The destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire by the Seljuk Turks appeared imminent. It was delayed by the reaction of the papacy to the threat of Islam.
“An intervention was a divine necessity, that the word of the Deity might be established…The demoniacal superstition of the pope’s barbarians of Western Europe finding vent in the ‘crusades,’ was made the instrument of so crippling the Seljukian power, as for two hundred years to aid in upholding against it the Greek empire, which tottered on the verge of destruction. In the age of the crusades, the catholic idolaters of the east and west insisted upon their peculiar title to the Holy Land, in possession of the Turks…They affirmed it was their right and duty to rescue their inheritance from the Mohammedans…” (John Thomas, Eureka, Vol. 2, pp. 513-515).
The Crusades
The “Christian Crusades” have been romanticized perhaps more than any other event in history, but the reality differs greatly from the myths. The medieval church got caught up in stories of chivalry and brave deeds — like the quest for the “holy grail” — and the tales have endured. In fact, the crusades were attempts by the papal system — part political, part religious — to gain control of the Middle East. The concept reverberates even today in the Vatican’s view of Jerusalem and Palestine.
Papal ambitions
The popes in the early Middle Ages wanted to control all Christianity. Their ambitions extended eastward and included the Holy Land. At the same time, the remarkable growth of Islam threatened to engulf the East. The Turks defeated the Byzantine forces at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 and invaded Asia Minor, taking more than half of the Eastern Empire.
The Eastern Emperor appealed to Pope Urban II in 1095, and this prompted the pope to take action. He made his appeal at Clermont in southern France and received an enthusiastic response.
The appeal
“From the confines of Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople a horrible tale has gone forth…an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God…has invaded the lands of those Christians and depopulated them by the sword, plundering and fire.” The pope listed the Turkish atrocities: the desecration of churches and holy places, rape, torture and murder. He appealed to the religious and patriotic feelings, and to the pride of the people.
“Recall the greatness of Charlemagne. 0 most valiant soldiers, descendants of invincible ancestors, be not degenerate. Let all hatred between you depart, all quarrels end, all wars cease. Start upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre, to tear that land from the wicked race and subject it to yourselves.”
At the conclusion of the papal address, a shout rose from the crowd, “Deus. Vult!” (God wills it). This became the battle cry of the crusades, and each warrior would wear the sign of the cross upon his clothing (Eerdmans’ Handbook to the History of Christianity).
The Cross and the Sword
The avowed purpose of the crusades was to take Palestine away from the Mohammedans and to make it a province of the Roman Catholic church. The pope offered to forgive the sins of anyone becoming a “soldier of the cross” and to guarantee salvation to anyone who died in battle. Bishops, parish priests and monks became recruiters for this army of christendom, and many were stirred to join the campaign.
Despite great difficulties, the crusaders eventually reached the Holy Land and captured Jerusalem in 1099. Four crusader states were established, including the “Latin Kingdom” of Jerusalem.
The Crusaders
Many of the crusaders were sincerely devoted to their cause. They believed it was their duty to free the holy places from the infidels. But many had other motives. Some were fortune hunters, some seekers of adventure; others were looking for lands over which they could rule. Some of the ordinary crusaders were serfs: peasants who saw in the crusades freedom from their lives of poverty and servitude.
Armies of untrained peasants marched off to Palestine under poor leadership and with inadequate provisions. They were a menace to those who were unfortunate enough to live in their path. The Jews would especially suffer at their hands. The crusaders were easily able to convince themselves that the Jews were as much their enemies as the Muslims. After all, hadn’t the Jews crucified Christ? They reasoned that the plunder and even the killing of Jews was God’s will.
Persecuting the Jews
Such persecutions, a sidelight of the crusades, were not officially sanctioned but were encouraged by many of the priests and monks. They were carried out in the form of mob violence. During the first crusade the Jews of the German states were especially affected. Secure in their position — on good terms with their neighbors and protected by their rulers — the Jews were unprepared for what was to come.
