Top 10 Biggest Misconceptions About the Crusades

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The Crusades were a series of religious wars endorsed by the Catholic Church during the Medieval Ages. The most famous ones took place is the Eastern Mediterranean and had the goal of recovering Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims. However, the term also applied to many other campaigns as well. The Crusades were fought for a variety of reasons including for political and territorial advantage. Over time, society has developed many misconceptions about the crusades. Check out below for the top 10 biggest misconceptions about the crusades.

#10. The crusaders only fought to steal land

One of the biggest misconceptions about the crusades was that crusaders only fought in them because they wanted to get rich. However, this is far from the truth. In fact, most crusaders went into the crusades fully expecting to loose money.^[1]about history – BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE EUROPEAN KNIGHTS AND THE CRUSADERS DURING THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD?

The misconception comes from the establishment of the crusader states. However, the crusaders never intended to found the crusader states. Rather, the crusader states developed due to unforeseen circumstances, continuous improvisation, and the shifting political climate of the time.

#9. The Crusaders didn’t believe their own religious propaganda and were only in it to get rich

The idea that the crusaders did not believe their own religious ideas and the Bible and were only fighting in order wealth. This became a popular idea in modern times, especially after Voltaire. However, this idea is quite opposite from the facts.

In fact, the casualty rate due to the crusades was extremely high. According to some military historians, the casualty rate in the First Crusades was at around 75%. Most crusaders were well aware of this and never expected to return. For example, the 13th century crusader Robert of Crésèques said that he had “come from across the sea in order to die for God in the Holy Land”. Very soon afterwards, he died fighting against overwhelming odds.^[2]The ‘Templar of Tyre’: Part III of the ‘Deeds of the Cypriots,’ trans. Paul F. Crawford (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003), §351, 54.

#8. Muslims learned to hate Christians because of the Crusades

One of the most popular misconceptions about the crusades was that Muslims learned to hate Christians because of the Crusades. However, this is actually quite far from the truth. In fact, until relatively recently, most Muslims, when recalling the Crusades, if they even remembered it at all, thought of it as an instance when they had beat back a weak Christian European attack. This line of thought was popular until at least WWI. For example, in a letter from Lawrence of Arabia about the negotiations between Frenchman Stéphen Pichon and Faisal al-Hashemi after WWI, Pichon mentioned that the French were interested in the Middle East since at least the Crusades. However, Faisal dismissed this by saying “But, pardon me, which of us won the crusades?”

Modern Muslim views of the crusades actually came from misrepresented and twisted western views of the crusades. In the late 19th century, one of the western schools of thoughts about the crusades was that crusaders were a “crude, greedy, aggressive barbarians who attacked civilized, peace-loving Muslims to improve their own lot.”^[3]Jonathan Riley-Smith, “Islam and the Crusades in History,” Crusades 2 (2003), 161. As nationalism started to take hold in the modern Arabic world, they took this twisted view of thought for their own agendas. As time, passed, terrorist groups took this idea and twisted it even further into their own form of jihadism.

#7. The crusades were wars of religious conversion

A big misconception about the crusades were that they were wars of religious conversion. However, this was the exact opposite of the truth. In fact, in the First Crusade, the Catholic Church strictly forbid the forced conversion of people to Christianity.

In addition, many secular groups on the side of the Crusades found it advantageous to not convert people to Christianity because they liked to tax them at a higher rate.^[4]The Crusader Kingdoms – Popular Misconceptions about the Crusade: A Rebuttal

#6. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 they killed so many people that the streets ran with the blood

One of the biggest misconceptions and popular “facts” that is used to demonstrate the evil nature of the crusades, was that when they captured Jerusalem in 1099 they killed so many people that the streets ran with the blood. In fact, former president Bill Clinton in a speech, even said that this was one of the reasons that the US was a victim of Islamic terrorism.

However, it is important to understand this event in a historical context. At the time, in both European and Asian cultures, it was common moral practice that if a city did not surrender, everything in the city, people and property included, could be taken by force.^[5]ignatius insight – crusades myths This was a very famous tactic by the Mongols. Therefore, it was important for any city to weigh the consequences of holding out or giving in. The Muslim defenders of Jerusalem at the time, bet that they would get reinforcements from Egypt. However, they miscalculated and lost.

Furthermore, it is important to note, that the Muslim cities who surrendered to the Christian crusaders did not suffer. In fact, they were allowed to keep their property, the people were not killed, and they were even allowed to continue to worship freely.

