What did the Crusades Accomplish?

Some view the Crusades as wars of bloodlust, greed and power. War is an escalated conflict of interest usually over money and/or resources. The outcome of war is that one culture advances due to newly acquired resources or advancements made from the war. The Crusades, in principle, were originated to assist Constantinople from the onslaught of Seljuk Turks and free the Holy City of Jerusalem from the clutches of Muslim control. These events would create the most dramatic geopolitical upheaval until the discovery of the New World. Europe at this time was in a political rut called Feudalism.

david mahorney
HUMS 213
O. Mavromatis
31 October, 2007

The Islamic world was experiencing the height of their Golden Age through the conquering of other civilizations and scientific methods developed on their own. However, both worlds were becoming complacent and there were instances of in-fighting as a result. Without war, civilizations become stagnant and advancements dwindle as the ruling powers become to comfortable. The Crusades provided the stimulus that civilization needed to advance. The results were stimulations to the fundamentals of society.
The first successful stimulus was the result of crusader’s liberating old sea and land trade routes. Trade during the Middle Ages was centralized in the Mediterranean, Black and Red Seas (4). These were crucial maritime trade routes linking the East and West. The crusaders initially were able to maintain Western control of Constantinople, a crucial link between the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and much of modern day Israel, a link between the Mediterranean and Red Sea. The First Crusade was the most successful in taking control of the Holy Land. This established a trade route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The crusaders were only able to hold Jerusalem for a short period of time; however continuous crusades to the area drove capital and trade through these regions keeping them open to the West for that time.
Land routes crucial to Europe’s economic boom were also established by crusaders. Roads that had been neglected since the Roman Empire were being rebuilt and utilized to transport crusaders. Trade soon followed in the footsteps of these crusaders. The lords that owned the roads through their lands realized they could not impose tolls on the crusaders they sided with. The roads were also much safer during this period due to the alliance of lords for the good of the Crusades and the monetary gains being made from trade.
Consequently, once land and water routes became safer to traverse, goods from the East poured into Europe. These goods made their way into the European loop of fairs that had sprung up. Europeans were tantalized with exotic fruits, spices and silk. Their taste for Middle Eastern and Far Eastern products drove the demand to maintain the trade routes (9). “The Crusades brought about results of which the popes had never dreamed, and which were perhaps the most, important of all. They re-established traffic between the East and West, which, after having been suspended for several centuries, was then resumed with even greater energy; they were the means of bringing from the depths of their respective provinces and introducing into the most civilized Asiatic countries Western knights, to whom a new world was thus revealed, and who returned to their native land filled with novel ideas.”(8) So, Eastern and Western trade introduced through these newly opened routes stimulated the concept of interdependence between their cultures.
The next stimulation to civilization’s advancement came through the transferring of technologies due to crusaders opening trade routes to the East. Several inventions that originated in China and the Middle East found their way to the West during this period. One was the spinning wheel which revolutionized Flemish wool weaving. This wool was highly regarded as a valuable commodity by both Western and Easterners and was considered “smooth as silk” (1). Now with the help of an Eastern invention, the Flemish were able to increase production and provide wool to a global economy.
New paper making techniques were a closely held secret by the Chinese until they were defeated in the Battle of Talas. From there it spread throughout the Muslim world. When crusaders arrived in Damascus manufacturing was halted due to the war. However the Europeans would be introduced to the technology through copies of many significant ancient and scientific texts translated to Arabic and then to Latin. “Some historians speculate that paper was a key element in cultural advancement.” (7)
Paper was critical in another Eastern technology capitalized upon by the West known as cheques. Originating in China and moving west through the Middle East, this concept of financially backed paper was taken to new standards by crusaders such as the Knights Templar. They came to realize the expense of pilgrimage and crusades. The Knights Templar created a credit and banking system to help individuals who were unable to carry vast sums of money. In time, they became very wealthy and continued to make investments in Europe’s infrastructure.
These were just some of the many technologies that found their way to the West as a result of crusaders opening trading routes and continued contact with the East. Muslim scholars had made significant advances in science, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, engineering, and many other fields during their Golden Age (5). Hence, the Crusades proved to be a pivotal role in creating access to these technologies as well as opening routes for the interaction of Eastern and Western scholars. Thus, civil advancement was continued due to the availability of new ideas and concepts and other cultures’ abilities to expound them.
One final result of the Crusades was a social and political change that occurred in the West which led to a civil awakening. Feudalism was the primary form of government in the West. It was a government of protection, not of civic growth. Feudalism began to deteriorate with each Crusade. Nobles and lords were united in the quest by relinquishing their fights with one another and joining the Crusades. The actions of these men led to a void back at the manors and castles. Cities and towns became magnets to those who had a trade and those who wanted to trade. Europe had experienced food surpluses due to progresses made in agriculture (2). This had provided farmers with a surplus they would take to the marketplace. With the roads safer due to the lack of fighting, noblemen gone, and income opportunity in towns and cities, the remaining serfs decided to escape from their feudalistic living conditions. There followed a rise in the middle class consisting of merchants and artisans. Coupled with the increase in innovations and trade from the East, the transfer of power and money went from the noblemen to the cities. This would eventually lead to the fall of Feudalism as cities and kings would unite. This resulted in the usurping the nobles’ power and formation of monarchies as a more centralized form of government (3), thereby adding another significant civil advancement attributed to the Crusades.
In closing, the atrocities of war are and have always been a gruesome reality. The Crusades were, in war atrocities, no different than those prior to and until now. They were, however, a pivotal point in the advancement of civilization due to the stimulation of trade and technology between Eastern and Western cultures, the stimulation to city markets, and to the eventual demise of Feudalism. Without the Crusades, one can only speculate as to when civilization would have experienced the Italian Renaissance or the Age of Exploration and discovery of the New World.

Work Cited
(1) Butler, Chris. “FC63: The agricultural revolution in medieval Europe ” Chart. 2007. 17 Nov. 2007 .
(2) Butler, Chris. “FC63: The agricultural revolution in medieval Europe ” Chart. 2007. 17 Nov. 2007 .
(3) Butler, Chris. “FC68: Rise of the French monarchy (c.1000-1300) .” Chart. 2007. 17 Nov. 2007 .
(4) Crusades in The New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966, Vol. IV, p. 508
(5) “Fields.” Islamic Science. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 Nov. 2007. .
(6) Lewis, Archibald (January 1988). Nomads and Crusaders: AD 1000-1368.. Indiana University Press.
(7) “Papermaking Arrives in the Middle East.” Paper. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 Nov. 2007
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(8) “Rise.” Knights Templar. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 Nov. 2007. .
(9) “The Middle Ages.” International World History Project. 1992. 15 Nov. 2007 .