Article summary
The crusades have been typically framed as a series of military encounters mainly a clash of the medieval Catholic Church and other non Christian cultures. The near east, the eastern Baltic and the Iberian peninsula have recently been described as the frontier societies during the expansion of Christian Europe. The expansion and movement of the European populations was tied to the increasing exploitation of natural resources. People aspired to manipulate their local environments to suit their changing social- economic and ideological environments especially in the colonized regions. These changes include; Urban growth, crowding and pollution. Many societies mainly preferred the urban settlements due to various reasons such as security, establishment of major amenities near urban areas and commerce that took place in the urban centers. This led to overcrowding, decrease in open spaces, expansion beyond the former boundaries and serious pollution. There was no organized removal of waste on the streets where the individuals were left to clean the front of their own properties or to the rains and animals which equally polluted as much as they cleaned.
The wars also led to the change in the landscape of the rural areas and increase in animal husbandry where animals, such as the pigs, that had been on the decrease during the Islamic rule of the holy land, expanded considerably. Other changes were the increase in agriculture and the agriculturally related industries such as wine pressing, which was founded more on crusader sites. This also brought about the introduction of the western culture such as installations constructed inside the buildings rather than outside and also the introduction of the wind powered mills.
Response
The article tries to explain the impacts on ecology due to crusading and the holy war. This brought about impacts which cannot be ignored on the plant life, animal life and also the landscape of the frontiers in which crusading took place. An ecological perspective focusing on the environmental transformation arising from the changing patterns of human activity resulted in the formation of new ecological niches. Environmental archaeology contributes to the understanding of the medieval European society enabling us to study the impact of the crusading movement. The study illustrates the value and the potential of investigating the societies created by the crusades from the ecological perspective. The sudden occupation and the prolonged presence of a population in those regions was a catalyst for environmental changes. The contribution from the Iberian Peninsula takes into account the understanding of the frontiers, ancient conquests and colonization takes into consideration the church reorganization, the change in settlement form and size, imposition of feudal structures amongst others.
The process of crusading gave rise to complex frontier societies that led to the growth of new ecological niches. The urban area's growth and the reorganization of the rural areas were imperative for the process of colonization in all the three regions. The extent towards which the diet varied was, however, as a result of class rather than the religious faiths of different people. Although the towns would also have developed on their own unique ecosystems, the rise of new communities of predators and scavengers which sustained high levels of waste continually polluted the urban areas changing their ecosystem. This also was further aggravated by the deforestation to make way for the construction of castles and to provide wood to the new settlers.
Works Cited
PLUSKOWSKI, ALEKSANDER, ADRIAN J BOAS and CHRISTOPHER GERRARD. "The Ecology of Crusading." Society for Medieval Archaeology (2011): 193-219.
