marichiko

Here's a few fun numbers and facts about the Crusades from the same site I gave in an earlier reply on this thread http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm#20worst and a second site called "Timeline of The Crusades" http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQ...crusades02.htm
This listing is far from being an exhaustive one. The Crusades went on for hundreds of years and were characterized by many bloody encounters. I got tired of wading through them all. If you want more, check the sites above.

(I put the source of each statistic in bold print)

Davies: Crusaders killed up to 8,000 Jews in Rhineland

Paul Johnson A History of the Jews (1987): 1,000 Jewish women in Rhineland comm. suicide to avoid the mob, 1096.

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, v.5, 6 :

Crusaders vs. Solimon of Roum: 4,000 Christians, 3,000 Moslems killed
1098, Fall of Antioch: 100,000 Moslems massacred.
1099, Fall of Jerusalem: 70,000 Moslems massacred.
Siege of Tyre: 1,000 Turks killed
Richard the Lionhearted executes 3,000 Moslem POWs.
1190: 500 Jews massacred in York.

In the First Crusade (From Timeline of the Crusades above):

Crusaders capture the city of M'arrat-an-Numan, a small city east of Antioch. According to reports, Crusaders are observed eating the flesh of both adults and children; as a consequence, the Franks would be labeled "cannibals" by Turkish historians

Crusaders breach the walls of Jerusalem at two points: Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin at St. Stephen's Gate on the north wall and Count Raymond at the Jaffa Gate on the west wall, thus allowing them to capture the city. Estimates place the number of casualties as high as 100,000. Tancred of Hauteville, a grandson of Robert Guiscard and nephew of Bohemund of Taranto, is the first Crusader through the walls. The day is Friday, Dies Veneris, the anniversary of when Christians believe that Jesus redeemed the world and is the first of two days of unprecedented slaughter.

On July 16, 1099, Crusaders herded the Jews of Jerusalem into a synagogue and set it on fire.


There's lots more, too, but I got sick of reading it all. There were plenty of atrocities to go around. The Muslims seemed to often just sell their captives as slaves. The Christians preferred slaughter as the examples above show. Why on earth would anyone defend the Crusades?????????