Children's Crusade

20,000 French children

Marseilles

Results

• Failed to achieve goal (1-8)
• Beginning of the end of feudalism
• Increased authority of kings
• Brought classical texts back to Europe
• Improved technologies in West
• Inspired exploration

Conclusion

The Crusades were a series of religious wars launched initially to route Muslims from the Holy Land (Jerusalem). Although militarily unsuccessful in the long run, they introduced Europeans to new and exotic lands and initiated a cultural and technological exchange. This exchange was almost exclusively a one-way transfer from the Dar al Islam to Western Europe. Muslim science and medicine was shown to be superior to that in Europe. Always looking for better ways to make war, Europeans borrowed the practice of making damascene swords from the Muslims. European monarchs improved their methods of building military fortifications based on Muslim techniques, as can be seen in castles built by William the Conqueror in Normandy. An important cultural transfer were Arabic numerals and the decimal system which helped Europeans develop advanced mathematics and more efficient accounting systems for trade. The game of chess as well as foods such as yogurt, coffee, sugar and dates were introduced in Europe because of the Crusades. Europeans gained a desire for items of trade such as Persian carpets, silk, and cotton textiles. Europeans were also introduced to their own cultural and intellectual past. Classical writers such as Aristotle, lost to Europeans during the invasions after the fall of Rome, had been preserved in Muslim schools. Contacts with Muslims through the Crusades and in Spain, reintroduced Europe to its own intellectual and cultural heritage. This renewed interest in its classical past would culminate in the late 15th century as the Renaissance, a cultural flowering that would not have been possible without contact with the Dar al Islam.