Medieval Europe

Originally the crusades were a way for nobles to take their frustration out on each other and to stop feuding over which form of Christianity was right. They were also military campaigns started by the church in order to reunite Eastern and Western Christianity after the great schism in the church. The crusades played a major role in the church during Medieval Europe. The crusades helped the church regain power that it had lost after the Holy Land had been conquered by the Turks in the 7th century.

The Crusades began in Rome and ended in Jerusalem, the First Crusade was a complete success because the end goal was to retake Jerusalem from the Turks. After the successful journey they had split up the conquered land into the feudal states of Jerusalem, Edessa, and Antioch. Edessa was later captured by the Turks which is what lead to the start of the Second Crusade.

The Second Crusade was started in an attempt to retake the city of Edessa after it was captured by the Muslim empire. It later ended in a massive failure because the Crusaders didn't even come close to reaching the city. This caused people to stop believing in the Roman Catholic Church's power to rule because they had failed to retake the Holy Land.

The Third Crusade was known as the King's Crusade. After the Sultan had captured Jerusalem from the Church after the First Crusade the Church rebelled and began the march to Jerusalem. Like the First Crusade this one was largely successful in that they captured cities including Acre and Jaffa causing set backs of the Sultans' conquest but the Church failed to capture Jerusalem which was the main goal of this crusade.

The Fourth Crusade was intended to conquer the Muslim controlled Jerusalem by making their way down through Egypt and up into Constantinople. Instead of passing through and continuing past Constantinople the Crusaders ransacked the city and stayed there. This began the downfall of Christianity in this region.

The Fifth Crusade was an attempt by Catholic Europeans to capture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. This crusade started in the Ayyubid state in Egypt and moved on through the Byzantine Empire. They had to have a forced retreat after their supplies dwindled to the point where they barely had enough to make it back to their homes.

The Black Death or the "Bubonic Plague" was one of the most devastating events of Europe's history. The people believed that God was punishing them for their sins. It also made people convert to religions other than Catholicism thinking that they wouldn't be affected by the Plague because of their conversion.

The main impact of the Crusades was not its intended purpose which was to conquer the Holy Land from the Muslim Empire and to reunite the Church from Western and Eastern Christianity to the singular Roman Catholic church. The crusades did not actually unite the Church or open links of communication with the rest of the world; instead the Crusades paved the way for what would become the Silk Road. The Silk Road lead to the introduction of new products in Europe from the rest of the world. The Black Death primarily weakened the Church's power because the people believed that it was God's way of punishing the people for what they had done wrong. This made people to turn to other religions for forgiveness.