After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a period of chaos and disarray known as the Dark Ages. For the duration of the Dark Ages, peasants were desperate for protection while rich landowners were desperate for workers. Thus, a system known as feudalism, in which lords protected peasants in exchange for labor, developed. Under the feudal lifestyle, trade slowed to almost a complete stop due to self sufficiency on manors. Education and almost all greco-roman culture disappeared. When Pope Urban II was urgently called to help the Byzantine Emperor, he stepped up in order to conquer the Holy Land of Jerusalem from Muslims. However, while the crusades ultimately failed and lead to religious intolerance, they ended the Dark Ages …show more content…
The Crusades required soldiers to travel across the Mediterranean Sea to reach Jerusalem. Hence, Italian merchants built fleets to carry to Crusaders to the Holy Land. According to the Description of the Economic Impact of the Crusades, after the crusades, Italian merchants “used those fleets to open new markets” and “kept these trade routes open” (Document 2). When the Crusaders came back from the Holy Land, new items such as sugar, cotton, and rice entered Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. Once Europeans were exposed to luxuries, they wanted more and more. Trade increased all throughout Europe, and the West entered a period of economic expansion. However, not only did Europe experience perks from the crusades, but so did the Muslims. The passage Description of some of the Effects of the Crusades describes how Muslim rulers “encouraged trade with European businessmen” (Document 5). Because Europe was in desperate need of the Islamic Empire’s sugar, cotton, and rice, Islam markets experienced new wealth and riches. Thus, both Europe and the Muslim Empire benefited from an increase in …show more content…
Before the crusades, Europeans were self sufficient, living off the their Lord’s Manor. Peasants and serfs traded using items, and there was no need for money. However, nobles needed money in order to pay for travel to the Holy Land. Thus, they allowed the serfs to pay rent in money as well as goods. In order to earn money, peasants sold their items in town, which in turn lead to growth of towns and cities. With an increase in urbanization, serfs saw an opportunity to start a better life away from manoralism. Hence, many serfs ran towards rapidly growing cities. Trade finally flourished throughout Europe, and as stated in More on the Effects of the Crusades, “Nobles and merchants enjoyed the new luxuries and wanted more of them” (Document 8). However, as trade rapidly increased, it not only brought goods from the Islamic Empire, but it also ideas. As new ideas reached Europe, people shifted interest towards education, and life in towns and cities became more popular. Additionally, the Description of the Motivation Behind the Crusaders Desire to Fight in the Holy War illustrates that many Europeans went to the Holy Land in order to “[look] for adventure, for estates, or for commercial opportunities” (Document 3). Although the crusades’ primary goal was to conquer the Holy Land, many Europeans were attracted to the crusades because new experience and opportunity. Serfs and low class citizens
Europeans were motivated to conquest to gain money, and trade was one of the channels where they found it. However, during
Between 500 to 1500 A.D in Europe, there was a period of time called the Middle Ages (OI). During this time, kings, nobles, knights and serfs lived together in a society called feudalism (Doc. 1). The Church was very important, trade began to grow, and the knights lived by a code called the Code of Chivalry. During this time, the social, political and economic lives were influenced by the feudal system and the Church.
When the crusades began there was a rise in trade, decreased feudalism, and new access to trade with the Middle East. Europeans also had a desire for luxuries from the Byzantine Empire. The increase in trading with the Byzantine Empire led to new ideas, food products, and household goods. The food products from the Byzantine Empire were: rice, coffee, sherbet, dates, apricots, lemons, sugar, and spices such as ginger, melons, rhubarb and dates. The household goods traded were: mirrors, carpets, cotton cloth for clothing, ships compasses, writing
Europe was too crowded for people so people went and fought in the crusades for a new and less crowded home in the middle east. The Pope convinced a lot of people to fight in the crusades because of area the
Meaning, they were free to travel anywhere to trade and not limited to Italy. Religion was a major cause of the Crusades because the Holy Roman Empire wanted to conquer the muslim religion and bring back Christianity. Western Europe was centered on Christianity because it united their culture for the better.
The crusades were a big part of the 11th century, as wars had came and go people were joining for money or religion. For religion people were promised to go to heaven and live a blessed holy life, and god would always protect him or her, but they were just promising things they couldn't help or control. Then when it came to the money factor of the Crusades, they were promising more than they could give, however they did deliver the minimum but after people got the money, furniture, goods and etc. people just wanted more and more, and they didn't have enough give give more and more as the people wanted. So there are many different ways ad things you could argue but I think that it was more an economical gain, because again they got want they wanted and said but they didn't care about God they were greedy and wanted more and more.
