In fact, they were a tremendous drain on Europe's resources. For me, the crusades matter because they remind us that the medieval world was fundamentally different from ours. The men and women who took up the cross believed in the sacrality of their work in a way that we often can't even conceive of today. And when we focus so much on the heroic narrative, or the anti-imperialist narrative, or all the political infighting, we can lose sight of what the crusades must have meant to the crusaders. How that journey from pilgrimage to holy war transformed their faith and their lives. And ultimately, that exercise in empathy is the coolest thing about studying history. Thanks for watching.