A Crusade for What?
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| Depiction of the capture of Jerusalem from the 13th century |
Crusader presence in the Middle East was extensive. At their height, realms established by European crusaders stretched the entire Eastern coast of the Mediterranean, spanning the modern borders of Israel, Lebanon, and including parts of modern Syria and Turkey. These states were not short lived, either, existing for almost two hundred years between 1098 and 1291. However, as far as I can tell, crusader influence took a form very different from the modern perception of colonialism and imperialism operate, creating more of a religious rift between Christianity and Islam than anything. The Christian population of the Holy Land did not grow to be a majority, or even plurality, in the region. There are no remnant populations of Frankish-speaking people in the modern Middle East, and any legacy of European institutions in the Middle East come from the influence of the much more recent French and British empires after the end of World War One. What, then, was the long term outcome of the Crusades?
Interestingly, Islamic sources view what is called the "First Crusade" the final phase of a struggle between Christian and Islamic civilizations that had begun much earlier, with wars launched by Christian rulers to conquer Islamic realms in Spain and Italy. The attempt to conquer the Holy Land was the logical conclusion, the final push from the western Mediterranean to the east (Chevedden 187). Organizing the armies and materiel for such a massive endeavor so far away was no easy feat, especially for the decentralized feudal kingdoms of Europe. Indeed, the Crusades saw kingdoms in Europe start to shift away from feudalism (Blaydes, Paik 552). The expenses associated with crusading saw a change in the way the ownership and sale of land was organized so that crusaders could fund their expeditions to the Holy Land, which had the side effect of weakening feudal perceptions and institutions surrounding the ownership and exchange of land (Blaydes, Paik 558). Crusading lords who did not sell their land found it necessary to levy emergency taxes across the general population, instituting the concept of a general tax (Blaydes, Paik 560). The Crusades also had the effect of reinvigorating European trade with realms in the east. Crusaders who returned home brought with them exotic luxury goods like silks, spices, and porcelain, which began to drive demand for those goods in Europe (Blaydes, Paik 561). Cities that served as trade hubs for these goods grew in wealth and density, shifting the source of wealth from agriculture in the countryside, the feudal model, to trade and enterprise within urban areas (Blaydes, Paik 561).
The Crusades, while incredibly destructive to Islamic civilization within the Middle East, seem to have began a process of social and economic change in Europe. While the Crusader states eventually disappeared, the changes in organization required to launch the Crusades eroded feudal institutions in Europe.
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