The Influence Of Christianity On Western Europe

Decent Essays
Giselle Fiestan
Mr. Pelham
AP World History Period 2
16 December 2015
The influence of Christianity on Europe has impacted the lives of many. Artists, philosophers, and soldiers alike were all affected by Christianity in Europe. The impact of the Church’s action shaped the future of Europe. Intellectual life, art during the Renaissance, and holy wars were influenced by Christianity in Western Europe. Intellectual life and art changed throughout this time period because of new ideas such as rationalism, while holy wars remained the same because of the Church’s justification that God wills such actions. Another factor that remained the same throughout this time period was the influence of the Roman Empire on the Churches of Europe because some
…show more content…
A series of holy wars was known as the crusades. The idea behind the crusades was that God commanded them to provide security for their own religion. As stated in Ways of the World, “…the Crusades were wars undertaken at God’s command and authorized by the pope as the Vicar of Christ on earth.” Crusading remained the same throughout this time period because those who participated in them justified their actions by insisting that “God wills it.” A memorable Crusade targeted taking control of their holy lands that were under Islamic control. Crusaders that were all different from each other came together to seize Jerusalem. However, in the Middle East the crusades did not affect them crucially. Not many converted to the religion and they took control of the lands again by 1300. In contrast, European contact with other foreign lands encouraged tastes for Asian luxuries. “…cross-cultural contacts born of crusading opened channels of trade, technology transfer, and intellectual exchange…” The Crusades remained part of Europe during this time …show more content…
The Bulliet textbook states, “Throughout the middle ages, people in the Latin West lived amid reminders of the achievements of the Roman Empire. They wrote and worshipped in a version of its language, traveled its roads, and obeyed some of its laws” In Western Europe, Latin remained the language used within the Church of Western Europe even when vernacular languages were learned. Also, both the Pope and the King learned Latin which gave them access to church doctrine. Even the hierarchy of the church was influenced by the Roman Empire. Similar to Western Europe was Eastern Christendom which also based itself on the Roman Empire. They used the same roads, tax system, military structures, and other aspects of Roman culture. This was similar to the Tang dynasty imitating the Han Era. In an attempt to maintain the former glory of past empires, the influence of Roman Empire remained the same throughout this time

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Crusades Dbq

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    During the 11th and 12th centuries, the Christian nations held most of Europe, and Muslim advances had been stopped for the most part. The only nation that remained threatened by the Arab advances were the Byzantines. This threat to the Byzantine Empire sparked the Crusades, a series of military campaigns with the purpose of recapturing Christian holy sites. These campaigns gave more power to the Pope, and the campaign also gave more power to the Christian nations that participated. The primary reason the Europeans joined the Crusades was religious motivation and the will to drive Muslims out of the Holy Land.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crusades set up multiple new trade routes, civilizations and established new resources and relationships across Eurasia. Since the Crusades occurred, the Western Europeans nations who embarked on them have flourished. The new resources used and the knowledge gained from the stops along the way to Israel influenced the countries then, and they still influence them now. These influences built the great empires such as Spain and England, the knowledge learned from the Arab scholars expanded and deepened, and the land and materials used have created marvelous inventions that have benefitted the modern world. As the first explorers set out across the Atlantic from the same countries which participated in the Crusades, the influence of the trek to the Holy Land even spread to the Americas, and the settlers there then spread this influence even further.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Religion and the expansion of territory played a monumental role in lighting the match that set in motion the Crusades. The after affect of what took place during this medieval conflict would later shape the turnout of Europe and the Middle East. Before the Crusades happened Christianity was the dominant religion of power. Muslim leaders and armies started to conquer all of the Christian territories, like the Byzantine Empire. Christians did not want muslims to conquer all of their lands , especially the Holy Land .…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Protestant Reformation’s change in the Catholic Church’s authority was a consequence of the Crusades, and allowed for the Renaissance to flourish as well as became a marker for the dawn of the Modern Era. The Age of Discovery brought the Old and New World together as a result of the Crusades bringing trade back to Europe, becoming a marker for the dawn of the Modern Era. The Crusades were a momentous catalyst for the dawn of the Modern Era, and its failure to conquer the Holy Lands led to the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and the Age of…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crusades- “ History’s most successful failures ” During the time period of 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, the Muslim force expand massively and rapid around the continent of Europe, pluming the people of multiple nations including the Holy Land of Jerusalem into the worshipping of the religion of Muslim. During this time is when the Crusades were introduced and appear as the holy expeditions. The Crusades were destine to create a successful mark on history, which then over 100 years they did, marked their mark as the history’s most successful failure. The Crusades were a series of military missions, usually organized and promoted by the Pope and/or Roman Catholic Church. The crusades took place through the 11th and 13th centuries…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crusades caused great change in the trading word of the…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World History Dbq

