The Pros And Cons Of The Crusades

The Crusades started in 1095, and were a series of Christian military wars set in place so that the Christians could take back Jerusalem(Holy Land) from the Muslims. There are a few misconceptions about whether the Christians were just attacking the Muslims out of spite, and taking their land. The truth is that, the Holy Land originally belonged to the Christians and it was taken over by the Muslims, the Christians were only reclaiming what was theirs in the first place. There were eight crusades in all, the fourth and fifth were lost to the Muslims. The was also another unsuccessful crusade in between the fourth and fifth crusade known as The Children’s Crusade. This crusade was composed of thousands of children of both genders around the ages of 10-18. They thought that since their elders couldn’t defeat the Muslims and take back the Holy Land, that maybe they could. Sadly, the children were never able to reach the Holy Land, most of them died from starvation and/or freezing to death on the journey over the Alps(World Book 1160). Although the Crusades were violent they …show more content…
Before the crusades, in the manors of the Lords the serfs made all of the goods so there was no need for trade, which meant all trade was null. The crusades brought back with them many curious items, such as, sugar, lemons, and spices, that had never been available to Europe until now. The brought the good back from Middle East increasing the Europeans want to trade. Traders from wealthy places such as, Venice, Italy controlled trading from the Middle East(Watkins). Trade Fairs were set in places with a higher population than others, because of the many people it increased trade even more. The increase in trade near the end of the crusades, changed the lifestyles for many wealthy Europeans, putting an end to the feudal system(Watkins). Not everyone was fighting, those who weren’t were