“Towards the beginning of June, at the time when the Jews were preparing for Shabuoth (the Feast of Weeks), the crusader hordes — for these were not really armies — approached the Rhine, which was on their line of march eastward…The local burghers, that is, the middle-class Christians, though sincerely sorry to see their Jewish fellow citizens suffer, nevertheless refused to risk their lives in defending the Jews as they had promised, while the small forces of the resident bishops and local constables could not withstand the attack, and besides, many sympathized with the attackers…Altogether some 10,000 Jews lost their lives in central Europe. Nor was that all. When the crusading army captured the city of Jerusalem, they drove the Jews who lived there into the synagogue and set fire to the building” (Grayzel: A History of the Jews).
The Second Crusade
After the violence of the first crusade, the authorities tried to restore the situation to normal, and the Jews who had survived were allowed to take up their lives as before. But the precedent had been set, and it was inevitable that the events of 1096 would be repeated. So, when the second crusade was preached in 1144, the Jews of Europe were expecting the worst. This time, however, mainly due to the efforts of the prominent theologian, Bernard of Clairvaux, the Catholic church ordered restraint.
The Third Crusade
In 1189 another crusade was preached, and it was again accompanied by considerable violence against the Jews. For the first time England, where the Jews had been living in peace for a century, became a center for Jewish persecution. The trouble started at the coronation of Richard the Lion heart, led by recruits in the king’s crusader army. Richard issued a proclamation forbidding anyone to molest the Jews, but within days after his departure for the Holy Land, persecution resumed.
The most serious incident occurred at York where some 500 Jews chose suicide over massacre. As often happened in these Christian persecutions of Jews, there were ulterior motives. The ringleader of the attack and a number of his followers were canceling financial debts which they owed to some of the Jewish money lenders.
Christians and Jews
True Christians would never persecute Jews. They recognize that the natural children of Israel are, for the present, spiritually blind, having rejected their Messiah at his first coming. At the same time, those who hold the gospel of Christ earnestly believe in the promises of God. They know that Israel as a nation will yet have a part in His purpose. The revival of Israel, foretold by the prophets, is a part of the gospel message. True Christians molest no one — such behavior is forbidden at the present time by Christ — and they would not dare to devise harm against the children of Abraham.
The prophet Zechariah, even as he speaks of the desolation of Israel, foretells her eventual restoration. And while the Jews were to be scattered and suffer desolation through the centuries, a special curse would rest upon those who would lift their hands against this people.
“For thus said the LORD of Hosts, after His glory sent me to the nations that plundered you (Jews), for he who touches you touches the apple (pupil) of His eye” (Zech. 2:8).
We believe that in this respect the false church has distinguished itself. Persecution of the Jews has been a mark of the apostasy.
The crusader period
The number of crusades is usually given as seven, but there were constant expeditions during the period. Some were more ill conceived than others, including even a “children’s crusade” in which hundreds of European youngsters marched away, most of them to die or to be taken as slaves. For a hundred years there was an almost steady stream of soldiers, pilgrims and merchants from Europe to the Middle East.
The Christian hold on the Holy Land depended on Muslim disunity, but after 1150 the Islamic leaders Nureddin and Saladin united the Middle East and Egypt under one dynasty. In 1187 Saladin defeated the crusaders and captured Jerusalem. The third crusade, led by Richard the Lion heart of England and the rulers of France and Germany, recovered some of the lost territory but not Jerusalem. After 1250, the Mameluke Sultans of Egypt gave the crusader states no peace. Acre (10 miles north of Haifa) had become the capital of the “Christian Kingdom” after Jerusalem was lost. Its capture in 1291 ended Christian rule in the area. The crusades failed in the long term to fulfill the dream of medieval christendom. “As time went on, the crusading movement was increasingly diverted from the Holy Land and in the thirteenth century the popes launched crusades not only against European heretics such as the Albigensian’s, but also against (rebellious) Catholic rulers” (Eerdmans’ Handbook to the History of Christianity, pp. 268-274).
A future crusade
For a hundred years the Catholic church had control over Palestine; Jerusalem was a “Latin Kingdom” with a line of “Christian” kings. It all fell apart as the Muslims reasserted themselves in the land. The dream of Catholic conquest of the Holy Land has lain dormant for several hundred years, but we expect it to reassert itself. This old belief that the Church alone has a right to the Holy Land will bring the Vatican into conflict with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That will be the end of the long, sad history of Christian apostasy.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One