If you have access to History Channel on your TV or something similar you’ve probably seen some documentaries about the Crusades. What you can see in those documentaries (or movies taking place in that time of history) is that the Crusades are represented as the worst and most shameful part of our history, especially in terms of Christian history. But were they really so wrong and barbaric as described? Could it be that they were justified?

First and foremost, as in any war, no side is perfect and the Crusades weren’t an exception. This is the part that no documentary fails to mention and often emphasizes the most, but what I’ve often seen is that they either fail to mention the context that led to the Crusades or diminish the context behind them.

Crusades were holy wars between the Christian world and the Islamic world. Islam had been around for almost 500 years before the launch of the First Crusade in 1095. During that time Islam had spread by force throughout Christian lands of the Middle East, Africa, and the Iberian peninsula. The Muslims started robbing and killing Christians who were traveling to visit the Holy Land.

The Byzantine Emperor requested aid from the West and this was a big deal since the relations between the West and the East were not good considering this happened shortly after the division of Christianity into the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054. However, Pope Urban II looked past any disagreements between them, he encouraged military support for the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos and called for an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

The Crusaders were tasked with taking back Jerusalem into Christian hands and protecting any Christians on their journey to the Holy Land. Were they unjustified? I think not. The Crusades were launched after centuries of Islamic aggression. What I think is that the media is using the Crusades as another reason to attack the Christians and portray us as bad people. You can see evidence of that month after month, the most recent example is staying silent when Christians are being massacred and slaughtered but informing us in detail when Muslims are dying. The reality is that Christians are the most prosecuted religion but the media is doing a great job in concealing that.

Not to talk too much, here is a great video about the Crusades. Special thanks to the Pax Tube channel for making this video and allowing me to use it here on my site.