Although the Crusades are popularly viewed as religiously inspired campaigns to recapture the Holy Land, students should recognize them as a result of the social and economic events in Europe between 1000 and 1200. Religious and secular leaders seeking to end the fighting among feudal lords seized upon the Crusades as a means of redirecting that aggression. Feudal knights who would not be inheriting their family properties eagerly enlisted in the Crusades as a way to win wealth or status. The idea of the pilgrimage was a powerful one, and the Crusades were basically armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The various Crusades ultimately failed. The sack of Constantinople was a fitting denouement to the whole concept. The interaction with the East brought to Europe not only Arabic translations of Greek texts, but also original Arabic and Iranian scientific and philosophical works.
There was little economic growth in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, during the Middle Ages, but the Crusades brought significant religious and cultural change to the continent.
The Crusades were a series of military expeditions that took place from the 11th to the 13th centuries. The objective of these campaigns was to recover the Holy Land from Muslim rule. The Crusades were encouraged by the Catholic Church, and therefore, were considered "holy wars." One of the most important effects of these wars was the cultural change that it brought to the continent. It led to the rise of trade. It also consolidated the power of the Church and the Pope. Finally, it led to many accounts of chivalry and heroism which influence Medieval romances, philosophy and literature.
