What was the impact of the Crusades on the Islamic world? Was it negative or positive? Explain.
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Answer:
The crusades of the 11th to 15th century CE have become one of the defining events of the Middle Ages in both Europe and the Middle East. The campaigns brought significant consequences wherever they occurred but also pushed changes within the states that organised and fought them. Even when the crusades had ended, their influence continued through literature and other cultural means and, resurrected as an idea in more modern times, they continue today to colour international relations.
The Return of the Crusader
The Return of the Crusader
by Karl Friedrich Lessing (Public Domain)
Many exaggerated claims have been made concerning the effects and consequences of the crusades on life in the Middle Ages and later. There were, undoubtedly, momentous changes in life, politics and religion from the 11th to 14th centuries CE, but it is perhaps prudent to heed the words of historian and acclaimed Crusades expert T. Asbridge:
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The precise role of the Crusades remains debatable. Any attempt to pinpoint the effect of this movement is fraught with difficulty, because it demands the tracing and isolation of one single thread within the weave of history - and the hypothetical reconstruction of the world, were that strand to be removed. Some impacts are relatively clear, but many observations must, perforce, be confined to broad generalisations. (664-5)
The impact of the Crusades may thus be summarised in general terms as:
an increased presence of Christians in the Levant during the Middle Ages.
the development of military orders.
a polarisation of the East and West based on religious differences.
the specific application of religious goals to warfare in the Levant, Iberian peninsula, and Baltic region, in particular.
the increased role and prestige of the popes and the Catholic Church in secular affairs.
the souring of relations between the West and the Byzantine Empire leading, ultimately, to the latter’s destruction.
an increase in the power of the royal houses of Europe.
a stronger collective cultural identity in Europe.
an increase in xenophobia and intolerance between Christians and Muslims, and between Christians and Jews, heretics and pagans.
an increase in international trade and exchange of ideas and technology.
an increase in the power of such Italian states as Venice, Genoa, and Pisa.
the appropriation of many Christian relics to Europe.
the use of a religious historical precedent to justify colonialism, warfare and terrorism.
Middle East & Muslim World
The immediate geopolitical results of the crusades was the recapture of Jerusalem on 15 July 1099 CE, but to ensure the Holy City stayed in Christian hands it was necessary that various western settlements were established in the Levant (collectively known as the Latin East, the Crusader States or Outremer). For their defence, a steady supply of new crusaders would be needed in the coming decades and military orders of professional knights were created there such as the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller. These, in turn, inspired the formation of chivalric orders like the Order of the Garter in England (founded 1348 CE) which advocated the benefits of crusading on their members.
Despite the militarised presence in the Holy Land, the continued recruitment drive in Europe, and increased involvement of kings and emperors, it proved impossible to hold on to the gains of the First Crusade and more campaigns were required to recapture such cities as Edessa and Jerusalem itself after its fall again in 1187 CE. There would be eight official crusades and several other unofficial ones throughout the 12th and 13th centuries CE, which all met with more failure than success, and in 1291 CE the Crusader States were absorbed into the Mamluk Sultanate.
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TRAVEL BECAME MORE COMMON, INITIALLY IN THE FORM OF PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND & THERE DEVELOPED A THIRST TO READ ABOUT SUCH JOURNEYS WHICH WERE WIDELY PUBLISHED.
The Muslim world had, prior to the crusades, already embarked on jihad - often translated as 'holy war’ but meaning, more accurately, a ‘striving’ to both defend and expand Islam and Islamic territories. Despite the religious significance of Jerusalem to Muslims, the coastal Levant area was only of minor economic and political importance to the caliphates of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. The Muslim world was itself divided into various Muslim sects and beset by political rivalries and competition between cities and regions. The crusades did provide an opportunity for greater unity in order to face this new threat from the West, but it was not always an opportunity taken. Some rulers, most famously Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria (r. 1174-1193 CE), did employ the propaganda of religious warfare to present themselves as the chosen leader of the Muslim world to help them gain supremacy within it.
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