Effects of the Crusades, Then and Now

• Byzantine Empire is weakened

• Pope's power declines

• Power of feudal nobles weakens

• Religious intolerance grows

• Italian cities expand trade

• Muslims increasingly distrust Christians

• Trade grows between Europe and the Middle East

• European technology improves as Crusaders learn from Muslims

• Far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, lasting into the present day

• "High ideals were besmirched by cruelty and greed ... the Holy War was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God." - Sir Steven Runciman (1954)

• "It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims." - Osama bin Laden (1998)

• An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye ends in making everybody blind."  - Gandhi