[Ann Archy]

Does anyone know the true story of the killing of Jews by the Crusaders in Jerusalem? I am a Catholic and my Jewish MIL talks about this like it was yesterday. Please HELP!!

[jimtorr]

I don't recall the details, but as Spencer mentioned in the article, the Crusaders killed many people in the city. It was common practice at the time to sack a city that was taken by storm, and sack included indiscriminate slaughter.

Many Christians were killed, as well as most Muslims and probably Jews as well. Unfortunately, this was one of the periods in Europe when Jews were persecuted on a wide scale.

Post number 2 above references a book that may help.

[bnelson44]

Yes, they sacked the city. Which was a common practice at the time after surrender terms were refused by the city officials.

[Varda]

The Jews were military allies of the Muslims in some areas. It was apparently the case in Jerusalem. I read about this awhile ago and can't find that source. It takes some work to dig up a real history of this area.

Anyway, the Christian population of Jerusalem had been expelled into a devastated land to starve prior to the arrival of the Crusaders. The Crusaders came upon the survivors of this action and it was a reason they used to put to death the defenders of the city after it was captured.

Here is a source that references that action,
"Within the city a large Fatimid Egyptian force was awaiting their approach. The Egyptian army was well trained and had carefully stocked the city with arms and provisions in anticipation of a protracted siege. Jerusalem's most topographically vulnerable northern fortifications were strengthened. In the surrounding countryside the defending Moslem army had poisoned cisterns and conducted a scorched earth policy in order to deny the advancing Crusaders vital supplies. In order to avoid possible betrayal from within The city's Fatimid rulers expelled its Christian population prior to the Crusaders'arrival."
http://www.biu.ac.il/js/rennert/history_9.html

Here's a book I think would be very instructive (I haven't read it) "The Jew As Ally of the Muslim: Medieval Roots of Anti-Semitism"
by Allan Harris Cutler and Helen Elmquist Cutler
Commentary, http://www.danielpipes.org/article/33

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Armies of the First Crusade took control of Jerusalem in July 1099. This illustration depicts the subsequent sack of the city, during which Crusaders massacred its Egyptian defenders and inhabitants. Having captured the holy city for Christianity, the Crusaders established Jerusalem as the center of the Latin Kingdom.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

We know it to be a myth that the crusaders targeted the Jewish community in Jerusalem.

How is a Frankish man-at-arms to know Jew from Muslim?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Some of our men (and this was more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands, and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are ordinarily chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth, it will exceed your powers of belief. So let it suffice to say this much, at least, that in the Temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed, it was a just and splendid judgment of God that this place should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies. The city was filled with corpses and blood.

Sounds like they went medieval on them.

[SaltyJoe]

"the killing of Jews by the Crusaders"

Jesus never told Christians to kill Jews just as The G-d of Abraham never told Scribes and Pharisees to kill Jesus.

Those who condemned Jesus to execution are long since dead. Those who've killed civilians in times of Crusader history have also pasted into G-d's Judgment.

Much has been done by Western nations to limit "collateral damage" as much as possible. Today's Christians are not the Christians of last millennium or even 5 decades ago. Today's soldiering closely resembles police work more than the total warfare mankind's history is noted for--especially in the Old Testament.