The Crusades

The crusades were an event that is still know today and played a significant role in the

rise of humanism, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and to more enlightened thinking in the

West. The crusades brought back learnings and culture from the east, gave evidence of the

church’s abuse of power, and opened new trade routes.

To start the crusade were holy wars fought between the Christian of Europe and the

Muslims in the middle east from 1095 to 1291. The cause of the crusade was the interference by

Seljuk Turks in the Christians pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The Seljuk Turks attack the Byzantine

empire which caused them to call for help from the European Christians and so the Pope called

for the crusades to take Jerusalem which was the main goal of the crusades. This would lead

done to a total of nine crusades in varying degrees of success but in the end would fail in

permanently capturing Jerusalem.

Although most of the crusades were failures, they did bring back important learning and

cultures of the east; for example, they brought back spices, art, and pretty much everything they

plundered during their raids. From these new and unknown styles and cultures it can be inferred

if not logically linked that they influence enlighten thinking in the West as it brought in new

ideas that would expand the knowledge of the west. It can also be linked to humanism as it

celebrates the accomplishments of humans and these new ideas, styles, and items expanded the

capabilities of what people could do. And the renaissance was a revival of art, literature, and

learning so it would only make sense that the art, literature, and learning had some degree of

influence of what was taken from the crusades.

 The crusades had two sides to it. One side it was honorable and noble, but on the other

side it was violent and corrupt. To begin the Pope Urban II called for the crusade saying, “All

who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the [Muslims], shall have

immediate [forgiveness] of sins.” This was a blatant abuse of power as the pope was not a

military leader and killing was a sin in front of God. The Pope also used the crusades as an

excuse to take Jerusalem which held much value to the church. Then the future Pope Innocent III

would also preach for the crusades show how the church was moving into areas that it did not

belong which would lead to corruption. This would lead to the church selling indulgences for

forgiveness of sins and this corruption would cause people like Jan Hus to question the church

and eventually start the Reformation in which people left the church to become protestant due to

the churches growing corruption.

Lasty, the crusade open trade route to the east and Egypt which would cause the

exchange of culture and ideas and this as before can be attributed to the enlighten thinking,

renaissance, and reformation as new idea and culture would influence people to think outside of

what they knew and this also gave rise to humanism which want people to stay curious and learn

and these trade routes would offer that.

Work Cited

Cho, Ravi. “How Did The Crusades Contribute To The Renaissance.” Cram, 2020,

www.cram.com/essay/How-Did-The-Crusades-Contribute-To-The/P34PYEH9JX5Q.
Dickson, Gary. “The Results of the Crusades.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia

Britannica, Inc., 2020, www.britannica.com/event/Crusades/The-results-of-the-Crusades.