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Sophia Knapp Manuel Romero SS 1100-015 04/21/14 The Crusades Political Impact

Foucher de Chartres spoke of The Crusades saying, in the temple and Portico of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed it was a just and splendid judgment of God, that this place should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers, when it had suffered so long from their blasphemies (Butler, 2007). From 1095 to 1291 AD, thousands of men took up the cross and journeyed across the Asia Minor in an attempt to retake Jerusalem and save the Holy Sepulcher. This bloody rampage shifted the governments and politics during the middle ages, and the impact is still evident in our world today. When the Pope proposed a Crusade to liberate the Holy Land, he probably didnt predict the lasting effects it would have on the world in the future. Western Europe was becoming increasingly religious before the first Crusade began. The Roman Catholic Church had started to gain a lot of power. Agricultural advancements and techniques made for a more stable environment to live in which created a large population increase. As more people were being born under the Church, followers of the faith were in the thousands. Another factor leading up to the Crusades was the situation brewing in the Middle East. The Seljuk Turks became the dominant power in the Islamic World. They had overtaken

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the Arabs and successfully seized Palestine from the Shiite Fatimids of Egypt. There was an increasing amount of mistreatment of Christians throughout the Asia Minor at the time as well, which may have influenced the Pope in wanting to overtake more territories. In November of 1095, Pope Urban II preached a sermon at Clermont. He spoke to nobles, knights, and a few commoners about his plan to overtake Jerusalem. He summoned the Franks to arms for a holy war to rescue the Holy Sepulcher. He also proposed retaking Palestine and helping the Byzantines with their military conquests. As added incentive, Urban told the people that by taking up the cross, they would receive a remission of their sins. This attracted thousands of men to the cause. Peasants were the first ones to venture because they had so little provisions to prepare. The nobles followed in 1099 as they had more assets to take care of. The peasant Crusaders quickly began to run out of supplies so they pillaged for food. Jews, being non-Christian, were a main target, and thousands were killed as Crusaders traveled through their lands. This was the start of the Holy War. After years of turmoil and travel, the Crusaders had besieged Jerusalem. After getting much needed supplies from an Italian Fleet, on July 15th 1291, they invaded the city. This battle became known as one of the bloodiest massacres in history. Author of The First Crusade: The Call from the East, Peter Frankopan states, Although it is difficult to assess the numbers of casualties during the expedition, it is clear that a substantial proportion of those who set out died on the way to Jerusalem, whether victims of disease or killed in battle; including deserters, perhaps as many as three-quarters never made it to the final destination (187). The Crusaders had been through copious amounts of sacrifice and struggle in order to achieve the liberation of Jerusalem. Their suffering mixed with their devotion to the Catholic Church made them fight relentlessly until they were victorious. The years to follow were filled with conflict

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between the new inhabitants and the surrounding Muslim states. They began to adapt to the Muslim culture and attempted to make truces. This attempt to keep the peace didnt last long however. Once Egypt and Syria became unified under leader Salah-a-din, they joined forces to retake the Holy Land. Shortly after the Battle of Hattin in 1187, Salah-a-dins troops overtook Jerusalem and Palestine. The Last Crusades happened between the years 1450 and 1590. The Muslims ultimately won, but the Crusaders gained even more than they bargained for. New trade routes and travel to other parts of the world encouraged new ways of thinking. Western Europe became a high civilization, adapting to the advancements and technologies of the cultures they had discovered. In order to see how the Crusades affected our world governments of today, it is important to look at the impact they had on the politics at the time. Western Europes social system before the Crusades was Feudal. The Kings appointed territories to lords and nobles who had power over their lands. The nobles chose knights to be in their personal armies, and the peasants were used as servants. When the nobles and lords joined their knights in crusade exhibitions, there were little left to oversee all the lands. This gave power back to the commoners and the King. The European Monarchy had been restored and the Feudal Aristocracy collapsed. In Barnaby Rogersons book The Last Crusaders, he explains how the city-states, counties, duchies, emirates and sultanates were overrun when the first great nation states were set up. Also, the discovery of routes to North and South America, West Africa, East Africa, southern Arabia, India and the Far East expanded Europes view of the outside world. The period covered in The Last Crusaders, between 1450 and 1590, changed the face of world history. Perhaps most portentous of all for the future of our planet was the awful reality of Europeans first contact with the wider world (Rogerson 5). The Crusaders enslaved, stole from, murdered, pillaged and burned through the

