Quote:
During the Crusades, we were the savages and Islam was the cradle of civilization. The West received all we know about the Romans, Greeks, political organization and ancient history as a gift from the tolerant, scientific, politically advanced and enlightened Islamic world we were attacking. In a real sense, our civilization today is a gift from Islam. It is no accident that the Renaissance immediately followed the end of the Crusades. Those ideas, that rebirth of civilization came from exposure the the Islamic world of the day.
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I would give a max 1/3 credit to Islam on Renaissance, the rest goes to the Byzantine Empire and Catholic church on preserving the Greco-Roman heritage of Europe. And to the Medici and other families for sponsoring these arts and sciences.