Cultural Context Analysis: The Crusades

Words: 572
Pages: 3

Evan Francis
Cultural Context Analysis
06/20/2016

The Crusades were a “Holy War” between the Christians of Europe and the Muslims of Europe. This 200 year war started when the Turks conquered Jerusalem and slaughtered over 2500 Christians. Believing that Christians were the rightful rulers of what they believed the birth place of Jesus Christ. Pope Urban II around the end of the 11th century ordered Christian armies to take up arms against any and all Muslims and take back their holy land. The crusades had many long lasting effects in almost every aspect of society in Europe. Whether it had a political, social or economic consequence needless to say this event affected the life of Europeans for centuries to come.
The Crusades had huge effect on the population of Europe with over two million lives lost in the entirety of the war. Back then the world population was not as big as today’s population. Two million
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With most wars the most important thing is transportation and getting supplies to your men. This greatly increased the amount of commerce the Christian States were receiving because with more transportations and supplies they were easily more effective at trading with neighboring countries. With the standard of living increasing in the Christian States more and more people looked up to the Papacy and gave the pope more support from his people.
One social impact of the Crusades was how Christians at the time viewed warfare and killing for their country. Many Christians in the past believed Jesus was against violence against others no matter the reason. They believed Christians should never shed blood because it was a sin to do so. That philosophy changed when St. Augustine told the Christian soldiers that you will be forgiven for shedding blood because you were doing so in the lord’s name. This meant that unnecessary violence, rape and other atrocities were ok and you were going to be