Text 6: The Effects of the Crusades Topic 7: Medieval Christian Europe (330-1450) Lesson 4: Economic Expansion and Change: The Crusades and After
BELLWORK How did the Crusades lead to the Age of Exploration?
OBJECTIVES Explain the effects of the Crusades Explain why the Byzantine empire collapsed
The Effects of the Crusades The Crusades failed in their chief goal conquer the Holy Land They also left a bitter legacy of religious hatred In the Middle East, both Christians and Muslims committed atrocities in the name of religion The Crusades did have positive effects on Europe They began just as Europe was undergoing major economic and political changes, the Crusades helped quicken the pace of those changes, contributing to the end of medieval Europe In Europe, crusaders sometimes turned their religious fury against Jews, killing entire communities
A Growing Demand for Goods Even before the Crusades, Europeans had developed a taste for luxuries that merchants brought from the Byzantine empire The Crusades increased the level of trade with returning crusaders bringing even more fabrics, spices, and perfumes from the Middle East to a larger market Trade increased and expanded
Merchants in Venice and other northern Italian cities built large fleets to carry crusaders to the Holy Land Those fleets were used to open new markets in the crusader states Even after the Muslims recaptured Acre, Italian merchants kept these trade routes open
The Crusades further encouraged the growth of a money economy To finance a journey to the Holy Land, nobles needed money They allowed peasants to pay rents in money rather than in grain or labor Peasants began to sell their goods in towns to earn money, a practice that helped to undermine serfdom
Changes for Monarchs and the Church The Crusades helped to increase the power of monarchs They managed to gain the power to levy taxes in order to support the Crusades Some rulers, such as the French king Louis IX and the English king Richard I, called the Lionheart, led crusades, which added greatly to their prestige
Enthusiasm for the Crusades brought papal power to its greatest height The growing power of the Church brought popes into a bitter struggle with feudal rulers in Europe Byzantine resentment against the West hardened as a result of the Fourth Crusade, which ended in the sack of Constantinople The Crusades did not end the split between the Roman and Byzantine churches as Pope Urban had hoped
Europe Gains a Wider View of the World Contacts with the Muslim world led Christians to realize that millions of people lived in regions they had never even known existed After many years in China, he returned to Venice and wrote a book about the wonders of Chinese civilization Curious Europeans left to explore far-off places such as India and China In 1271 Marco Polo set out for China with his merchant father and uncle
The experiences of crusaders and of travelers like Marco Polo expanded European horizons and contributed to the end of medieval Europe by bringing Europe into a wider world from which it had been cut off since the fall of Rome By the 1400s, a desire to trade directly with India and China would lead Europeans to a new age of exploration
Impact in the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire The Crusades occurred during a time when Muslims in the Middle East were locked in frequent local power struggles On occasion, rival Muslim rulers joined forces to fight the European invaders Saladin briefly united lands from Egypt to Syria, but divisions soon reappeared
The Fourth Crusade further weakened the Byzantine empire, which had already lost most of its lands As the empire continued to decline, it faced a new threat, this time from the Ottoman Turks In 1453, finally fell to the invaders led by Mehmet II