Title: The Crusades: Consequences and Effects – Brewminate
Headings: The Crusades: Consequences and Effects
The Crusades: Consequences and Effects
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By Mark Cartwright
Historian
Introduction
The Middle East and Muslim World
The Spread of The Crusades
The Catholic Church
Byzantine Empire
Europe
Into the Modern Era
Bibliography
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Content: the use of a religious historical precedent to justify colonialism, warfare and terrorism. The Middle East and 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. The Muslim world had, prior to the crusades, already embarked on jihad – often translated as ‘holy war’ but meaning, more accurately, a ‘striving’ to both defend and expand Islam and Islamic territories. Despite the religious significance of Jerusalem to Muslims, the coastal Levant area was only of minor economic and political importance to the caliphates of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. The Muslim world was itself divided into various Muslim sects and beset by political rivalries and competition between cities and regions. The crusades did provide an opportunity for greater unity in order to face this new threat from the West, but it was not always an opportunity taken.