by Pope Urban II, and ending in the Sixth Crusade in 1254, take by the king of France, King Louis IX.To this day, the Crusades is still a controversial because of the military excesses during the battles. However, many outcomes came out of the motion First, the European horizon expanded second, the encounters with the different cultures promoted learning as well as commerce in the midst of different civilizations third, as a result of the eastern influence, there was growth in western academism and philosophy and fourth, it sparked a dangerous c at a ti mept adapted in monarchy and politics. Among the noted significance of the first crusades was the increase contacts surrounded by the Europeans and the Byzantines and Muslims.During this time, the Byzantine was already beginning to decline and Islam was not as powerful as it once was, although still a formidable force. As regards the original intention of the Crusades, the Christians success of having Jerusalem under their chink never reached permanence. However, the first crusades effected the expansion of Europe, meaning it gained more strength than other competing civilizations did. Moreover, there became a balance of power between the Muslims and the Christians.During the First Crusade, supporters of the movement, such as those from Pisa and Genoa, sailed the Mediterranean Sea to bring dish up to Jerusalem. As a result, the ocean was again reopened to western shipping, and, in turn, communication was reestablished between the east and west. Although at several points the Chri stians ruled over the Holy Land, Muslims were able to conquer it again in the 12th century. However, the Christians keep to hold power over the sea. Thus, the ports in the countries such as Levant in the border of the sea were under their control.The number of commercial establishments grew rapidly in the ports of Syria and Egypt, and the Christians held autonomy over operations in the areas of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, which were sooner controlled by the Saracens (Riley-Smith 85). The sea routes were open for trade, allowing products of Asia to come in. In short, the Crusades opened the lines of communication and exchange of knowledge between the eastern and western civilizations through the trade. This made a significant contribution to the development of Europe in terms of both knowledge and economy.Some of the practices of Muslim science, literature and philosophy, as well as medicine had rig its way to Christian tradition (Riley-Smith 87). In time, the crusading movemen ts were divided into two groups the external Crusades and the internal Crusades. The former was tell mainly against Muslims, whereas the latter was a war against the perceived enemies of the Christian world. Unfortunately, the development of the internal Crusades enforced a violent thinkingthat is, violence is sanctified in ideological pursuits.The Crusades was originally a war to find out the Holy Land, but the concept of sanctified violence extended to the monarchy and the political sphere. What used to be the hallowed cause of defending the Church became a moral duty of defending the state (Riley-Smith 90). Indeed, the Crusades was a all important(p) moment in history, and one that people can learn from. That is, the good things that came out of it should be emulated, and its poisonous effects should serve as a warning to modern society. Works Cited Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The First Crusade and the topic of Crusading. Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania, 1991. 85-96.