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THE CRUSADES: WE STILL LIVE WITH THE LEGACY

The Crusades were a primary force for profound changes in political, cultural, religious, economic, and social life that gave birth to the early modern age, and these changes still influence the present world. The first four Crusades have been hailed as the climax of medieval Western Europe or condemned as the first thrust of European imperialism into the Muslim Near East. Certainly, the Crusaders forever altered the three medieval civilizations: Latin Christendom, Islam, and the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. This class will use lectures from the Great Courses program to examine the origins and consequences of the Crusades. The cause for the First Crusade (1095 109) was the collapse of the Byzantine Empire before the Seljuk Turkomen of Central Asia. Their conquest of Asia Minor disrupted the long established pilgrimage routes of Western Europeans to the Holy Land. But the crusading expeditions were only possible because of great changes in Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. These changes in Western Europe can be appreciated only by comparison to developments with the more sophisticated civilizations of Byzantium and Islam.

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