Crusades: Myth and RealityEmicho of Leiningen and his followers.
adv ance dthro ugh the Rhine land , kill ing
a nd pl un de ri ng Je ws in fi ve Ge rm an
cities: Speyer, Worms, Mainz, Trier, and
Colo gne. Some of the bis hops in tho se
ar ea stri ed to pre ven t the se mas sac res ,
and eventually Count Emicho and his fol-
lo wer s met th eir end whe n he tri ed to
exte nd hi s po gro m in to Hu nga ry.
Ho weve r, the damage was done; news of
his explo itsspread to the Middle East and led
many Jews to ally with the Muslims
and fight against the Crusaders when they
arrived, Fifty years later, another group in the
Rhineland, boundfor the Second Crusade,
began massacring Jews again.
Al lthi s was ine xcu sab le, as wel l as
being an incalculable error of judgment.
TheCrusaders would have been much wiser to see the Jews. fellow dhimmis
as their natural allies in the resistance to the Islamic jihad. The Muslims
treated Jews and Christians more or less the same way: badly. It is
unfortunate that neither group ever saw the other as a companion in the
sufferings of dhimmitude and a fellow fighter against its oppressions.
However, even today,eight centuries after the last Crusade, that kind of
thinking is rare, so it is perhaps unfair to expect it of the Crusaders.
In any case, was the mistreatment of Jews a fundamental feature of the
crusades in general? Not according to the historical record. Pope Urban's
call for the First Crusadeatthe Council of Claremont says nothing about
Jews and churchmen were Emicho's most formidable opponents. In fact,
Urban himself condemned Emicho's attacks. Bernard of Clairvaux, one
of the chieforganizers ofthe Second Crusade, went to the Rhineland and
Mu ha mm ad
vs. Jesus- Blessed arethe merciful,
for they shallobtain
mercy.... Forif you love those wholoveyou,
what reward haveyou? Donot even the tax
collectors do thesame? And ifyou saluteonly
your brethren,what more are you doingthan
others?"
Jesus(Matthew 5:7, 46-7)
"Muhammad isAllah's Apostle. Those who fol-
low him are ruthlessto theunbelieversbut
mercifulto one another."
Qur'an 48:29