assfuc t1_iret0ls wrote
I think they made a profit from the crusades.
Deathbyhours t1_irgmmfq wrote
Some individuals did, anyone who survived and got back home (getting back also involved survival) and retained or was able to replace his gear and horses probably brought back a profit in loot, at a guess. However, that is a whole series of conditions.
Of course, they actually conquered the Holy Land at one point, and managed to hold Jerusalem for nearly(?) a century, so there was an acquisition of wealth there, although the smart money would have been transferred out of the Levant and back to England and France, because the wealth that was built up and stayed there turned out to be pretty transitory from the Crusaders’ POV.
Lightning ETA: I strongly suspect the Crusades were a net economic loss for the Crusaders. There’s so little profit in dying.
assfuc t1_irgq2zj wrote
Why go home? land and onn a major trade route.
Thibaudborny t1_irhsu9e wrote
Because the outright majority never stayed. This is well documented by historians, in particularly Riley-Smith did extensive research into how crusades were organized by the nobility, it basically meant investing/pawning all their property to be able to fund it.
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