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A series of crusades would eventually lead to converting many lands converting to Christianity as well as spreading European authority. Our textbook notes the comparison of crusades to jihads (ch 12, p 437). Except for Lithuania, nearly all of Europe was Christian by the thirteenth century. (ch 12, p 437). Later, Lithuanian kings converted to Christianity when their kingdom became merged with Poland (ch 12, p 457).…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Religion in the Middle Ages had a huge impact on people’s lives and medieval Europe. People would do many things because of their religion! Some ways that religion affected people’s daily lives were the Crusades happening, people devoting their entire lives to the church, and the church having power over kings. One way how religion affected medieval life was that many people fought in the Crusades. According to Document 6, Christians would go on pilgrimages to visit holy sites.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Between the eleventh century and the thirteenth century, Muslims and Christians, they had nine wars. They call they wars to be known as, they Crusades. Crusades were basically a raid, Crusaders would go on a long journey just to fight, sneak attacks, and the results of the crusades was either more negative or positive which is our important question. The Crusades were left in the dark on history that failed to be Crusades, meet their goal, but mainly crusades had a negative history. These are they reasons why, they made bishops leave which made the people worried which made the Crusades a bad impact and, the Crusaders sometimes attacked people that were even in the crusade such as Jews.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Crusades Dbq

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Between the end of the eleventh century and into the thirteenth century the European Christians conducted a series of nine wars come to be known as the crusades. Trade was one of the positive things in the crusade because with trade still going around the people of the city could still purchase thing that they needed. Document 2 states that trade built up starting at the Muslim empire. This is important because without trade people and soldiers couldn’t purchase what they needed. Document 4 states that the crusades attracted people that differed from the ones anticipated by its organizers so they can adventure, have estates or get commercial opportunities.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Benefits Of The Crusades

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The crusades had many things that motivated people to fight in the crusades. People saw an economical, political and religious reward that came with fighting in the crusades. From the crusades wealth and status would be affected because they would be able to trade the things that was taken from the city. Land could be gained and power would increase, people saw this as a political gain coming from the crusades. The Pope also promised many religious benefits from the crusades.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crusades is defined as a medieval military expedition, one of a series made by Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. The Question surrounding the crusades is whether it was caused by the devotion of religion or for the desire of political and economical gain. The crusades may of seemed like they were based around the idea of greed throughout the Catholic church but really it was based on God and how he got the people through such tough times. The primary reason for these crusades was religious devotion including many factors like their love of religion and faith. This devotion of religion and faith in the time of the crusades is expressed in a collection of documents written by different historians that lived in this time…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Crusades was a gory period in history where the Christians and Muslims had their own differences, which brought them into conflict and leading to a couple million deaths. Both sides had their own perspectives that the other would not agree on. I will be explaining the Western and Eastern Christian and Muslim’s perspectives and how it brought them to war. First I will be going over a summary of this time period so one can feel empathy and understand why things happened the way they did.…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the eleventh and thirteenth ages the crusades were a dark war between religions many of them had brutal deaths and leaving no one left alive. One of the groups taking part in the war was the christian they wanted to take back the holy land from the muslims. The christians left a bitter lace behind them because they would slay Jews ernite community one of the big problem was that they did all that killing and didn't even make their goal. I think the crusades had a negative effect on them because it made hate between the religions and divided the churches The Crusades had left a bitter legacy and a negative effect on everyone they would slaughter everyone one in the name of their faith no women or child left. Document 2 states that The Crusades…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Due to the vast and all encompassing nature of the crusades, it is appropriate to conclude that they affected all levels of English society, from culture and politics, to technology, trade and economics; no one was exempt from being effected…

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays