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Line 27: − − == Analysis == − A mixture of Christian spirituality and military adventure motivated the participants in the Crusades like never before in history and perhaps never since. Genovese Merchants participated also in the hope of undermining Venice's trade links with Muslim [[Egypt]]. Many of the crusaders were acting to advance the cause of Christianity. This was not necessarily true for all of the crusaders. Criminals who fought were pardoned, and a crusader was exempt from taxation from the time that he “took up the cross,” until he returned from the war. − − Much is often made of the absolution from sins granted to crusaders who died in the holy wars. However, absolution was readily available, either though confession or, if the nobleman wish for a more dramatic gesture, retirement into a monastery and a life of contemplative prayer. Surely, it was the sense of heroic adventure that made this form of absolution attractive to the warrior elite. Neither is it a foreign concept to the modern observer to believe that a man who dies in war defending his fellowman, country, or allies, might be accepted into heaven on the grounds of his selfless sacrifice. − − The legacy of the crusades is certainly mixed, and the crusaders have been remembered by some as heroes and by some as villains. Certainly, history furnished examples of both kinds of crusader. Likewise, the overall morality of the war raises questions of the just war doctrine, and opinions naturally vary.
Analysis is for Term Papers, not for Encyclopedia-esque articles
Thus, though Jerusalem was held for nearly a century and other strongholds in the Near East would remain in Christian possession much longer, the crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms. Islamic expansion into Europe would renew and remain a threat for centuries culminating in the campaigns of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in the sixteenth century.
Thus, though Jerusalem was held for nearly a century and other strongholds in the Near East would remain in Christian possession much longer, the crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms. Islamic expansion into Europe would renew and remain a threat for centuries culminating in the campaigns of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in the sixteenth century.
[[category:European History]]
[[category:European History]]
[[category:crusades]]
[[category:crusades]]