Quote:
Originally Posted by fmacsin1
Geez, wasn't just about everyone in the Crusades killed, executed or tortured to death? They certainly didn't take too much time out for much else!
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There were certainly many cases of mass murder associated both with the "Crusades," as in the nine or so formal ones executed against the Muslims in the Middle East, as well as other "crusades" sanctioned by the Church against various schismatic and pagan religious groups in Europe, Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and sometimes just political enemies of the popes. The incident Tranter refers to above occurred a crusade against the Cathars (a schismatic Christian group) in France. Just one among many examples was the Christian capture of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade. After taking the city, the Crusaders killed virtually every man, woman, and child, some 40,000 in all.