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 highlights how the Crusades contributed to the centralization of power among monarchs by weakening the power of the nobility, who sold off lands to enlist in the Crusades, thereby increasing the monarchs' control over their territories.