“The conquered world of Islam captivated her savage conquerors (the Crusaders) and introduced the arts of civilization into the rustic life of Latin Christendom. In certain fields of activity, such as architecture, this Islamic influence pervaded the entire western world in its so-called ‘mediaeval’ age; and as for the two territories of Sicily and Andalusia, the influence of the Arab Islamic empire on the new local Crusader states there was naturally even wider and deeper.”
