Crusades Top 10

1. The goal of the Crusades was to recapture Jerusalem or the “Holy Land.”

2. Pope Urban II initiated the Crusades in 1095 “Deus Volt”

3. 1^st Crusade- Christians won the holy land and start the Crusades

4. Trade began between Europe and the Middle East

5. 2^nd Crusade- Sallah Al – Din re-conquers Jerusalem

6. Europeans conquer Byzantium

7. Catholics are kicked out when Byzantium re-conquers itself

8. Many reasons to go on a Crusade

9. European life was very bad before Crusades

10. Destroyed good Muslim in culture

“High ideas were besmirched by cruelty and greed enterprise and endurance by a blind and narrow self righteousness, and the Holy War itself was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God, which is a sin against the Holy Ghost.”

-Sir Steven Runciman

“While Western Europe has largely shaken off the legacy of the Crusades, their impact elsewhere in the Christian world shows just how long-lasting and destructive they were.”

-Dr. Jonathan Phillips

“The principal of the crusades was a savage fanaticism; and the most important effects were analogues to the cause.”

-Edward Gibbon

Summary Paragraph

One of the reasons that the crusades were important was because it weakened and destroyed the Byzantium Empire. Byzantium was pretty insignificant once the Crusades went through and didn’t recover their greatness. Another effect of the Crusades was that Europe increased culturally a lot. This resulted in more Mediterranean trade. The Europeans were also enriched technologically. The Muslims were smarter and more advanced and developed so the Europeans adopted many of their good ideas.