Exercises on the Crusades

Regarding the motivations of the Crusades, answer the following questions:

a) What is the Church's interest in the movement?

b) What are the economic interests linked to the Crusades?

Determine in which centuries the crusade movement took place and the division used to organize this same historical event.

What information from the Middle Ages does the Beggars' Crusade and Children's Crusades reveal to us?

Having the consequences of the crusade movement as a reference, answer:

a) Did the crusade movement achieve its initial pretensions? Justify your answer.

b) Point out other transformations that took place in Europe after the Crusades came to an end.

TEMPLATE :In order to gather the military forces of the European nobility, the Church established that the Crusades had as a fundamental objective, to impose the expulsion of Muslims from the city of Jerusalem. Considered a holy city, the clerics intended to wipe out any possibility of advancing Islamic belief in western lands.

GUARANTEE B :At the time when the Crusades were organized, Europe was experiencing a clear process of population growth. In this way, the available land would not adequately support the demand for food from Europeans. With that, the conquest of lands in the East appeared as an interesting way to solve the problem. Furthermore, it should be noted that some traders also supported the movement hoping to take possession of Muslim-controlled trade, land and sea routes.

As a long-term event, the Crusades took place between the 11th and 13th centuries. To organize the Crusades movement, we recognize the development of eight Crusades officially recognized by the Catholic Church. In addition, we have two unofficial crusades, also known as “Popular Crusades”.

Looking at the Beggars' Crusade, we can see that Europe was going through an economic crisis, due to the lack of land, which ended up generating a large population of marginalized people. On the other hand, the Children's Crusade demonstrates the strong religious sentiment of the time by being organized under the pretext that children - seen as free from sin - could defeat Muslim armies.

GAME A :No. Even having some trump cards in its initial stages, the crusade movement ended up suffering from opposition from Muslim troops. In such a way, the conquered lands to the East, ended up being lost and the hegemony under the city of Jerusalem was not conquered.

GUARANTEE B :Despite not achieving its initial objectives, the Crusades were of great importance for the re-articulation of trade between the West and the East. Under this new context, we see that the expansion of commerce was accompanied by the growth of urban centers, the change in the eating and aesthetic habits of the European nobility, and the greater circulation of knowledge.