One of the most
popular misconceptions the crusader kingdoms is that the crusaders were a tiny Christian elite ruling over predominantly
Muslim population. It is time we stopped perpetuating this (among other) myths. The Muslims in the crusader states were a minority -- and they lived according to Sharia Law. Dr. Schrader tells us more.
But first, lets go back to
the basics. We should not, in an excess of politically correctness, forget that
Christ was born in Bethlehem in what was to become the Kingdom of Jerusalem, that
he lived and worked in Nazareth (in the Kingdom of Jerusalem) and that he was
crucified in Jerusalem. Christ did not dream about going to heaven from
Jerusalem; his death in the city is historical fact. Jesus, son of Joseph,
actually lived, worked, preached and converted many to his new religion during his
own lifetime in what came to be called the “Holy Land” and was later the heart
of the crusader kingdoms. St. Paul established the first Christian community in
Antioch in roughly 50 AD. In short, the territories conquered by the crusaders
encompassed the very oldest Christian territory on earth. There were Christians
in these lands for almost 600 years before Mohammad was even born.
Furthermore, the
territories that later formed the crusader states, the County of Edessa, the Principality
of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, had all be part
of the Roman Empire and Christianized in the 4th century AD. From
being a minority religion, Christianity became the state and majority religion
in 325 under the reign of Emperor Constantine, who rebuilt Jerusalem between
325 and 330.
The territories
that later became the crusader states of Jerusalem and Tripoli remained
Christian until they were conquered by Muslim invaders almost exactly 300 years
later. Although Muslim rule was not broken for three hundred years (in the case
of Antioch) and four hundred twenty years in the case of Tripoli and Jerusalem,
that “Muslim” rule was not a single block of continuous lordship but, rather,
three distinctly separate epochs. The Arab-dominated, Sunni elite which had
conquered Syria and Palestine in the 7th century was defeated and
driven out of the Levant in the tenth century by the Shiia Fatimid dynasty,
which had taken control of Egypt in 905. At the same time, the Byzantine Empire struck
back and reconquered Antioch. Then in 1040 the Seljuk Turks, recent converts to
Islam, started expanding eastward, and reached Jerusalem, driving out the
Fatimids.
The fact that
the territory had been conquered and was ruled by Muslim elites, is not the
same thing as mass conversion of the population. There are to this day
significant Christian and Jewish populations in countries such as Egypt and
Syria that have been continuously Muslim for 1400 years. Professor Rodney Stark
notes: “It was a very long time before the conquered areas were truly Muslim in
anything but name. The reality was that very small Muslim elites long ruled
over non-Muslim (mostly Christian) populations in the conquered areas.” (God’s Battalions, Harper Collin, 2009, p.
29.) Andrew Jotischky sites research that argues “for a much more even
proportion of indigenous Christians to Muslims than most historians have
previously allowed — perhaps even a 1:1 ratio.” (Crusading and the Crusader States, Pearson Longman, 2004, p. 132)
In short, the
crusaders conquered territories in which roughly half the population was still Christian. They then opened these
territories to settlers from the West — and the settlers came. Bernard Hamilton estimates that as many as
140,000 “Franks” (i.e. Western Christians following the Latin rites) had
immigrated to the Kingdom of Jerusalem by the second half of the 12th
century (The Leper King, Cambridge
University Press, 2000, p. 47). According
to Professor Hamilton, the total population of the Kingdom was roughly 600,000
at this time. Thus, Christians (230,000 native Orthodox Christians plus 140,000
Latin Christian settlers) would have made up roughly 60% of the population of
the crusader states.
Even if the
Muslim population was a minority — not the overwhelming majority so often
assumed in popular literature and film — it was still a sizable minority and
would have posed a serious threat to fragile crusader rule if that population
had been rebellious. Far from being rebellious, Muslim visitors such as Ibn
Jubair, who visited the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1183 from Grenada, noted that
the Muslim peasants he saw in Galilee “seemed more prosperous and content than
those living under Islamic rule outside the Kingdom of Jeusalem.” (Jotischky,
p. 129)
This was
because, as Hamilton puts it, “once their rule had been established the Franks
proved remarkably tolerant in their treatment of non-Christian subjects.” He
notes that “the Franks allowed complete religious freedom to all their
subjects.” (Hamilton, p. 49.) While Hamilton stresses that Jewish synagogues
and rabbinic schools existed in many of their towns, contemporary Muslim
sources noted with surprise that mosques were allowed to function in the
crusader states (albeit not in Jerusalem itself), and Muslim subjects were even
allowed to participate in the haj. This was because, as Jotischky notes, “the
First Crusade was a war of liberation and conquest; it was not a war for the
extermination or conversion of Muslims.”
Far from being forced to convert, the Muslim villagers were run by a
council of elders who in turn appointed
a “rayse” to represent the community to the Christian lord, while all
spiritual and social matters were regulated by the imams in the community in accordance with Sharia law! (Jonathan
Riley-Smith, Atlas of the Crusades,
Swanston Publishing Ltd, 1191, p. 16 among others.)
Dr Helena P. Schrader holds a PhD in History.
She is the Chief Editor of the Real Crusades History Blog.
She is the author of numerous books both fiction and non-fiction, including a three-part biography of Balian d'Ibelin.
Muslims are shown living in overall harmony with the Christians majority in my three-part biography of Balian Baron
of Ibelin.
Buy now! Buy now! Buy now!
Other important points, Professor:
ReplyDelete1. Christians of those early centuries were faithful, to wit: "Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations." Matthew 28:19.
Meaning?
2. "With that he rose and went, and look! an Ethiopian eunuch, a man in power under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians . . . and the eunuch said: 'Look! A body of water; what prevents me from getting baptized?' . . . he kept going on his way, rejoicing." Acts 5:27, 36, 39.
Christianity reached Ethiopia long before Islam did. Then, too, there's the;
3. Greek Septuagint Bible.
One of the most famous editions of the bible. And it was written . . . where? Oh! Yes! That's right . . . Alexandria, in Egypt.
All of those were "Christian" long before the advent of Muhammad and Islam.
Muslims "rule" in the Middle East today because of conquest, NOT conversion. Unless some foolish person wishes to consider "conversion at the point of a sword" to be a "true" conversion of belief?
"Muslims "rule" in the Middle East today because of conquest, NOT conversion."
DeleteCan you explain how? As there is plenty of evidence for the contrary.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThe Ethiopians claim that Balthazar, one of the three "wise men" was an Ethiopian, who brought Christianity to Ethiopia with him. Christianity became the state religion before anywhere else in the world except Armenia. The Ethiopian Orthodox church is one of very oldest (and most conservative). To this day, Ethiopian Christians fast roughly 150 days out of every year (contributing to malnutrition). The churches are full and on important holidays, there are processions through the streets of people singing, dancing and clapping. It is wonderful to see.
ReplyDeleteFurther proof, thank you.
Delete