The Success, Failures, and Outcomes of the Seven Major Crusades Essay Example
The Success, Failures, and Outcomes of the Seven Major Crusades
The seven major Crusades spanned the Middle Ages from A.D. 1073 to 1305 (Lovasik 96). Many modern historians tend to appraise most of the later Crusades as more blunder than success in the course for the preservation of western Christianity and the advancement of western civilization. However, a closer scrutiny of the totality of the Crusades reveals that the Law of Unintended Consequences (in the long course of history) provided great advantages for mankind, even amidst the many tragedies of the individual Crusades. With the exception of the misnamed “Children’s Crusades”, (which were actually two tragic Crusades of the 13th Century) Christian Crusaders not only succeeded in their original goal of reclaiming the Holy Land for Christians (as well as for Jews) succeeded in evangelizing many Muslims throughout the strongholds in the Middle East and even ultimately in providing better living conditions for the people of western and Middle-eastern civilizations. In the end, the Crusades were actually a great success because without them, the Holy Land would have stayed Muslim, Islam would have been strengthened against the Christians and the Jews and neither the east nor the west would have benefited from shared trade. The Crusades began in A.D. 1073 when Pope Urban II organized the kings, for nobles, and knights of Europe under one banner (bearing a cross of red fabric on a white background called a “crociati” [crusaders]) to win back the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks (Lovasik 98). Many atrocities had occurred to the Jews and the Christians, particularly near the Holy Sites in Jerusalem, since 1071 when the Turks brutally invaded. Until this time-in fact, since the time of Charlemagne-peaceful relations among Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, the Jews of the Holy Land, and the Muslims of the Caliphate of Egypt who ruled the Holy Land, had been enjoyed by all (Lovasik 96). By
The seven major Crusades spanned the Middle Ages from A.D. 1073 to 1305 (Lovasik 96). Many modern historians tend to appraise most of the later Crusades as more blunder than success in the course for the preservation of western Christianity and the advancement of western civilization. However, a closer scrutiny of the totality of the Crusades reveals that the Law of Unintended Consequences (in the long course of history) provided great advantages for mankind, even amidst the many tragedies of the individual Crusades. With the exception of the misnamed “Children’s Crusades”, (which were actually two tragic Crusades of the 13th Century) Christian Crusaders not only succeeded in their original goal of reclaiming the Holy Land for Christians (as well as for Jews) succeeded in evangelizing many Muslims throughout the strongholds in the Middle East and even ultimately in providing better living conditions for the people of western and Middle-eastern civilizations. In the end, the Crusades were actually a great success because without them, the Holy Land would have stayed Muslim, Islam would have been strengthened against the Christians and the Jews and neither the east nor the west would have benefited from shared trade. The Crusades began in A.D. 1073 when Pope Urban II organized the kings, for nobles, and knights of Europe under one banner (bearing a cross of red fabric on a white background called a “crociati” [crusaders]) to win back the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks (Lovasik 98). Many atrocities had occurred to the Jews and the Christians, particularly near the Holy Sites in Jerusalem, since 1071 when the Turks brutally invaded. Until this time-in fact, since the time of Charlemagne-peaceful relations among Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, the Jews of the Holy Land, and the Muslims of the Caliphate of Egypt who ruled the Holy Land, had been enjoyed by all (Lovasik 96). By