Question

What was the impact of the Crusades on the Islamic world? Was it negative or positive? Explain please...

Answer 1

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. 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.

Explanation:

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.