ABSTRACT

IF the Middle Ages are regarded as an age of faith and war, the Crusades are their fullest and most awful expression. Undoubtedly the European medieval mind regarded the Crusades as holy wars for a holy cause. In Islam no general jihad was declared against the Crusaders, and the Caliphate, as head of secular life, did not direct the wars. In the West, however, the Pope as spiritual head did identify himself with the cause. As a religious movement the Crusades revealed, through fanaticism and bigotry, all the worst aspects of medieval Christianity. The holy wars succeeded in creating a gulf between East and West, rather than reinforcing the bridge between two cultures that ultimately shared common theistic concepts and innumerable cultural interests. By failing to provide a united front against the real threat that came from the Mongol East, the Crusades served only to divide the world into two hostile spheres. The tragic division initiated by the Crusades persists to the present day, preventing a healthy cultural and political fusion of the Western and Arab civilizations.