What impact did the Crusades have on Europe?
Medicine:
The Muslims kept alive the medical knowledge of the Romans after the Roman Empire collapsed in Europe (in 476AD), a time when literacy (reading and writing) was only common among Christian priests.
The Muslim doctor, Avicenna, had written down all the ideas of the great Roman and Greek doctors like Galen and Hippocrates and added his own ideas to them in the 11th century AD. This book allowed Europeans to rediscover how blood circulated around the body, for example.
Without the Crusades, Muslims would not have traded medical knowledge with Europeans, we might not have paracetamol or aspirin today.
Can the Crusades be blamed in any way for the spread of the Black Death?
Food:
The Crusades brought about trade in many unusual exotic foods. Sugar, spices, dates, coffee, rice and apricots were now available, and rich Europeans could now present new foods on their dinner table as a sign of their wealth and importance.
As a result merchants (traders) went to live in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land, and ships used to sail regularly to and from England/France and the Byzantine Empire, a Christian kingdom that was next to the Holy Land.
How different would our diet be today had this not happened?
Household goods:
Even the chamber (bedroom) of an English lord would have been a fairly uncomfortable place before the Crusades. Bedding would have consisted of straw, with a bare wooden, stone or straw floor.
The Crusaders returned with mirrors, cotton cloth, carpets, mattresses and shawls, writing paper (to translate Muslim medicine books) and even wheelbarrows!
Rich Europeans would now be able to buy very colourful clothes because of the rich dyes (like scarlet) merchants (traders) returned with.
Are there many positives for European peasants? After all, they paid heavy taxes to fund these wars.
Ideas:
Modern schools would be very different without the Crusades. Arabic (Muslim) numbers make up maths today. Algebra was a Muslim invention and alchemy (attempting to make gold out of basic metals like copper) led to our understanding of chemistry.
Games like chess were also brought back, and medieval European farmers were glad to learn how to irrigate (water) their fields in a better way.
Concentric (circular) walls for castles were first used in the Holy Land, as were water wheels and water clocks.
Has war led to greater knowledge and actually made lives better?
Economy and trade:
The First Regulation of currency was introduced because of the Crusades, so that when people took money abroad to buy goods they paid a fair amount of money for them and were not over charged. This meant that Trade in Europe and with countries of the middle east could grow and grow.
Trade with Jerusalem and the Middle East meant that even more trade routes could develop with the great trading cities of the time such as Damascus(Syria), Baghdad(Iraq), Alexandria (Egypt)and even as far as Kabul (Afghanistan) and the great silk routes to the East. This bought an even greater variety of metals ideas and goods to Europe, and in 1347 the Black Death!!
Medicine:
The Muslims kept alive the medical knowledge of the Romans after the Roman Empire collapsed in Europe (in 476AD), a time when literacy (reading and writing) was only common among Christian priests.
The Muslim doctor, Avicenna, had written down all the ideas of the great Roman and Greek doctors like Galen and Hippocrates and added his own ideas to them in the 11th century AD. This book allowed Europeans to rediscover how blood circulated around the body, for example.
Without the Crusades, Muslims would not have traded medical knowledge with Europeans, we might not have paracetamol or aspirin today.
Can the Crusades be blamed in any way for the spread of the Black Death?
Food:
The Crusades brought about trade in many unusual exotic foods. Sugar, spices, dates, coffee, rice and apricots were now available, and rich Europeans could now present new foods on their dinner table as a sign of their wealth and importance.
As a result merchants (traders) went to live in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land, and ships used to sail regularly to and from England/France and the Byzantine Empire, a Christian kingdom that was next to the Holy Land.
How different would our diet be today had this not happened?
Household goods:
Even the chamber (bedroom) of an English lord would have been a fairly uncomfortable place before the Crusades. Bedding would have consisted of straw, with a bare wooden, stone or straw floor.
The Crusaders returned with mirrors, cotton cloth, carpets, mattresses and shawls, writing paper (to translate Muslim medicine books) and even wheelbarrows!
Rich Europeans would now be able to buy very colourful clothes because of the rich dyes (like scarlet) merchants (traders) returned with.
Are there many positives for European peasants? After all, they paid heavy taxes to fund these wars.
Ideas:
Modern schools would be very different without the Crusades. Arabic (Muslim) numbers make up maths today. Algebra was a Muslim invention and alchemy (attempting to make gold out of basic metals like copper) led to our understanding of chemistry.
Games like chess were also brought back, and medieval European farmers were glad to learn how to irrigate (water) their fields in a better way.
Concentric (circular) walls for castles were first used in the Holy Land, as were water wheels and water clocks.
Has war led to greater knowledge and actually made lives better?
Economy and trade:
The First Regulation of currency was introduced because of the Crusades, so that when people took money abroad to buy goods they paid a fair amount of money for them and were not over charged. This meant that Trade in Europe and with countries of the middle east could grow and grow.
Trade with Jerusalem and the Middle East meant that even more trade routes could develop with the great trading cities of the time such as Damascus(Syria), Baghdad(Iraq), Alexandria (Egypt)and even as far as Kabul (Afghanistan) and the great silk routes to the East. This bought an even greater variety of metals ideas and goods to Europe, and in 1347 the Black Death!!