#5. The Crusades were just medieval colonialism that used religion as a tool

A common misconception about the crusades were that they were a form of medieval colonialism that just used religion as a means to an end. However, it is important to understand the historical and political context of the time, as they show a very different picture. In fact, during the Middle Ages, Europe was not powerful at all. Rather they were the equivalent of the third world. The Muslim Middle East was the powerful and wealthy one.^[6]St. Joseph – Weren’t the Crusade just medieval colonialism dressed up in religious finery?

The Crusader States were not some sort of colony. First, less than 10% of the population in them were Christian. In fact, a majority of the population was Muslim. Second, they did not perform the tasks that a typical colony would. They did not produce goods that were to be sent back to Europe. Third, there was no single country that the Crusade States reported back to.

Rather, the Crusade States were a military outpost. Their main goal was to defend the holy sights in Palestine, with a focus on Jerusalem, so that Christian pilgrims could visit these places in safety.

#4. The Crusades also targeted the Jews

A common misconception about the crusades was that they also targeted the Jews. In a few cases, especially at the start of the First Crusade, a large off shoot of riffraff did attack, kill, and rob many Jews who lived in the Rhineland. However, it was not their official stated goal of the Crusades. In fact, Pope Urban II and the following popes strictly contemned attacking the Jews. Many local clergy even attempted to defend the Jews when they could.^[7]Veritas Fidei – Demystifying the Crusade

One of the main reasons that Jews were targeted was because some Christians believed that the Jews, having crucified Christ, were legitimate targets for the crusades. In other words, these events were the byproduct of Christians overenthusiastic for the crusades.

#3. The Church sponsored the Children’s Crusade

A common misconception was that the Catholic Church called the “Children’s Crusade” of 1212. However, this is false. It was neither supported by the Church nor a crusade army.

First, Pope Innocent III did not call the crusade. Rather, he continuously told them to stop. In fact, he recommended that they support the Crusade war effort through alms, prayer, and fasting. While he did commend them for their religious zeal, in the end he just told them to go home.^[8]Encyclopedia Britannica – Children’s Crusade

Second, the “Children’s Crusade” was not a children’s army. While there were young people in the group, beggars, robbers, and brigands mostly composed the majority of the group. Rather, it was a popular religious uprising that had started in Germany.

#2. Saladin was a peace-seeking ruler

A modern misconception about the crusades was that Saladin was a “chivalric warrior of courtesy, mercy, and great wisdom and toleration”[14] while depicting the Christians as “barbaric and ignorant”. The 1825 novel, The Talisman, by Sir Walter Scott and the 3 volume History of the Crusades by Sir Steven Runciman spreed these ideas.^[9]Center for Islamic Studies – Saladin: A Benevolent Man Respected by Both Muslims and Christians

However, the reality was that Saladin was only generous and showed mercy to those people that he respected, such as Richard I.  To those he did not respect, he was was much worse. For example, in the battle of Hattin in 1187, he fought an ill prepared Crusader army. Saladin “ordered the mass execution of all Hospitallers and Templars, with the exception of the Master Himself.” In addition, in the battle he took the Crusader relic “The True Cross” and paraded it upside down through the streets of Damascus as a sign of sacrilege and disrespect.

#1. The Crusades were an unprovoked attack by Christians on the Muslim world

The greatest misconception about the crusades were that they were an unprovoked attack by Christians on the Muslim world. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Muslims had been attacking Christians and Europe for over 450 years before the First Crusade even started. One of the the most famous examples was the Moors in Spain.

In addition, in 632 AD, the countries and areas of Asia Minor, Africa, Italy, France, Palestine, Egypt, Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia were all overwhelmingly Christian. While they were not all Catholic, they did all fall under some form of Christianity. In addition, there were communities of Christians and Jews that lived in the Arabian peninsula.

However, by 732 AD, most of these areas had come under Muslim control. In fact, Muslims had taken over and destroyed more than 2/3 of the previously Christian world. In addition, they had also destroyed the Christian communities in the Arabian peninsula.^[10]Intercollegiate Review – Four Myths about the Crusade

All of this was directly related to the rise of Islam and the Quran. The new Islamic state took by violence every piece of territory that they wanted at the expense of their neighbors. It wasn’t until the 10th and 11th centuries, that the Catholic Church and the Pope became involved as the territories due to the violent spread of Islam affecting the territories directly around them.