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The Rhineland Massacres Eager to Fight Non-Christians in the Holy Land, Some Crusaders Decided to Attack Non-Christians in Europe As Well

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The Rhineland Massacres Eager to Fight Non-Christians in the Holy Land, Some Crusaders Decided to Attack Non-Christians in Europe As Well The Rhineland Massacres Eager to fight non-Christians in the Holy Land, some Crusaders decided to attack non-Christians in Europe as well. In what were later known as the Rhineland Massacres, they slaughtered entire communities of Jews, in spite of protests by local officials and clergy. “[I swear] to go on this journey only after avenging the blood of the crucified one (Jesus) by shedding Jewish blood and completely eradicating any trace of those bearing the name 'Jew,' thus assuaging his own burning wrath. Source: Godfrey of Bouillon, Frankish Knight of the First Crusade The Rhineland Massacres Eager to fight non-Christians in the Holy Land, some Crusaders decided to attack non-Christians in Europe as well. In what were later known as the Rhineland Massacres, they slaughtered entire communities of Jews, in spite of protests by local officials and clergy. “It certainly seems amazing that on a single day in many different places, moved in unison by a violent inspiration, such massacres should have taken place, despite their widespread disapproval and their condemnation as contrary to religion. But we know that they could not have been avoided since they occurred in the face of excommunication imposed by numerous clergymen, and of the threat of punishment on the part of many princes.” Source: Hugh of Flavigny, Benedictine Monk and Contemporary Historian (living at the time) The Rhineland Massacres Eager to fight non-Christians in the Holy Land, some Crusaders decided to attack non-Christians in Europe as well. In what were later known as the Rhineland Massacres, they slaughtered entire communities of Jews, in spite of protests by local officials and clergy. “…cruel foreigners, fierce and swift, Frenchmen and Germans…[who] put crosses on their clothing and were more plentiful than locusts on the face of the earth.” Source: Eliezer ben Nathan, Contemporary Jewish Chronicler Interactions Between Crusaders and Byzantines Although Alexius I, the Byzantine Emperor, had originally asked for the Pope to send knights, tensions quickly grew between the Crusaders and Emperor, who was not expecting so many knights, and was threatened by their numbers and their actions. He hesitantly admitted them into the city, but required the Lord’s to swear loyalty to him, and they reluctantly agreed. “When the Franks had all come together and had taken an oath to the emperor, there was one count who had the boldness to sit down upon the throne. The emperor, well knowing the pride of the Latins, kept silent, but Baldwin approached the Frankish count and taking him by the hand said, ‘You ought not to sit there; that is an honor which the emperor permits to no one. Now that you are in this country, why do you not observe its customs?’ The insolent count made no reply to Baldwin, but said in his barbarous language, as if talking to himself, ‘This must be a rude [emperor] who would alone remain seated when so many brave warriors are standing up.’ Alexis noted the movement of the man's lips and called an interpreter in order to learn, what he had said; but when the interpreter had told him he did not complain to the Franks, although he did not forget the matter.” Source: Anna Komnene, Byzantine Historian and Daughter of Emperor Alexius I The Seige of Jerusalem The siege of Jerusalem was a tremendous victory for the Crusaders, who succeeded in taking the holy city in the name of Christianity. However, the bloody siege involved terrible fighting and ended in disaster for the city’s inhabitants, who were not only Muslims but also Jews and Christians, fighting together to defend their city. “The Franks (Crusaders) entered the city magnificently at the noonday hour… With trumpets sounding and with everything in an uproar, exclaiming, ‘Help, God!’ they vigorously pushed into the city, and [right away] raised the [flag] at the top of the wall. All the heathens (disbelievers), completely terrified, changed their boldness (braveness) to swift flight through the narrow streets… Nowhere was there a place where the Saracens (Muslims) could escape… Not one of them was allowed to live.” Source: Chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres, 1127 The Seige of Jerusalem The siege of Jerusalem was a tremendous victory for the Crusaders, who succeeded in taking the holy city in the name of Christianity. However, the bloody siege involved terrible fighting and ended in disaster for the city’s inhabitants, who were not only Muslims but also Jews and Christians, fighting together to defend their city. “But now that our men had possession of the walls and towers, wonderful sights were to be seen. 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 . 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 (false beliefs)… It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses . [On the Temple Mount] men rode in blood up to their knees. The city was filled with corpses and blood.” Source: Raymond d’Aguilers, a Catholic priest who traveled with crusaders in the First Crusade The Seige of Jerusalem The siege of Jerusalem was a tremendous victory for the Crusaders, who succeeded in taking the holy city in the name of Christianity. However, the bloody siege involved terrible fighting and ended in disaster for the city’s inhabitants, who were not only Muslims but also Jews and Christians, fighting together to defend their city. “The population was put to the sword by the Franks, who pillaged (raided) the area for a week... In Masjid al-Aqsa [mosque next to the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount] the Franks (Crusaders) slaughtered more than 70,000 people, among them a large number of Imams (prayer leaders) and Muslim scholars... The Franks stripped the Dome of the Rock of more than forty silver candelabra... and a great silver lamp weighing forty-four Syrian pounds, as well as a hundred and fifty smaller silver candelabra and more than twenty gold ones, and a great deal more booty (loot).” Source: The Perfect History by Ibn Al-Athir (Arab Muslim Historian), 1200s. Crusaders Living in the Holy Land The conquest of Jerusalem, the Crusaders created four states in the Holy Land. Centered on the cities of Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch, and Tripoli, these states were intended to be Christian strongholds against attempts by Muslim forces to take back the land from the Crusaders. They also provided an opportunity for landless knights to gain lands of their own. Many Crusaders remained in the Holy Land, enjoying the benefits of their new home. “...[W]e who were [Westerners] now have been made [Easterners]… We have already forgotten the places of our birth... Some already possess here homes and servants which they have received through inheritance. Some have taken wives not merely of their own people, but Syrians, or Armenians, or even Saracens (Muslims) who have received the grace of baptism... For those who were poor [in Europe], here God makes rich. Those who had few coins, here possess countless [wealth]; and those who had not had [any property], here, by the gift of God, already possess a city. Therefore why should one who has found the East so favorable return to the West?” Source: Chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres, 1127, on life in the Crusader States after the First Crusade Reaction from the Muslim World However, Muslims who had been expelled from their homes by Crusaders began calling on the leaders of nearby Muslim lands to fight back against these European invaders who had killed their brothers in faith. Even poets from Muslim lands far from any Crusader violence such as Iraq urged their people to take up arms and travel to the Holy Land to defend their brothers from the invading Franks. “...Sons of Islam, behind you are battles in which heads rolled at your feet. Dare you slumber (sleep) in the blessed shade of safety, where life is soft as an orchard flower? How can the eye sleep between the lids at a time of disasters that would waken any sleeper? While your Syrian brothers can only sleep on the backs of their [horses] or in vultures' bellies!...” Source: Abu al Musaffar al Abiwardi: Iraqi Muslim poet of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. .
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