•Explore and discuss the issue of the continuing relevance, if Essay

†¢Explore and discuss the issue of the continuing relevance, if any, of the medieval crusades on Middle Eastern and Western societies in the early twenty-first century - Essay Example George Dennis defines holy war according to three criteria. â€Å"A holy war has to be declared by a competent religious authority, the obvious examples being a Christian pope or a Muslim caliph. The objective must be religious; again, two obvious examples are the protection or recovery of sacred shrines or the forced conversion or subjection of others to your religion. Finally, those who participate in the holy war are to be promised a spiritual reward, such as remission of their sins or assurance of a place in paradise† (45). Consequently, from these three perspectives, crusades could be viewed as holy wars for they were initiated by the Pope Urban II, its initial and hypothetic objective was really the recovery of sacred lands, and indeed the participants of the crusades were promised pardon of all their sins. But when the real goals and motives are to be contemplated, they definitely lie in more than in simple recovery of Jerusalem (Child et al 87). George Dennis believes that it is very strange of the people (both nobility and the commons) to leave their homes and travel thousands of miles in order to protect some abstract land. There is not seen any other motivation than their religious devotion. But this can be true for a small number of common crusade participants. The reason for this doubt consists in the certain amount of facts. Many of the noblemen (and even peasants) longed for some kind of a gain whether it be land or power for themselves (Child et al 60). The reason for this is evident: the younger sons of European nobility who were not supposed to obtain rule of their family lands had to search for their own lands. As for the commons, they were poor, and that is the reason (Essortment n.d.). Other reasons for the crusades seem far from religious, too. But they can rather be defined as the lust for power over the lands which became stronger and