Cultural and construction history of the Crusades

Cultural and Construction History Of the Crusades

Cultural Environment

In 1095 Pope Urban II announced the First Crusade. The actual reasons for the Crusades -- the series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged from 1095 to 1291 AD in the Middle East -- remain controversial. The 200-year war was reputedly fought to restore Christian control over the Holy Land. However, modern scholarship has uncovered numerous other motives: feudalism was morphing into capitalism, which meant that new markets and exploited lands were required; the populations in Europe needed a cause in order to allow control to continue by royalty and the Catholic Church; and the Papacy needed a way to establish control over the kings of Europe and have a private army to dispense with its enemies (Riley-Smith). Additionally, crusaders and those who sanctioned their efforts were also motivated by avarice. Urban II and other landowners who supplied much of the militia involved in these belligerent encounters envisioned the claiming of new territory, wealth, and lofty regard from their contemporaries for their actions. Perhaps all of these reasons combined initiated the Crusades.

The routes taken by the Crusading armies, whether by land through Greece, Constantinople, and into the Middle East, or by sea through Alexandria or Tyre, contributed to the expansion of European influence by providing a diverse means for encompassing as much territory as possible on their way to the Holy Land . Furthermore, armies required regular provisions, and with the movement of so many troops and supplies it was necessary to improve shipbuilding, food technology, military arms, navigation, and geography (Asbridge). These measures ensured that the Crusades would benefit European modernization before any fighting took place.

Relationship to Previous Periods

Although it occurred several years prior to the initial launching of the Crusades, the decline of the Roman Empire, and particularly that of its western contingent, played a principle role in the establishment of these future martial encounters. One of the ways in which the Roman Empire's example helped to establish a model for the Crusades was in its demonstration of the efficaciousness of strong, centralized military presence, which it enjoyed for nearly the duration of its tenure and which the Crusaders sought to emulate by amassing an army united under European influence. The so-called fall of the Western Roman Empire in the AD 400s and the transfer of complete power to Constantinople eventually resulted in a power vacuum in Western Europe. This vacuum was filled by a series of rulers who vied with the Papacy for control. The Crusades united Europe under one idea and ostensibly increased adherence to the doctrine of Christianity, which was the general premise under which these series of military campaigns were waged. However, because there were so many different agendas, and due to the relatively unrestrained amounts of freedom these soldiers enjoyed once they left the restraints of Europe, many of the Crusade armies were deflected from their original purpose. For instance, Constantinople was sacked following the Fourth Crusade, and the Sixth Crusade left Europe without the blessing of the Papacy. Islamic forces triumphed in the Seventh through Ninth Crusades. The last, in 1271? -- 2, resulted in the collapse of the remaining Crusader strongholds along the Mediterranean coast. With the technological revival in Europe, however, Europeans were now more interested in trading eastward and re-establishing their own hegemony (Madden).

Contribution(s) to Western Civilisation

The Crusades were by and large a dismal failure for the European monarchs and the Papacy. However, there were some benefits. Political improvements in Europe after the Crusades led to a consolidation of power in the major European capitals and a general unification under the Papacy that may not otherwise have happened. The Crusades also brought knowledge of the East back into Europe and re-established traffic between East and West (The New Catholic Encyclopedia 508).

The political and cultural strife engendered by the Crusades is still apparent in global foreign policy surrounding Israel. Even in the twenty-first century, many Arabs view the Crusades as savage invasions by Christian fundamentalists, and the modern Arab independence movement and Pan-Islamic organisations trace their beginnings to the desire to rid their culture of European influences (The Crusades -- Crusade Legacy). The Crusades established the foundations of the modern nation-state. They also exposed Europe to Islamic culture, technology, and science. Most of all, they opened up the idea of trade and exploration into Asia, Africa, and the New World, eventually resulting in the discovery and European exploitation of these continents (Stark).

The initial crusade was widely deemed to be successful and largely inspired confidence throughout much of Europe. However, it must be noted that success was defined by the plundering, raping, and virtually wanton murder of specified groups of people. The effects of such destruction were plentiful. Individual populations, such as Muslims abroad and domestic Jewish people were targeted and slaughtered, the latter of which begat a lengthy history of calculated violence against Semitic people throughout Europe (Crusades -.Christian Warfare). Yet such devastation was largely perceived on the Continent as being indicative of a present (and future) epoch which was typified by a zeitgeist of optimism and reinvigoration.

Politically and economically, the Crusades befitted a number of individual European nations, foremost of which included Germany, France and Italy. The area currently known as Germany was able to expand its borders to include colonization in Eastern Europe territory Elbe-Order region traditionally occupied b Polabian Slavs (Wend).France was able to aquire regions with cultural and linguistic ties to Catalonia, largely due to the Albigensian Crusade which assisted in the creation of the Dominican Order and Medieval Inquisition (Strayer 143). Italy was able to expand its economic growth in terms of commerce with the East, which was largely regarded as inevitable (Kreis -- The Holy Crusades).

2. Scientific Environment

The Crusades themselves did little to advance science and knowledge outside of military warfare. However, as noted, they did bring the European West into intimate contact with the Islamic Middle and Near East. Although Europe had been exposed to Islamic culture for centuries through contacts in the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, much knowledge in areas such as science, medicine, and architecture was transferred from the Islamic to the Western world during the Crusade era. In addition, the Crusades are seen as having opened up European culture to the world:

The Crusades brought about results of which the popes had never dreamed, and which were perhaps the most, important of all. They re-established traffic between the East and West, which, after having been suspended for several centuries, was then resumed with even greater energy; they were the means of bringing from the depths of their respective provinces and introducing into the most civilized Asiatic countries Western knights, to whom a new world was thus revealed, and who returned to their native land filled with novel ideas.... If, indeed, the Christian civilization of Europe has become universal culture, in the highest sense, the glory redounds, in no small measure, to the Crusades. ( The New Catholic Encyclopedia 508)

The need to raise, transport and supply large armies led to a flourishing of trade throughout Europe. Roads largely unused since Roman times saw significant increases in traffic as local merchants began to expand their horizons. Along with trade, new scientific discoveries and inventions made their way east or west. The result of this conjunction was significant for Western knowledge, since it partially enabled Europeans to reconnect with Islamic science, which at the time was flourishing. A Many of the Islamic advances previously discussed, such as algebra, optics, and the university system, entered the Western world when the Crusaders returned. These contributed greatly to the subsequent European Renaissance.

Europe was given several boons from Islamic culture in particular during the middle ages. Areas which benefited the most from Islamic advancements in fields such as technology, law, art, medicine, architecture and more were Italy and Spain in particular. Sicily was conquered by Mulsims in 965 and regained in 1091, and benefited from a hybrid Arab-Norman heritage, one of the results of which was the authoring of Tabula Regeriana for ruler Roger II (Lewis B. 148). In the Levant, Arab and Latin traditions mixed freely (Lebedl 109-111).

3. Economic Environment

Background

There were several areas of influence which the Holy Land was able to exert upon Europe due to the commencement of the Crusades. Although there were specific times in Europe's history during this time period in which Catholicism and the Pope were able to unite many of its disparate areas, the development of modern nation states can be attributed to the this Papal influence at the initiation of the era of Crusades. While Europe enjoyed numerous benefits in the areas of arts and science directly attributable to its interaction with foreign cultures during this particular epoch (such as in medicine, science and architecture, the latter of which can most saliently be demonstrated by the construction of the Caernarfon Castle in Wales which was largely designed due to the experience of Edward I who had observed a similar military stronghold during his involvement in the crusades, its political structure may have burgeoned the most.

Crusaders were able to implement feudal states throughout their travels during this period of warfare, many of which have been termed Crusader states and which were erected throughout the Holy Land and in parts of Asia Minor as well as Greece. The most famous of these, of course, was the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which took place in 1099 and reigned until its fall in 1291.

Kingdom of Jerusalem

It should be remembered that for the vast duration of the reign of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, European settlers were widely outnumbered by Franks and Muslims, and only comprised approximately 15 to 25% of the entire population (Kedar 148). The Europeans lived in areas which were both rural as well as urban, and despite attempts to integrate with the surrounding foreigners, they did not infiltrate areas which were predominantly Muslim and which had never had many Christian dwellers (Ellenblu 36-37). European settlers included a blend of knights, agrarians and artists, which greatly assisted in the erecting of a feudal system within the kingdom. Agriculturally, the kingdom of Jerusalem relied upon the iqta, which is mostly a Muslim equivalent to a feudal system in terms of land ownership and payments, to produce the materials for its sustenance (Prawer, 205).

