The Crusades (idea)

The Crusades are among the most well known wars fought in medieval Europe, and many associate them with idealized images of white-clad knights with shining plate armor and gleaming swords. What few people consider is their enemies: middle-easterners who were forced to fight and die for the "crime" of their leaders controlling a city in their homeland: Jerusalem. As you can imagine, these events have had drastic and far-reaching effects, mostly in the Middle East, but also influencing other parts of the world.

Most of the effects can be divided into two categories: those that affected the political situation at that point in time, and those that affect our present situation with the Middle East. Yes, I realize that due to quantum interrelatedness everything that happened during the Crusades (or at any other time) affects our present situation, but it is far easier to deal with the directly visible impacts.

Almost all of the Crusades had some sort of major impact at the time that they occurred, but none were quite so influential as the first. It was the First Crusade that established Jerusalem as something dynamic, something that could be conquered or lost. That the Christian armies were merciless in their methods did not help matters; in the seige of Marra, they dug up copses for food, and when they captured the city, their first act was to kill every one of its inhabitants. In Jerusalem, according to the Gesta Francorum and the personal account of Raymond of Aguiles, the blood in the streets was at least a foot high, perhaps more, at the Temple of Solomon¹.

The Second Crusade had little impact in the Middle East, ending in failure before it had hardly begun. While it, too, failed, the Third Crusade made one significant achievement; the monarchs of Europe took Cyprus, shortly before failing to recapture Jerusalem. The possession of Cyprus, however, redefined what political measures might be taken, and became particularly relevant during the last two Crusades, whose main accomplishments were not achieved by armies, but rather by political maneuvering.

Though the Fourth Crusade never reached the Middle East, it, coupled with the Children's Crusade, emphasized the popular perception that Europe had of its Muslim neighbors. That is to say, that they believed it was their right to possess any kingdoms that they desired, simply because the current possessors were foreign. This is very much like the American concept of "manifest destiny", or Yanqui Imperialism that was exhibited in the 19th century.

As far as I can discern, the Fifth Crusade had very little impact on anything. The Sixth Crusade, on the other hand, was very influential in that it established precedent for a European monarch to be the leader of Outremer, at least in title. When Emperor Frederick II crowned himself King of Jerusalem at the end of his rather peaceful Crusade, he set the Framework for the aftermath of the Seventh Crusade.

After King Louis IX failed to take Jerusalem by force, he retreated to Acre, where he governed affairs. The primary reason that he could claim some semblance of legitimacy was due to the fact that a European, King Conrad of Germany, was technically the king. Louis' "just" method governing brought the respect of many Palestinian barons, though his accomplishments mostly faded away after he returned to Europe, a few years later.

That is about all that I was able to discern in terms of the immediate effects of the Crusades. The long-term effects, however, are deeply related to our disturbingly open-ended "War on Terrorism" that somehow manages to encompass Iraq, but I digress. All of the slaughters (both of Muslims and Christians) that occurred during the Crusades have not been without lasting effects.

The primary influence that the Crusades on people attitudes was the distrust that it inspired; Muslims and eurocentric Christians at that point began to view each other as ruthless enemies. Though religion has always fostered hatred, the tradition of consummating this hatred is what makes the Christian-Muslim relationship unique. When Europeans migrated to the New World, they took their prejudices with them, hence our current government's anti-Mulsim attitude.

Another aspect of the Crusades that has affected the current scenario in the Middle East is the establishment of Jerusalem as a city subject to being conquered. Granted, it was targeted because of its biblical significance, but being conquered so many times will inevitably foster political instability. This is not to say that our sposorsing Israel (thereby inhibiting Palestine, which is primarily Muslim) in the last few decades is not a large part of it, but there are other factors.

In this fashion, the impacts of the Crusades have been felt, as tremors of history, through the last several centuries, and are now once again manifesting in terms of violence and bloodshed.