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To: Flag_This
and that's where western Europe was re-introduced to those works during the Crusades.

I don't think the Crusaders took too many books home. Most of the Greek to Muslim to Christendom knowledge transfer took place in Spain. When the Muslim rulers left Spain they left behind vast libraries - and swarms of Jewish scholars who could translate.

30 posted on 08/11/2013 5:37:08 PM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: SeeSharp
"I don't think the Crusaders took too many books home."

The Crusaders weren't the only people who went on the crusades. There were thousands of "support personnel" - for lack of a better term - who trailed along. All sorts of civilians went and certainly the literate clergy were very interested in written works. The Imperial Library of Constantinople was the "last of the great libraries of the ancient world" with works that went back 1,000 years. Furthermore, the Byzantines didn't need any help translating the Greek language, since they spoke it. In fact, the "Franks" called the Byzantines "Greeks."

Constantinople (one of the largest cities in the world at that time) was the jumping off point for all the Crusades. We know there was an almost immediate Byzantine influence on Europe following the First Crusade; architecture in Europe started to change. Castle architecture was greatly influenced - square towers started to get replaced by round towers, for example. And maybe it was just a giant coincidence, but Gothic architecture first rose and rapidly spread across Europe in the 11th century following the First Crusade.

In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the East and the West had a bit of a falling out and the crusaders sacked Constantinople for three days - they dragged all kinds of crap home. There's no need to look to Spain for the source of ancient Greek literature.

56 posted on 08/11/2013 8:43:21 PM PDT by Flag_This (Real presidents don't bow.)
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