Question

How did the crusades change the social structure of Europe

Answer 1

The Crusades brought tremendous change in the political, economic, and social structures of Europe. These included the development of monarchies, trade, and the middle class, which continue to affect modern life in some form to this day.

The crusades brought big changes for Europe. The political system in Europe changed from feudalism to monarchy. The economic system went from the manorial system, where manors were self-sufficient and didn't trade, to the revival of trade throughout Europe. The social structure went from a structured society to a society with a new class, the middle class, and the decline of serfdom. All these changes were very big for Europe.
The political system changed in a big way in Europe after the crusades. Before the crusades, the political unit was the manor and was ruled by lords. You were loyal to the lord who owned your land. After the crusades, feudalism became weaker. The kings who led the crusades got more power. They began to form countries and impose taxes. People gave their loyalty to kings in exchange for protection. As long as the king promised to keep the trade routes safe from thugs and thieves, the people would pledge their allegiance to that king. Serfs who used to be bound to the land either escaped from the manor or bought their freedom and funded a crusade for their noble. As more peasants left for the towns, the towns grew larger. Soon the townspeople demanded four basic rights in their town. One was the right to be free, and not to be tied to the manor. The second was the right to have exempt status, and not to have to provide services to the manor. The third right is town justice. They could have their own justice system to deal with crime in their town. The final right was the right to commercial privileges, which is the right to sell goods freely in the town and to impose taxes on merchants who don't live in that town.

Answer 2

The Crusades could not fail to affect in many ways the life of western Europe. For instance, they helped to undermine feudalism. Thousands of barons and knights mortgaged or sold their lands in order to raise money for a crusading expedition. Thousands more perished in Syria and their estates, through failure of heirs, reverted to the crown. Moreover, private warfare, that curse of the Middle Ages, [20] also tended to die out with the departure for the Holy Land of so many turbulent feudal lords. Their decline in both numbers and influence, and the corresponding growth of the royal authority, may best be traced in the changes that came about in France, the original home of the crusading movement.It also influnced the fuedal system because the nobels sold land and bought land.