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Lieberal Lies: The Crusades
Friends, I know most of you were home-schooled, so I am sure that you have managed to avoid most of the lies so horribly ingrained in our school system. For those of us who were forced into the secular school system, the myth of the Christian crusaders as dark age barbians hell-bent on murdering and raping a peaceful, advanced and tolerant Mooslim civilization should be familiar to you. This is simply not the case. The fact of the matter is that the Crusaders were holy warriors doing God's work and protecting all of Christendom from a culture intent on stamping it out entirely.
A (very) brief history of the Crusades
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns fought between 1096 A.D to 1291 A.D for the reconquest of the Holy Land. By 1096 the Mooslim empire had taken over much of the Middle East, North Africa, a good amount of Spain and Portugal, and was making inroads in Turkey (which was controlled by the Byzantine empire at the time). The Byzantine emperor appealed to the Cathlick church for help, which in a rare moment of level-headedness realized that something needed to be done before the Mooslim threat overran all of Europe. They organized a series of armies which managed to retake the Holy Land and Spain, install a Christian government in Jerusalem for the first time in centuries, and liberate many poor Christians living under the yoke of the Mooslims. Unfortunately, their success in the Holy Land was not to last, and they were steadily pushed back until in 1291 they were forced to abandon it completely when Acre fell.
Lie #1: The Crusades were wars of aggression against a peaceful Mooslim society
As I have already pointed out, by the time of the First Crusade the Mooslims had overrun much of the Christian world. In fact, just to put it in perspective for everyone, they had control over roughly 2/3 of the Christian world at the time. And they had only been around for roughly 400 years at that point! If anyone was waging unprovoked wars of aggression, it was obviously the moon-worshipers.
Lie #2: The Mooslims were a tolerant people who embraced religious diversity while the Crusaders were hateful bigots
In truth, it was only during the time that the Crusaders ruled Palestine that people enjoyed the civil rights of not being sold into slavery or put to death for their religious beliefs. Even the average Mooslims preferred to live under Christian rule, as is shown by this quote by Ibn Jubayr, a Mooslim historian:
"We moved from Tibnin - may God destroy it - at daybreak on Monday. Our way lay through continuous farms and ordered settlements, whose inhabitants were all Muslims living comfortably with the Franks. God protect us from such temptation. They surrender half their crops to the Franks at harvest time, and pay as well a poll-tax of one dinar and five qirat for each person. Other than that, they are not interfered with, save for a light tax on the fruits of trees. Their houses and all their effects are left to their full possession. All the coastal cities occupied by the Franks are managed in this fashion, their rural districts, the villages and farms, belonging to the Muslims. But their hearts have been seduced, for they observe how unlike them in ease and comfort are their brethren in the Muslim regions under their (Muslim) governors. This is one of the misfortunes afflicting the Muslims. The Muslim community bewails the injustice of a landlord of its own faith, and applauds the conduct of its opponent and enemy, the Frankish landlord, and is accustomed to justice from him. He who laments this state must turn to God."
Lie #3: The Crusaders were only interested in economic benefits of the war
In truth, there were absolutely NO economic benefits to be had from crusading. Palestine was a relatively poor region, and the costs of raising and equipping armies were very high. Many nobles personally bankrupted themselves and their families to go on the Crusades and help protect the Christians living there.
Lie #4: When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they massacred so many people that the streets ran with blood
This literary convention is often parroted as a fact by people who like to believe a defensive war was a genocide. During medieval times, a city that was put under siege was given two choices: surrender and be spared, or resist and be sacked if they are defeated. Jerusalem resisted, and though many people were killed in the aftermath of the battle, many others were ransomed or let to go free. It was absolutely not any different from any other city's siege during the times. Furthermore, Jerusalem is a very large city. The amount of blood it would take to literally fill the streets would have required the deaths of more people than were living in the entire region, let alone only the city.
So there you have it; four reasons the Lieberals don't want you to know why we should be proud of this glorious time during Christian history.
A (very) brief history of the Crusades
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns fought between 1096 A.D to 1291 A.D for the reconquest of the Holy Land. By 1096 the Mooslim empire had taken over much of the Middle East, North Africa, a good amount of Spain and Portugal, and was making inroads in Turkey (which was controlled by the Byzantine empire at the time). The Byzantine emperor appealed to the Cathlick church for help, which in a rare moment of level-headedness realized that something needed to be done before the Mooslim threat overran all of Europe. They organized a series of armies which managed to retake the Holy Land and Spain, install a Christian government in Jerusalem for the first time in centuries, and liberate many poor Christians living under the yoke of the Mooslims. Unfortunately, their success in the Holy Land was not to last, and they were steadily pushed back until in 1291 they were forced to abandon it completely when Acre fell.
Lie #1: The Crusades were wars of aggression against a peaceful Mooslim society
As I have already pointed out, by the time of the First Crusade the Mooslims had overrun much of the Christian world. In fact, just to put it in perspective for everyone, they had control over roughly 2/3 of the Christian world at the time. And they had only been around for roughly 400 years at that point! If anyone was waging unprovoked wars of aggression, it was obviously the moon-worshipers.
Lie #2: The Mooslims were a tolerant people who embraced religious diversity while the Crusaders were hateful bigots
In truth, it was only during the time that the Crusaders ruled Palestine that people enjoyed the civil rights of not being sold into slavery or put to death for their religious beliefs. Even the average Mooslims preferred to live under Christian rule, as is shown by this quote by Ibn Jubayr, a Mooslim historian:
"We moved from Tibnin - may God destroy it - at daybreak on Monday. Our way lay through continuous farms and ordered settlements, whose inhabitants were all Muslims living comfortably with the Franks. God protect us from such temptation. They surrender half their crops to the Franks at harvest time, and pay as well a poll-tax of one dinar and five qirat for each person. Other than that, they are not interfered with, save for a light tax on the fruits of trees. Their houses and all their effects are left to their full possession. All the coastal cities occupied by the Franks are managed in this fashion, their rural districts, the villages and farms, belonging to the Muslims. But their hearts have been seduced, for they observe how unlike them in ease and comfort are their brethren in the Muslim regions under their (Muslim) governors. This is one of the misfortunes afflicting the Muslims. The Muslim community bewails the injustice of a landlord of its own faith, and applauds the conduct of its opponent and enemy, the Frankish landlord, and is accustomed to justice from him. He who laments this state must turn to God."
Lie #3: The Crusaders were only interested in economic benefits of the war
In truth, there were absolutely NO economic benefits to be had from crusading. Palestine was a relatively poor region, and the costs of raising and equipping armies were very high. Many nobles personally bankrupted themselves and their families to go on the Crusades and help protect the Christians living there.
Lie #4: When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they massacred so many people that the streets ran with blood
This literary convention is often parroted as a fact by people who like to believe a defensive war was a genocide. During medieval times, a city that was put under siege was given two choices: surrender and be spared, or resist and be sacked if they are defeated. Jerusalem resisted, and though many people were killed in the aftermath of the battle, many others were ransomed or let to go free. It was absolutely not any different from any other city's siege during the times. Furthermore, Jerusalem is a very large city. The amount of blood it would take to literally fill the streets would have required the deaths of more people than were living in the entire region, let alone only the city.
So there you have it; four reasons the Lieberals don't want you to know why we should be proud of this glorious time during Christian history.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
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