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new lands they came across. The inhabitants of these lands were just as brutal, and this violence has caused racism and hostility in some of those countries to this day. The effects of the Crusades can be seen in Europe in the modern world. Not only did the Crusades mark the end of the medieval time period and the beginning of modern history, the social system shifted from feudalism to colonialism. Until the 20th Century, only three European nations had a republic, with the others still following a system of Monarchy. Today there are 12 monarchies within Western Europe, but mainly constitutional monarchies, where the monarch doesnt influence politics as much. The Pope is the sovereign in Vatican City, and still holds much power. He is looked up to by people all over the world as the leader of the Catholic Church. Through war and revolution, Europe continues to become more and more republic. When the Crusaders opened up a whole new world to Europeans, ideas on politics were greatly changed. These effects still last to this day, but the monarchy still stands for the most part. Although the royal family is now more of a media symbol in most countries, Europeans see their monarchy as a symbol of stability and tradition to uphold. President of Asociacin Monrquica Europea, Pedro Schwenzer Pfau, concludes that, No one has yet proposed an alternative system of government for Monarchy which would in the same way reflect the nations history and be superior to the constitutional monarchy in terms of the day-to-day functioning of the state (Euronews 2014) Europes government has evolved throughout the years into what it is today, but the Crusades era was pivotal in shifting from old world thinking to modern times. Without the expansion of lands and technologies at the time of the Crusades, the Renaissance may not have happened when it did, and the way our world thinks might be different even today. Along with government changes, the disputed borders of this era still stand as dividing lines between

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different nations, cultures, and religions. Racism has lasted to the present day as well, causing trouble between nations and cultures throughout the world. The Middle East was greatly affected during the Crusades as well. The Arab world was assaulted by Turks, Crusaders, and Mongols from 1000 AD onward. This made them feel like they must harden their attitude toward other cultures in order to preserve their own. They saw the Europeans as barbarians and were disgusted by their loose women and violent attitudes. As Western Europe became more advanced and adopted various politics, economics, and cultural ideals, Arabs resisted adapting to any changes in order to preserve their own culture. The Middle East began as the more sophisticated and wealthy power of the world at the time, but didnt progress as fasts as Europe, causing them to decline in power. Religion ruled politics in the Middle East and according to the Quran and vision of the prophet, the governments role was supposed to be to create an Islamic state. The Monarchy system at the time declined in power greatly as they went from being overbearing to being passive in the background as they struggled for stability. Citizens gained more political independence when the government became fixed on collecting taxes and keeping the nations wealth and stability intact. The Ayan or men of influence were high ranking notables who acted as leaders for the common people across the Middle Eastern neighborhoods. They addressed issues to the Princes in favor of the people and gained much political significance. The Arab world was divided many times during the Crusades, but their traditional government lived on. Whether or not to modernize and make compromises with Western culture is still something that divides the Middle East today. For many in the contemporary Arab world, the Crusades are viewed as having begun nearly a millennium of conflict with what would become the West. The Crusades are seen as representing the constant threat of Western encroachment

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(Shuster 2001). The contention between the Middle East and other cultures still continues. President George W. Bush used the term crusade when speaking of his campaign against terror. He was probably trying to evoke in his national audience a sense of dignity and pride for the forthcoming endeavor (Qadir 527). Conflicts between Arabs and Jews as well as Arabs and Christians continue today. In fact after the attack on Iraq, some Pakistanis saw military advances from the West as an attempt to achieve the unfinished agenda from the Crusades (Qadir 527) The governments in the Middle East have kept their religious traditions, as modernizing their thinking hasnt happened as much as it has in Western civilization. Iran and Saudi Arabia are run primarily by religious leaders and the Islamic Law is still civil code. Iraq is now run by a one party presidential dictatorship, where the president with complete power runs one political party. Israel and Turkey both have Parliamentary Democracies, where people elect parliament, who in turn elect the prime minister. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia both still have monarchies, where the ruler dictates for the whole country. Although the Crusades helped the people have more influence in the government in the Middle East, the rulers still have supreme power over the nation. Before the Crusades, commoners had little say in what happened politically in the Arab nations. Today some of the countries have adopted semi-democracies, where the people still have say in at least who rules them, but the old world monarchy systems still stand. Islamic Law is still being followed in many Islamic countries, and it is known as a civic duty to keep fellow civilians in check.
Another point of history that the Crusades influenced was the founding of North and South America. Some scholars think that the discovery of America happened the way it did because of the Crusades. The formation of Catholic Spain was a direct result of Crusade territorial changes. It was here that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded Christopher Columbus trip across the Atlantic Ocean.

