HWC, The Crusades

The Crusades - Page 21 of 21

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Results of the Crusades

It is common for textbooks to talk about the results of the crusades: increased contact with the East, opening up of markets, Arab influence on styles and customs, changes in military practice. While all these certainly came about at one time or another, crusades were preached from the end of the eleventh century on into the sixteenth century. One has to be cautious in assigning any sort of result to a movement that covers five hundred years.

Crusading activity simply became a part of European culture, the idea of making war on the enemies of the Church became part of European thinking. In a sense, the religious wars of the Protestant Reformation are the logical result of this mentality; by the time Europeans had exhausted themselves in internal religious war, we hear no more about wars against the infidel.

If we can assign specific results anywhere, it must be to the First Crusade. By creating formal states in the Holy Land, the First Crusade created a tie between Europe and the Near East. It was from this crusade that the consequences listed in the first paragraph above resulted, and that is why this crusade has received the attention of this narrative.

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History of Western Civilization

Boise State University
Last Revised 18 August 1995