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Course: World history?>?Unit 3
Lesson 8: The CrusadesState-building: technology and cultural transfers during the Crusades
Problem
Before answering the question below, read the following passage:
"Culturally Frankish society in the East remained basically provincial and thoroughly dependent on Europe. The Islamic influence which was so fruitful in Spain and Sicily was rigidly excluded in Outremer [Crusader states in the Holy Land]. The Franks coexisted with the Muslims but there was no symbiosis [cultural blending]. The number of those from the upper ranks of society who bothered to learn Arabic was tiny. Their everyday language (...) was French. (...) Only in superficial matters, dress, medicine, and domestic comforts was there any willingness to learn from Islam. "
From Hans Eberhard Mayer, The Crusades (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 189.
What is Mayer’s argument about cross-cultural influences during the crusades?