Crusades produced, directly, but slight improvement in the feudal armies
of Europe. In the East large bodies of men were successfully kept under
arms for a considerable period, but the application of crusading methods
to European war was altogether impracticable. In the first place, much
of the permanent force of these armies was contributed by the military
orders, which had no place in European political activities. Secondly,
enthusiasm mitigated much of the evil of individualism. In the third
place, there was no custom to limit the period of service, since the
Crusaders had undertaken a definite task and would merely have
stultified their own purpose in leaving the work only half done. There
were, therefore, sharp contrasts between crusading and European armies.
In the latter, systematization was confined to details of recruiting; in
the armies of the Cross, men were from time to time obtained by the
accident of religious fervour, while at the same time continuous service
produced a relatively high system of tactical organization. Different
conditions, therefore, produced different methods, and crusading unity
and discipline could not have been imposed on an ordinary army, which
indeed with its paid auxiliaries was fairly adequate for the somewhat
desultory European wars of that time. The statement that the Crusaders
had a direct influence on the revival of infantry is hardly susceptible
of convincing demonstration, but it is at any rate beyond question that
the social and economic results of the Crusades materially contributed
to the downfall of the feudal knight, and in consequence to a rise in
the relative importance of the middle classes. Further, not only were
the Crusading knights compelled by their own want of numbers to rely on
the good qualities of the foot, but the foot themselves were the
"survivors of the fittest," for the weakly men died before they reached
the Holy Land, and with them there were always knights who had lost
their horses and could not obtain remounts. Moreover, when "simple" and
"gentle" both took the Cross there could be no question of treating
Crusaders as if they were the mere feudal levy. But the little direct
influence of the whole of these wars upon military progress in Europe is
shown clearly enough by the fact that at the very close of the Crusades
a great battle was lost through knight-errantry of the true feudal type
(Mansurah).