One of the primary functions of the kingdom of Jerusalem, much like any other European attempt at government during this particular time period, was the generation of economic means. Italian merchants played an integral role in the fostering of the economic prosperity enjoyed in the kingdom, as they were instrumental in a wide measure of trade which included spices, sugar, cotton and other crops such as wheat, legumes, dates and olives. Interestingly enough, Italian profits in this area of development would later on inspire the Renaissance. The kingdom was also able to gain pecuniary means by the taxation of Muslim caravans passing through its region, in addition to tributary payments from areas such as Egypt, Damscus, and various coastal cities.

Knights Templars

As its name implies, the organization known as the Knights Templars was ostensibly created to provide a means of military might. However, the Knights -- which was created in 1118 several years after the founding of Jerusalem and which would continue to exist for roughly 200 years (Barber) -- left their lasting legacy in the monetary measures and reforms which they induced during this crucial period in Europe's development. Although they were able to construct a number of fortifications throughout the Holy Land and Europe itself, the Knights largely instituted the concept of banking in both of these regions (Martin 47). The Templars have been credited with introducing a system of checks and bonds which was instrumental in the establishment of capitalism which would pave the way for banking concepts such as that of the accruement of interest and other assets (Baigent and Leigh 78-81).

The Templars are said to have largely amassed the fortune which they were credited with engendering during the Crusades by the holding of assets for pilgrims who embarked upon the journey to the Holy Land. The Templars were able to establish credit by such a means which benefited crusaders by rendering them less vulnerable to pillagers (Martin 47). In such a way were the Templars able to found financial networks throughout most regions where Christianity was practiced and proffered. Hailed by some as the world's initial multinational corporation (Benson 90; Ralls 28), the Templars were responsible for owning substantial amount of land, fleets of ships, and severe interests in the regulation of commerce.

New Trade Routes

Western Europe in particular was able to advantage itself from the commencement of the Crusades. Areas of Italy engaged in pre-Crusades conflict with Muslims, which allowed for the emergence of trading and naval powers such as Sicily, Genoa and Pisa (Lewis A.). These Italian regions were largely responsible for the development of trading routes throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea, which aided in their advancements during the Renaissance (Lewis A). These trade routes would be the preferred method of commerce until Columbus's 1492 journey (Lewis A.).

4. General Management

4. General Management

Background

In terms of government, the Crusaders employed a feudal system which was frequently overseen by vassals. In the kingdom of Jerusalem, for example, the territory was divided for loyal vassals of Godfrey of Bouillon and eventually propagated by his descendents. Following the king's leaderships there were royal officers of the state, while the king and his royal court were primarily centered in Jerusalem, although court was frequently held in places such as Tyre, Nablus and Acre. The royal domain spanned throughout several cities and while the lordships varied in significance and in number throughout the greater part of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Administration

The king's court was known as the haute cour or the high court, of which the king headed and which was primarily comprised of nobles and bishops, who had a substantial amount of influence over the former due to the fact that they lived in Jerusalem with him. The court was responsible for the administering of laws and justice throughout the kingdom, and had duties which included the regulation of currency, the raising of armies and the collection of taxes. Some scholars had claimed that canons of the Council of Nablus were utilized throughout part of the 12th century and then discarded with the emergence of the 13th (Kedar 330-333). Further dispute follows the composition and use of the Assizes of Jerusalem, a comprehensive set of laws that were created during either the 12th or the 13th centuries (Nader 45).

Other systems of cours included the Cour de la Fond and the Cour de la Mer, which were for disputes regarding commerce and admiralty, respectively. The Courdes Syriens was established for the judgment of Syrians, while the Cour des Bourgeois presided over cases involving non-Latins in criminal affairs (Nader 158-170). It should be noted that most Italians were given a degree of liberty and autonomy that left them virtually independent of legal affairs, or which allowed them to judge their own cases (Nader 170-177).

Officers of the State

The primary six officers who held tenure throughout the vast majority of Jerusalem include, in approximate order of ranking and importance, the constable, the marshal, the seneschal, the chamberlain, the butler and the chancellor. The offices were initially designed to adhere to the system of offices which was utilized in France during this time period, since France was where most of the earliest kings of Jerusalem hailed from. The constable, however, was the single most valued officer throughout the kingdom (excluding the king, of course), and was charged with leading the army, handling monetary affairs with mercenaries and also judging court cases of military involvement. Constables were responsible for determining the borders upon which the kingdom was based (Richard 77).