Probably everyone has heard and read about the Crusades. For most people, this concept is associated with romance, albeit somewhat brutal, with Richard the Lionheart and Pushkin's poem about the "poor knight." There were, of course, blood and sacrifices, war is war. Most modern people think so. However, there are facts in the history of the Crusades that can not only surprise, but also shock anyone.
Fact number 1. The Crusaders were cannibals
In 1098, during the siege of the Syrian fortress of Maara, the knights from Europe were very hungry: the siege lasted two months, and it was preceded by a heavy march through the desert. When the Muslims finally surrendered - on condition that the victors spare the city's inhabitants - the crusaders entered the city but did not find the abundance expected there. A monstrous massacre began. And after that - no less monstrous feasts. Chronicler Ralph Cohen wrote: "Some people said that they, with limited food, had to cook adult Muslims in cauldrons, and put the children on spits and fry." Another chronicler, Fulcher of Chartres, reported: “With a shudder I can say that many of our people, pursued by an insane feeling of hunger, cut pieces of the buttocks from the already killed Saracens, roasted them at the stake and, without waiting for them to be sufficiently fried, devoured them with a champ, as if savages ". And finallyAlbert Aachen was surprised that the crusaders did not confine themselves to eating the corpses of the Saracens, but "even ate dogs."
Fact number 2. There were children among the crusaders
There were nine Crusades in total. The fourth ended in 1204, the fifth began in 1217. But between them there was another, perhaps the most tragic of all - the children's crusade. It all started with the fact that Jesus Christ allegedly appeared to a certain teenager Stephen from Cloix. He ordered the boy to lead a crusade and free the Holy Sepulcher without weapons, but only by the power of prayer and the integrity of young souls. Stephen began preaching and was followed by thousands of teenagers and children from all over France and then Germany. According to contemporaries, Stephen's sermon attracted more than 30,000 people. This whole horde not only prayed, but also stole along the way in order to somehow get food. Having somehow reached Marseilles, but you need to take into account that children from Germany had to overcome the Alps with incredible difficulties,the young crusaders were faced with the need to get transport. Finally, two local merchants provided them with 7 ships. The teenagers boarded these galleys, sailed away, and since then no one has seen them. Years later, some monks appeared in Europe who were on this campaign. They said that the ships brought the children straight to Algeria, where Muslim slave traders were already waiting for them, with whom the merchants from Marseilles had conspired.
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Fact number 3. There were women among the crusaders
Yes, yes, many beautiful ladies, as well as ordinary townspeople and peasant women, went overseas to participate in the conquest of Jerusalem, experience adventures and see distant countries. Most of them, of course, performed female roles even during the military campaign. Noble ladies inspired the warriors and healed their wounds, the rest washed clothes and cooked food. However, there were some among the women who put on the cross and fought side by side with the men. The most famous Amazon during the Crusades was Ita of Austria. The beautiful margrave in 1101, as part of the South German knightly army, overcame Asia Minor - during this campaign the crusaders were languishing with hunger and thirst - and was ambushed. In this skirmish at the city of Heraclea, she perished. According to one version, the brave beauty did not die,but was captured and sold to the harem in Khorasan. In addition, the Arabs talked about an unusual military detachment taken prisoner. The Saracens were amazed to find they were women. The captives were sold into slavery to elderly Muslim women to provide protection from attacks on chastity.
Fact number 4. Crusaders fought Christians
Devout Catholics, who dreamed of recapturing Jerusalem from the infidels, did not consider Orthodox Christians to be “correct” Christians, and behaved on the territory of the Byzantine Empire, as among Muslims. The fourth crusade ended with the plundering of Constantinople and the export from there of a colossal amount of valuables and relics to Europe. The Greek chronicler Nikita Choniates wrote: “Not that it amazes us that they robbed things, but that they threw the holy icons of Christ and his saints to the ground, trampled them under their feet, and if they found any adornment on them, they tore it off as horrible, and the icons themselves were taken out to the crossroads to be trampled by passers-by, or used instead of fuel when cooking food."
Fact number 5. There were defectors among the crusaders
There are cowards and traitors in any war. In the battle of Khotin, in 1187, which became one of the main catastrophes of the knightly army during the third crusade, six knights from the army of the Count of Tripoli went over to the side of Saladin. According to the chronicle, they told Saladin about the desperate situation of the thirsty and tired of the long passage of the army of the crusaders, and prompted him to attack as soon as possible. What was the further fate of these people is unknown. It can be assumed that it was not particularly good - Saladin did not like traitors.
Fact number 6. The crusaders fought not only in Asia, but also in Europe
The first crusade began, inspired by the words of Pope Urban II, who called to kill not only Muslims, but also all who profess a non-Catholic religion. Some of the knights understood these words in their own way, and in 1096 the army of German crusaders moved in the opposite direction from Jerusalem - through the Rhine valley to the north. Here they staged a bloody massacre of Jews in Mainz, Cologne and other German cities. This was the first case of mass persecution of Jews in Europe. But the Crusaders were not limited to Jews. In the XIII century, they carried out a number of military operations in the Baltic States, whose population professed ancient pagan cults. Finns, Karelians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Curonians and other tribes became the object of real hunting from the side of the soldiers of Christ. They did not bypass the principality of northern Russia, believing the Orthodox as infidels,as pagans, Jews and Muslims. These campaigns to the Baltics were later called the Northern Crusades.
Fact number 7. The crusaders still exist
The knights went on their first crusade inspired by the call "Dieu le veut!" (This is what God wants!) These words became the motto of the Jerusalem Order of the Holy Sepulcher, established in 1099. Unlike many other orders of knighthood, this one exists to this day. Its members are representatives of royal families, successful businessmen and scientists. Among the famous people - members of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher, one can recall the composer Franz Liszt, the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and the Hollywood director John Ferrow. There are brothers of this knightly order in Russia. In total, there are currently 28,000 members of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher in the world.