WI America was discovered by wayward Crusaders?

No! You can't do that to my precious horsies!

No, really; could even faster inter-empire communication prevent the fall of any empire, or increase the power of the group that has cavalry to the point they become much larger than OTL?
 
I make a point first off, all the scenarios we've considered have the Crusaders start fighting everybody in sight. But would they have? First off, a prudent commander won't just start fighting when he doesn't know the strength of his enemy. What if they land in an uninhabited area with no one to fight? If they can survive the winter, they may be more inclined to trade than fight. And what if legends of Prestor John or something similar circulate?

What happens to their horses? An earlier introduction of the horse is very interesting, if they manage to keep them alive, that is.
Yeah. Except they'll need food to stay alive on the ride over. I mean both the Crusaders and the horses. And they won't have provisions for that long a trip.

Your final sentence explains why any wayward shipwreck victims would be a significant disadvantage. They would be exceptionally weak, likely scurrvy ridden, and lacking the weapon that would potentially be enough to make the difference, the mounted man at arms. On foot, sick, lost, the chances of any sort of discipline (never a strong suit for the Crusaders) being maintained is nearly non-existant. Combine that with very low numbers (ships of the era did not transport large companies of men) and the very high likelyhood that the Crusaders would be the picture of the uncouth tresspasser, and you will fairly quickly find the group being picked off one or two at a time (fetching water, food, chasing local women, etc.).

Chain mail & steel alone won't allow a few ill fed, ill prepared (hell, just plain old ILL) castaways to survive for long against a native population.
Your points on discipline are why i say that it depends on which group of Crusaders it is. Richard's march to Jaffa took a great deal of discipline, and foot-soldiers did the most of the fighting. Other groups of Crusaders had similar discipline, but the presence of the rape-and-pillage kind could have an interesting effect if stories of devils from the sea linger until European colonization comes around.

Time is also important. If they start ticking off people as soon as they land, they're doomed. But, as one poster noted above, there's lots of game to go after, so give them a month or two at the right time of year, and they're no longer hungry or sick.

Mounted knights won't be much use in the Eastern Woodlands. The terrain's all wrong.

As for the chain-mail, i'm still trying to figure out what weapons the native have that will be able to penetrate it.
 

All this talk about where the Crusaders will find food gives me an idea. I hope the Mississippians were around then.

Richard Lion-Heart sets sail for Outremer. They get lost, then get caught in a storm. Richard, along with several other ships, makes landfall in the New World, but not too close to any major population centers. His first look-out is to the health of his troops. They make a permanent camp in a defensible location, and organize scrounging parties. They are delighted to find abundant game. Fear of the unknown keeps desertions down to being with. The natives are somewhat frightened of their strange new neighbors and hence do not force a confrontation. Some trade is conducted during the first winter and the Crusaders learn how to communicate with the natives. Stories are exchanged and the Crusaders learn of a rich, powerful people far to the west. Prestor John, perhaps? Discipline begins to break down in the later winter as hunger comes on and a rogue leader raids and wipes out a nearby town. As news of the massacre spreads among the natives, the area becomes a bit too hot for comfortable habitation, so the Crusaders set off to the West to find the rich cities they had heard about. They shelter in the Appalachians for the remainder of the winter, and set off again after the spring rains end. When they find the cities of legend, they're disappointed to find a bunch of heathens instead of a lost Christian king. What little relations there are go south fast, and the natives ambush the Crusaders one night. This is rather the last straw for good King Richard. The Crusaders open that good ol' can o' conquistadore whoop-butt, and take over the city. They intermarry with the natives, teach them some metal working, how to make cross-bows, etc. Their city soon defeats others, and the new empire stretches far along the Mississippi.

Oops, i forgot horses. Most of the horses are consumed on the voyage, but Richard decides this will not happen to his horses. Guard is mounted, and a dozen or so horses make it to America. They are fruitful and multiply, but become seen as a royal animal. Escapees and the decline of the empire eventually erode that more.
 
After the Mississippi Culture was destroyed, the Native Tribes still had enough military power to destroy De Soto in the 1600's, wouldn't they destroy any wayward Crusaders just as they did De Soto's Spanish Group.
 
Exactly how many Crusaders survived when they conquered the city? A few hundred at most?

After a few generations of intermarriage and diffusion of knowledge, how much of a leg-up would the new group actually have over their neighbours?
None. By that time they would be the strongest group around, though, and the diffused knowledge would cause trouble to future explorers and conquistadors, not to mention the academic questions arising when half of eastern NA is named in French, speaking a French/English/native patois, and incorporating psuedo-Christian beliefs and rituals into their religion(s).

After the Mississippi Culture was destroyed, the Native Tribes still had enough military power to destroy De Soto in the 1600's, wouldn't they destroy any wayward Crusaders just as they did De Soto's Spanish Group.
Huh. Good question. And DeSoto had horses. This would be more at the beginning of the Mississipians, so maybe they'd be weaker, and i think that Richard Lion-Heart was a much better commander and tactician than DeSoto. Is that enough? A more potent point is that, in my scenario, Richard isn't initially coming to conquer, whereas DeSoto was stirring things up as he came.

Okay, a little quick research tells me that DeSoto's defeat wasn't so much in battle, but in the aftermath, sickness, lack of supplies, and so on. Hopefully, in that time the Crusaders will be in a better position, more ala Cortez.
 
Has anybody answered the most important question? I refer to the problem of how you get more then a small ship with a few crusaders on board to go against logic and land in the Americas in any condition (remember, starvation and sickness will strike on the voyage) to stabilize themselves?
 
You would need an Island or a special event to keep the Wayward Crusaders from being destroyed by the Native Eastern Tribes, any outsider would be attacked, because of the lack or resources, and the Crusaders would be Unknown to the Native Peoples. They could take a small Island and hold it, the question would be, could they produce enough food and supplies to stay?
Remember the First English Colony in American, Roanoke Island, and how about Jamestown if it weren't for supplies from England they wouldn't have make it.

It could have been possible for a group of ships from England or France (with our wayward Crusaders who wish to stay out of the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor or maybe a French King) sailing from the England to the Holy Land to have been forced by storms to North American, remember there are some reports of European fishing boats sailing to the Grand Banks in the 1300's. They could also have a good Ship Captain who would have some knowledge of the Greenland Norse Settlements and the northern Trade route with Iceland and Denmark. So maybe they could receive some supplies from the North.
 
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