Crusades 95 The Krak des Chevaliers, or knight’s fortress, in Syria, built during the Crusades Krak des Chevaliers was the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller It was expanded between 1150 and 1250; the fortress has outer walls 100 feet thick al-Ashraf Khalil took Acre, the last crusader outpost, in 1291 Signifying the end of the crusader presence, the city was looted and razed Sultan Khalil was feted as a conquering hero on his return to Cairo However as with many Mamluk rulers, rivals to the throne assassinated Khalil within a year of his victory The Crusades marked almost 200 years of intermittent warfare and sporadic coexistence between Christian Europe and the Muslim East The exchanges fostered many negative cultural and religious stereotypes Positive results included the introduction of many new goods, including brocades, perfumes, soaps, and foodstuffs, especially spices, to the West Damascus retained its importance as a center for industry and commerce while Jerusalem was a religious center Some crusaders remained, intermarried, and assimilated into Muslim society The Italian city-states established long-lasting commercial ties that continued even during times of open warfare The wealth from this trade helped to finance the cultural flowering of the Renaissance In the long term, the Crusades worsened Christian-Muslim relations and intensified religious animosities In spite of having been under Muslim rule for over 400 years, most of the population in the eastern Mediterranean was still Christian when the crusaders arrived However the massacres of Eastern Orthodox Christians by the crusaders and their rude treatment of the local population ironically contributed to a massive conversion of Christians to Islam after the fall of the Crusader States See also Constantinople, massacre of; feudalism: Europe Further reading: Asbridge, Thomas The First Crusade: A New History, the Roots of Conflict between Christianity and Islam Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004; Hillenbrand, Carole The Crusades Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999; Holt, P M The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517 London: Longman, 1986; Ibn-Munqidh, Usamah An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades: Memoirs of Usamah Ibn-Munqidh Trans by Philip K Hitti Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987; Jacoby, David Commercial Exchanges Across the Mediterranean Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2005 Maalouf, Amin The Crusades