The statement that best analyzes the impact of the Crusades on the role of European monarchs is:
Monarchs were able to expand their influence as nobles fighting in the Crusades sold their lands, which allowed the monarchs to centralize their power.
This statement accurately reflects how the Crusades shifted the power dynamics in Europe, allowing monarchs to consolidate their authority by gaining territory and reducing the power of the nobility who were preoccupied with military campaigns.