With Bruges' character so heavily drawn
from the Middle Ages,
and with the Middle Ages so heavily linked with its most famous event, the Crusades,
I want to explore what the Crusades actually is
so let's go back in time.
With the Christian Byzantine Empire being gradually conquered more and more by the Muslim Seljuk Turks,
the Pope, in 1095, raises a call to arms for Christians to not only defend the Byzantine border
but to capture the holy city of Jerusalem
because, as he's reported to have said, "God wills it",
and in return the Pope offers forgiveness for all sins.
For people in the Middle Ages,
this sin free, guaranteed passport to heaven, for going on an adventure with lots of your friends, was a pretty sweet deal.
So jumping at this chance to defend Christendom,
100,000 knights and commoners set off for the East.
Although Jerusalem was successfully captured,
this First Crusade is also remembered for its rampant pillaging of other Christians along the journey,
and its indiscriminate massacre of unarmed Muslims and Jews
leaving the streets of Jerusalem, ankle-deep in blood.
Over the next 200 years, a total of nine Crusades would occur
with the Crusaders being successful only one more time, and this time not by force but by treaty.
Now, why is any of this important?
There are three reasons.
1: Although Jerusalem was lost again and the Crusades largely unsuccessful in its recapture,
the Europeans did manage to set up four Crusader states in the region surrounding the city.
Lasting almost 200 years,
the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa
were the first examples of overseas colonialisation,
a prototype for the system that would radically change the world over the next 1000 years.
2: Due to the Crusades being at the height of the Islamic Golden Age,
through cultural contact,
Europeans learned from the scientifically and culturally more advanced Muslim societies
with the results evident in European culture today,
for example, better personal hygiene with
regular bathing and the use of soap,
cooking with new ingredients, such as
sugar, spices, lemon, and rice.
Using Arabic numerals as opposed to Roman numerals,
and the game of chess.
By contrast, it wasn't until 400 years later
with the developments in the Renaissance
that Muslims began learning from European culture.
3: And this is the most important.
As we look back at the Crusades from our 21st century vantage point,
we can see that there is an absurdity to killing people in the name of God.
But let's be reminded that today,
on the exact same land where the Crusader States once stood,
the fighting in Israel, Palestine, and Syria,
albeit with greater political complexities,
is fundamentally aimed at achieving the same medieval goals,
but now with guns instead of swords.
