helped to undermine feudalism

Thousands of barons and knights mortgaged or sold their lands in order to raise money for a crusading expedition

they helped to break down the power of the feudal aristocracy, and to give prominence to the kings and the people.

The Crusades were therefore one of the principal fostering influences of Chivalry

They went out from their castles or villages to see great cities, marble palaces, superb dresses, and elegant manners; they returned with finer tastes, broader ideas, and wider sympathies

helped to awaken in Western Europe that mental activity which resulted finally in the great intellectual outburst known as the Revival of Learning and the period of the Renaissance.