First Crusade

The First Crusade

Why write a novel based on the First Crusade? There are three reasons, two of which show up in the book and one that does not.

First, one of the primary drivers of geopolitical tensions today is the ongoing enmity and mutual suspicion between the three Abrahamic religions. Jews outside Israel just want to be left alone, but Israelis fiercely defend the Holy Land and Jerusalem against other faiths for reasons that people two or three millennia ago would have recognised. However, both Christians and Muslims have a long history of discriminating against Jews in ways both mild and extreme. While moderate Christians and Muslims can co-exist quite peacefully, the mutual antagonism – hatred is not too strong a word – between extremists on either side has shaped events in the Middle East and beyond to a truly remarkable degree. When researching the book, I came to the conclusion that the First Crusade was one of the reasons for this conflict.

One of the first Crusader armies to leave travelled through Germany, and massacred Jews in several cities along the way. This was in spite of an explicit order from the Pope, and despite many instances when Jews were sheltered by bishops and ordinary Christians. And the main Crusader armies were savage to a degree that was extreme even by the standards of the day. Muslim observers were genuinely horrified by what they saw. As just one example, the cannibalism documented in first-hand accounts was simply unheard of. The first seeds of mistrust and antagonism between Muslims and Christians were sown then, and are still being harvested.

Second, there are lessons from the Crusade that are applicable even today. Human nature hasn’t changed much in one thousand years, and the motivations and actions of the crusaders can be seen all too often in modern times. Some Crusaders were undoubtedly motivated by their faith, others by more worldly concerns such as power and wealth. Loyalties were tested and often found wanting, making trust and cooperation casualties of war. Hatred of ‘the other’ is a recurring theme in participant accounts. And there are lessons to be learned for contemporary leadership by seeing how both Crusader and Muslim leaders worked together – or did not. LP Hartley wrote, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” I’m not so sure. It seems to me that there is much to be learned about modern concerns by seeing how people dealt with comparable issues in the past.

Finally, there’s a good case to be made that climate change was the original driving force behind the Crusade and, therefore, for present geopolitical challenges. In the late 900s and early 1000s, there was a serious drought in the steppes lying to the east of the Black Sea. The nomadic tribes who lived there were put under tremendous pressure as suitable pastures for their horses and livestock disappeared. Having little choice they migrated, moving through modern-day Georgia into Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, and setting up the Seljuk empire. Once there, they captured Nicaea from the Byzantines, creating an existential threat to the Byzantine empire. That’s why the Emperor Alexius Comnenus wrote to Pope Urban II, asking for military assistance; he was hoping for a few hundred knights to be his mercenaries. Instead, Urban took the opportunity to advance several of his objectives (all having to do with establishing papal authority in Christendom), and called for Crusade.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

There’s a huge literature on the First Crusade. For a quick introduction, Wikipedia provides a good overview.

There’s also a reading list (a short one!) in an Appendix at the end of the book.