Knapp 7 Columbus wrote that he hoped to reach Jerusalem and the Asia trade ports by sailing west. At the time the East route was closed by Muslim conquests. The Americas were seen as a new opportunity sent by God to compensate the faithful Christians for the loss of the Holy Land. Since the Crusades, Europe was a dominantly Christian nation. Therefore, most of the new settlers of the Americas were Christians. The Spanish conquistadors plumaged through South and North America, not allowing non-Catholics to dwell in these new lands. Violence in the name of Christianity continued, creating a very religious United States of America. The founding fathers were all immigrants from Europe searching religious freedom from the Church of England. They spoke of having a separation of church and state, but it is evident even today that Christianity played a large role in the beginnings of our nations political systems. The pledge of allegiance even states, One nation, under God, and our currency all has the words, In God We Trust. The republic has a Christian foundation which Daniel Webster explained in his famous Plymouth Rock speech of 1820. Webster said, Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits. . . .Whatever makes men good Christians makes them good citizens (Anderson 2001). As a result of the Christian overtaking of Western Europe during the Crusades, our government today has been founded on the basis of Christianity. New England Ministers taught in their churches the basis the founding fathers went off to separate from the Church of England. They had . . . been taught that these rights were sacred and came from God and that to preserve them they had a legal right of resistance and, if necessary a right to . . . alter and abolish governments and by common consent establish new ones (Anderson 2001). If the founding fathers hadnt used Christian ideology in their philosophy, it is very possible that we would still be a nation of England territory. When Pope Urban II proposed the Crusades that fateful day in 1095, he probably didnt foretell the lasting effects it would have on the world. As Western Europe gained power in the Middle East, Arabs began to be even more hostile toward other cultures. This has had a lasting effect on the relationships

Knapp 8 between Arabs, Jews and Christians today. The governments in Western Europe shifted from Feudalism to Monarchy, which still impacts the way governments are run in many European nations presently. As far as The United States of America, it is very possible that the discovery of North America would have been by other nations had the Crusades never happened. Before the Crusades, Islam was the dominating power in that area of the old world. They could have easily been the ones to expand their borders and America could be mostly Islam today if that had been the case. The government of America was created by Christian founding fathers that used Christianity as a basis for their institutions. It is interesting to see how the Crusades not only impacted the medieval world, but paved the way for modern society to emerge. Western civilizations have thrived since the Crusades, and much of the politics in influential parts of the globe were greatly impacted. Conflict still arises between Arab nations and their rivals, as racism and bias have stuck with the cultures of today. Although Pope Urban merely wanted to expand his territories and reclaim Jerusalem, the effects of his bloody Crusades are prominent in the modern world. History continues to repeat itself as fighting continues on the basis of religion today.

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Works Cited
Butler, Chris . "The Flow of History." FC67: The Crusades & their impact (1095-1291) 1 Jan. 2007. Web. Apr. 2014. <http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/west/10/FC67>. "European Monarchies." International news. Euronews, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <http://www.euronews.com/tag/european-monarchies/>. Frankopan, Peter. The First Crusade: The Call from the East. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012. Print. Rogerson, Barnaby. The Last Crusaders: The Hundred-Year Battle for the Centre of the World. New York: Overlook Press, 2010. Print. Khurram, Qadir. "Modern Historiography: The Relevance of the Crusades." Islamic Studies. : Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad, 2007. Print. Nicholson, Helen. "Crusades influence." Crusades influence. 1 Jan. 1999. Web. 2014. <http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nigel.nicholson/hn/CrusadeFAQs/f-change.html>. "The Middle East and West: The Crusades." NPR. NPR News, 17 Aug. 2004. Web. 1 Jan. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=3854466>. Anderson, Kerby. "American Government and Christianity - A Biblical Worldview Perspective - Probe Ministries." American Government and Christianity - A Biblical Worldview Perspective - Probe Ministries. Probe Ministries, 1 Jan. 2001. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4218181/k.6FE8/American_Government_and_C hristianity.htm>.

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