I have stood just at the left front corner of this church, in the Inner Temple.
Makes ya think.
Posted on 11/22/2003 4:23:29 PM PST by dennisw
Yes, but too bad it's not entirely accurate. There was a great need -- at least in England -- to be rid of the mercenary elements that were increasingly disrupting society. There were a lot of bored knights wandering around with no one to fight. (Imagine Lear's retinue writ large, and you'll have a good sense of the problem.)
Simply put, the Crusades gave these fighters something to do. I can see no evidence that England felt any threat whatever from the Saracens. The Crusades were many things, but they were not defensive actions. In that I disagree with this author.
Read "What Went Wrong" by Bernard Lewis.
More from AL-Queda:
Introduction
Martyrs were killed, women were widowed, children were orphaned, men were handcuffed, chaste women’s heads were shaved, harlots’ heads were crowned, atrocities were inflicted on the innocent, gifts were given to the wicked, virgins were raped on the prostitution alter...
After the fall of our orthodox caliphates on March 3, 1924 and after expelling the colonialists, our Islamic nation was afflicted with apostate rulers who took over in the Moslem nation. These .rulers turned out to be more infidel and criminal than the colonialists themselves.
Moslems have endured all kinds of harm, oppression, and torture at their hands. Those apostate rulers threw thousands of the Haraka Al-Islamyia (Islamic Movement) youth in gloomy jails and detention centers that were equipped with the most modern torture devices and [manned with] experts in oppression and torture.
Those youth had refused to move in the rulers’ orbit, obscure matters to the youth, and oppose the idea of rebelling against the rulers. But they [the rulers] did not stop there; they started to fragment the essence of the Islamic nation by trying to eradicate its Moslem identity.
Thus, they started spreading godless and atheistic views among the youth. We found some that claimed that socialism was from Islam, democracy was the [religious] council, and the prophet-God bless and keep him-propagandized communism.
Colonialism and its followers, the apostate rulers, then started to openly erect crusader centers, societies, and organizations like Masonic Lodges, Lions and Rotary clubs, and foreign schools.
They aimed at producing a wasted generation that pursued everything that is western and produced rulers, ministers, leaders, physicians, engineers, businessmen, politicians, journalists, and information specialists.
[Koranic verse:] “And Allah’s enemies plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah.”
I have stood just at the left front corner of this church, in the Inner Temple.
Makes ya think.
That explanation might fly in Sunday school, but scholars know the truth to be more complex. If you look in Middle English literature, for example, you will only rarely find the Muslims posited as "threatening." They were seen as strange and exotic heathens, yes, but not as military threats.
Remember that the most horrific crime in the Canterbury Tales (as seen in "The Prioress's Tale") is committed by the Jews, not the Muslims.
------------------------
We are succumbing once again under the declarations of Islam being the religion of peace and acting as if the problem were Saddam Hussein.
I know what you mean. I mean even our Revolutionary War was a farce. It wasn't about liberty, it was about money. They were all racist hypocrits.
In regards to the first Crusade, the participation of the "ignorant pesentry"(sic) as you put it, was not so much a planned response by the Pope as it was a grassroots response among the poor who followed such charismatic leaders as Peter the Hermit.
It seems you would lump such a response in with the actions of Bin Laden's modern day followers. I would disagree with you for several reasons.
1. Peter's followers were "ignorant pesents" who were at the mercy of the Church and were (for the most part) leading miserable exsistences. They didn't read or write their own tongue, not to mention Latin. They understood little to nothing about such subjects as history, politics, or geography. The leaders of Al Quiada find willing volunteers among a broad base of followers, some who have college level educations!
2. The call by such men as Peter appealed to the "pesents" spiritually, as you implied. True! The same appeal does exsist among today's impoverished Islamic suicide bombers who seek to advance their religion. But look at the motivations of the leadership! The Pope's appeal was directed at the WARRIOR caste in hope that they would re-direct their substantial internal warring and fighting into something less destructive domestically and perhaps into something beneficial to the Byzantine lords who were being challenged on their borders. The MILITARY troops which responded to the Pope's request succeeded in their goal of seizing Jerusalem and making the way safe for Christians making pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The "pesents" failed and were quickly destroyed by Muslims soon after departing Constantinople. Do you REALLY think Peter the Hermit had a CLUE when he led them to this slaughter? No! Was Peter acting under the direction of the Pope? No! Do you think the leaders of Al Quiada know what they are doing when they manipulate the ignorant? Of course they do.
3. The purpose of the Crusades was not the eradication of Islam. The objective of Al Quiada and a dozen or more Muslim groups is the COMPLETE destruction of Israel and the Jewish people therein.
There is a distinction.
"ignorant pesentry"
You got to love the irony here, but I'll take Prof. Madden's abridged retelling of the facts over your skewed slantings.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.