The Crusades Essay -- European History Muslim War Essays

The private roadsThe Crusades series of wars by occidental European Christians to recapture the sanctum sanctorum Land from the Muslims. (Encarta Crusades) The Crusades first began in 1096 and ended in the late thirteenth century. The term Crusade origin bothy meant that the Europeans would use all their efforts to regain the power from the Muslims. They wanted to retake the city of Jerusalem, which was holy to Christians because thats where the crucifixion of Jesus Christ occurred. Europeans later used it to allocate any(prenominal) military efforts against non-Christians. The Crusaders also created feudal states in the Near East. The Crusades played an valuable role of European expansion and colonialism. They mark the first time Western Christendom undertook a military initiative far from home, the first time momentous numbers left to carry their culture and religion abroad. (Encarta Crusades) In improver to the efforts in the East, the Crusading movement includes other wars against Muslims, pagans, and dissident Christians and the general expansion of Christian Europe. Originally the object of the crusade was to help the Christian Churches in the East.(Mayer, 9) in like manner on the agenda was the peace of God, i.e. the prohibition of feuding on certain geezerhood and the immunity of certain spate, places, and things.(Mayer, 8). Basically the Crusades were an expression of militant Christianity and European expansion. They unite religious interests with initiationly and military views. Christians learned to live in contrasting cultures they also forced something of their own thoughts and beliefs on these cultures. The Crusades strongly affected the beliefs of people at the time, and to this day they are among the well-nigh famous chapters of medieval history.The crusades began to upgrade up after the devastation of Charlemagne, king of the Franks, in 814. After his death Christian Europe was under attack and weak. Magyars, nomadic people fro m Asia, pillaged eastern and central Europe until the 10th century. (Encarta Crusades). Starting in the grade 800, Viking raids interrupted life in northern Europe and even Mediterranean cities. But the greatest threat came from the forces of Islam. This was in consequence to Muhammad their notorious attracter dying, in 632. By the 8th century, Islamic forces had conquered North Africa, the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and or so of Spain. (Mayer, 3... ...Christian banner so far from home, given the contemporary conditions of transport and communication, was impressive.(Encarta, Crusades). The most important effect of the Crusades was economic. The Italian cities prospered from the transport of Crusaders and replaced Byzantines and Muslims as merchant-traders in the Mediterranean. sell passed through with(predicate) Italian hands to Western Europe with a big profit. This power became the basis of economics in the Italian Renaissance. It also make powers such as the At lantic like Spain and Portugal to seek trade through India and China. Their efforts, through such explorers as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus, helped to open most of the world to European trade dominance and colonization and to shift the center of technical activity from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.(Encarta, Crusades).Works CitedBarker, Ernest. The Crusades Books for Libraries Press. New York. 1923.Krey, August C. The First Crusade The accounts of Eye-Witnesses and Participants. Princeton University Press. 1921Mayer, Hans Eberhard. The Crusades Second Edition. Oxford University Press. 1965Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia 2004.