After the First Crusade in 1096, Christian kingdoms were very upset. By 1144, a Mamluk general, Imad-ed-din Zangi, had succeeded in uniting enough Turks and Arabs in his army to attack the Christian kingdoms. Zangi did not take Jerusalem, but he did take the Syrian city of Edessa nearby. In Europe, people were very upset when they heard that the Turks had taken Edessa.
1. The first crusade was in the East and involved Anatolia, Levant, and Palestine. It was an expedition aimed at getting back the Holy Lands that the conquest of the Levant had taken. 2.
Increased trade with China and the middle east impacted medieval society because the middle east used to be less popular but now since China trades with them the China people start living in their areas. “Although isolated at first, became more connected to the established global trade along the silk roads” (Doc.4). This states that more people came into their town to trade. They were isolated at first but now they are more populous. This impacted the economy of medieval
First Off, the Islamic and Byzantine empire had many similarities, one of them being the successful trade.With the addition to larger towns along the western coast of Arabia, it became market towns for local, regional, and long-distance trade goods. Not only did the advancement of larger towns create a stronger import for trade goods, by the early 600s AD, trade routes expanded by Arabia running from the extreme south of the peninsula to the Byzantine and Sassanid. (M.8, L.1, P.270) To add on, because of the two major sea-trading networks - Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, the Muslim Empire could engage in Sea Trade throughout the rest of the world. Overall the location of key trade routes gave the caliph access to trade goods, such as gold and information about the far-flung empire. (M.8, L.2, P.282) Now in the Byzantine Empire, the Crusades played a major role in the development and expansion on trade. With the Crusades traveling to the Holy Land, it increased trade and commerce, as well as give more job opportunities for the women and others left behind. The expanded trade between Europe and Southwest Asia was a result of European merchants who traded in the Crusader states. Overall, the trade between the west benefited both the Christians and Muslims by increasing the trade, shared
The Crusade made the Christians adopt many of the foodstuffs used by easterners such as, pepper, melons, apricots, sesame seeds, and carob beans. The Christians new fondness for these foods brought about wealth traders who sell these new goods. The Crusades cost countless Muslim lives lost and many buildings destroyed, but they did gain exposure to new European ideas like new weapons and new military tactics. Muslims especially in Egypt and Syria, earned riches from the Europeans. These political changes made the Muslims band together against one common foe, the Ayyabids. The Crusades also caused Europe to start trading with Asia, which brought with it the knowledge of the Easts foreign fruits and spices. The Crusades also brought about the
The Eastern world was greatly impacted by the Crusades. One way they were impacted is having created more trade, they were better economically. Document E says, “Commerce with the West benefitted both Muslims and Europeans, and it continued to flourish.” The evidence shows how trade positively impacted not only the Eastern world, but the Western world as well. A second way the Muslims were affected by the crusades was that a hatred was created between the Eastern and Western world. Document A states, “They also left a bitter legacy of religious hatred behind them.” This tells us that the Crusades created hatred between many religions. Overall the Eastern world was exceedingly affected by the Crusades, but not as much as the Western world.
The crusades saw a new age of opportunity for western trade. Before the crusades, the only access western traders had to eastern goods and trade routes were at markets in Constantinople. However, after the first crusade opened up the possibility of other trading hubs, such as at Antioch, the reliance on Constantinople began to diminish. The later capture of both Acre and Tyre presented more opportunities to western traders, allowing them to gain access to the goods coming from Baghdad and Cairo (which had originally been headed toward Damascus). The third crusade expanded western trade options even more by opening up Alexandria as a source of more steady trade: up until this point western trade at the city had been few and far between.
During this period, Pisa, Venice, and Genoa gained abundant wealth and status through the promoting of their exchange by the needs of the crusaders with the East. The Mediterranean was whitened with the sails of their transport ships, which were constantly plying between the various ports of Europe and the towns of the Syrian coast. To add to the effects of the crusades on material development many arts, productions, and inventions that were unknown to Europe, were introduced from Asia, and the Middle East This fortification of the European civilization with the "spoils of the East"(Journals.uchicago.edu, 2018) can be seen in the artefacts exhibited in many modern European museums.
Languedoc was home to many trade towns on the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean (Tyerman 576). It had been very prosperous and had become a fairly wealthy region; however the destructive nature of the crusade’s campaigns including: looting and burning cities, and decimating its residents led to the atrophy of Languedocs economy.The Albigensian crusade was a sumptuous endeavour (Tyerman 97) meaning that the Church, who sponsored the crusade, would need to acquire the funds necessary to support the crusaders. Which wasn’t too difficult, as the Church actually controlled most of the wealth in the Holy Roman Empire (Roberts 124) through taxing its members. Taxation of citizens of the empire and donations from the more affluent and pious aristocrats financed the