Re: Iron underpants

["Spirit One Email" <laurel@spiritone.com>]

No, I doubt that any of their relatives survived.  The Crusaders hunted down
and killed just about every living soul in Jerusalem.
As the Crusaders approached the Governor was not too worried, there were
only about 20,000, he had poisoned the wells and made sure they couldn't
make the siege weapons and the city was strategically positioned with deep
valleys on three sides.  They got there on June 7, 1099.

  His biggest problem was manpower.  Many people had fled 30 years before
when the Seljuks arrived and since then they had massacred a large part of
the remaining Moslem population in 1076.  Almost all the Jews had left and
he threw out the Christians in cuse they might try to aid the Crusaders.
(Notice he didn't kill them).  In 638 when Caliph Umar captured Jerusalem
from the Christians, he had assured them that they and their property would
not be destroyed.  He then respectfully requested a tour of the Christian
holy sites.......

The Governor did have a few Jews who believed they Had to live in Jerusalem
and some Moslem civilians there for religious reasons.  His Arab cavalry and
Sudanses archers were his only strength.  Jerusalem could house up to 70,000
people but there were less than 30,000 there now but he had been promised an
Egyptian relief army by the end of July.
    It was on June 13th 1099 that the Crusaders flung themselves agains the
walls uselessly.
I've already told you about the depression that caused.  Then the Governor
was baffled to see the attackers kick off their shoes and march barefoot
round his city, singing hymns.  (have you looked yet at this link on the
website?)
   Then in five days the siege towers had been completed and the ground
leveled enough so that and during the night the soldiers struggled to move
them into position, fighting against a barrage of arrows and Greek Fire.
Then around noon on June 15th they were over the walls and the blood letting
began.

  "Our Squires and footmen, said Fulcher of Chartres, Split open the bellies
of those they had just slain in order to extract the gold coins they had
gulped down.  With drawn swords our men ran through the city not sparing
anyone, even those begging for mercy.  Count Raymond was the only one to
honor his pledge to a group of captured Moslems who were the only ones to
live and later had to carry their dead comrades out of the city to pile them
like pyramids for burning.
    The next day a band of Crusaders enter the al-Aqsa Mosque where a very
large group of Moslems had been promised the day before their safety but now
they were all slaughtered, Men, women and children.   And the Jews hiding in
the synagogue were all burned alive.  There were no reports of rape but it
was ritual slaughter.
     Having taken Jerusalem and achieved their goal, most of the Crusaders
went home.  Less than 3,000 Franks stayed on and of them probably only 300
were knights.  Having killed almost the entire population, they were in
possession of a large, empty city which was, of course, the biggest tourist
centre in the world.

    The city had been in Moslem hands for 461 years but the majority of the
population remained Christian.  During most of that time the Moslems
protected the rights of the Christians even though they retained overall
control--even today the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is entrusted
to a Moslem named Museba and his family who have the responsibility for
locking and unlocking the most sacred Christian church in the world every
day ever since the Moslems first captured the city.
    And for years afterwards the Franks continued to harrass the population
in Palestine.
from  "Crusades" by Terry Jones & Alan Ereira.  This comes with three videos
and most informative and interesting.
Laurel





> Yes, many Muslims died laughing, and left women and children to survive
> alone somehow.
> Ken W Sinclair
> SK/Canada
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <horace@mb.sympatico.ca>
> To: <sinclair@matrix.net>
> Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2028 8:15 PM
> Subject: Re: Tomar Castle 2
>
>
> > Men in arms are not to be laughed at  " Honey ".
> >               Donald H. Sinclair
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jean" <sinead@milamba.com>
> > To: <sinclair@matrix.net>
> > Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2000 6:59 AM
> > Subject: Re: Tomar Castle 2
> > > Laurel,
> > > You are well ahead of me in your scholarship about the Crusades. I did
> > know
> > > that they were devastating to large parts of Europe, and that it was a
> > time
> > > of miracle seeking and visions. In desperation  people seek for
heavenly
> > > rewards and the Crusades with promises of heaven and treasure must
have
> > > seemed wonderful. However I was laughing at my vision of those
gentlemen
> > in
> > > the iron underpants walking around Jerusalem. I am sure they were not
> made
> > > for walking.
> > > Jean
>
>
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