edHelper.com
Middle Ages

Effects of the Crusades

Effects of the Crusades
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.07

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    seafaring, finance, formerly, banking, largely, military, material, necessity, identify, university, especially, algebra, better, saffron, compass, main
     content words:    Holy Land, Small Christian, Byzantine Empire, Middle East, Mediterranean Sea, Middle Eastern, Medieval Europe, Medieval European-style, Middle Ages, Marco Polo

Print Effects of the Crusades
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Effects of the Crusades  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Effects of the Crusades
     Leave your feedback on Effects of the Crusades  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Effects of the Crusades
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     The crusaders went to Jerusalem with one main goal in mind -- to take control of the Holy Land back from the Turks. Despite many attempts, this goal was never reached. Small Christian states were established for a time in and around Jerusalem, but they soon returned to Turkish control.
 
2     There was another loss for the crusaders too. The eastern Christian empire, known as the Byzantine Empire, fell into the hands of the Turks after the end of the Crusades.
 
3     Despite these military losses, the crusades also had many positive results.
 
4     The necessity of carrying on long military campaigns in a distant land brought about some of the changes. For example, armies found ways to build better ships and to make better maps. The use of heraldry to identify warriors developed during the crusades. Businessmen developed more modern banking methods to finance these large military enterprises. New tools, some of them discovered in the East, like the magnetic compass came into use for the first time in Europe.

Paragraphs 5 to 11:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper