Every time someone trots out the Crusades to lecture Christians or the West, they leave out four centuries of history. I’m putting it back on the record.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ
Muhammad died in 632. Within three years, Muslim armies had taken Damascus (635). The next year, Antioch (636). The year after that, the entire Holy Land (637) โ the spiritual center of Christendom, gone. Armenia became the first Christian nation fully conquered (639). Egypt, the Coptic Christian power, fell two years later (641). By 650, Muslim forces had reached southern Italy and Cyprus, taking thousands of captives as “๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด” and “๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ถ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด.” Then came Spain โ Muslim armies crossed from North Africa in 711 and overran most of Iberia by 715.
In roughly 80 years, Christianity lost the Middle East, North Africa, and most of the Iberian Peninsula.
๐๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ โ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฒ
This was not exploration. This was conquest. In 717, Muslim forces besieged Constantinople itself โ the capital of Eastern Christendom. The siege lasted a year before they were repelled. Had it succeeded, the path into Europe would have been wide open.
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In 730, they invaded France. Charles Martel stopped them at Tours. In 792, the ruler of Al-Andalus called for a second invasion of France. Repelled. In 848, a third invasion of France. Repelled again.
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In 827, Muslims invaded Sicily and Italy, persecuting monks and pillaging Christian communities. Sicily would remain under Islamic rule for 250 years. In 846, they invaded Rome itself and forced the Pope to pay tribute. By 909, they had taken Sardinia.
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This was relentless, coordinated, and existential.
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๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ
In 937, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher โ built over the site Christians believe is the tomb of Christ โ was burned to the ground. More churches in Jerusalem were torched alongside it. In 1009, the Church of the Resurrection was destroyed. By 1012, Al-Hakim’s oppressive decrees against Christians had begun in earnest.
Christian pilgrims could no longer safely visit the sites of Christ’s ministry. The holiest city in Christendom was ruled by a hostile power systematically destroying the faith itself.
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๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ
In 1071, Muslim Turkish forces shattered the Byzantine army at Manzikert and occupied most of Anatolia. Constantinople was now directly threatened.
In 1094, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent envoys to Rome begging Western Christendom for military aid.
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In 1095, Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade.
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๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐. ๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐
๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐. ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐.
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๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐๐ง’๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ. ๐๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒ.
Dr. Thomas Madden, a professor of medieval history at Saint Louis University and a leading scholar of the Crusades, argues that the campaigns to the East must be understood primarily as defensive wars rather than acts of unprovoked colonial expansion.
By the time Pope Urban II called the First Crusade in 1095, Muslim conquests had already taken much of the ancient Christian world, including Palestine, Syria, Egypt, North Africa and large parts of Asia Minor. The Byzantine Empire, facing further Turkish advances, appealed to the Christians of Western Europe for military assistance.
Madden argues that Christianity had reached a decisive moment: it could defend itself or risk being gradually absorbed. In his words:
โI have no doubt that had there been no Crusades at all, western Europe would have been conquered by Muslims in much the same fashion as southeastern Europe was.โ
The Crusades were not an attack upon a peaceful world. They were Christendomโs long-delayed response to a threat that had already conquered much of its historic heartland.
The Mythistory of the Crusades
by Ibn Warraq (October 2013)ย thanks to the Tundra Tabloids
A new generation of Western scholars of the Middle Ages have been trying to put right the misconceptions that have grown up about the Crusades. As Jonathan Riley-Smith has argued โmodern Western public opinion, Arab nationalism, and Pan-Islamism all share perceptions of crusading that have more to do with nineteenth-century European imperialism than with actuality.โ1 Muslims in particular have developed โmythistoriesโ concerning the putative injuries they have received at the hands of the Crusaders. The first point that needs to be emphasized is that the Crusades were proclaimed not only against Muslims, but also against many groups, and communities that the Catholic Church considered heretical, and enemies of the faith, groups such as the pagan Wends, Balts and Lithuanians, shamanist Mongols, Orthodox Russians and Greeks, Cathar and Hussite heretics.2 Continue reading The Crusades
