The Crusades promoted cross-state diplomacy and collaboration, as kingdoms had to pull together to provide forces for the shared aims of Christendom. As bureaucracy developed across the kingdoms and vernacular languages were increasingly used in written texts there was an evolution in national identities. The rise of universities meant greater engagement with classical texts on law, rhetoric and science. Monastic reform and an increasingly wealthy church established powerhouses of creativity, and closer contact with the Islamic and Byzantine worlds allowed Western scholars access to innovative
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