The eyes of the Archbishop of Ravenna were gouged out on the orders of Pope Constantine . However, it was pagans who bore the brunt of Christian evangelising. Charlemagne ordered 4,500 Saxon soldiers to be beheaded for being pagans. The most famous attacks on nonbelievers were the Crusades. When we look at the Crusades, it is strange that today the word 'crusade' has positive connotations.
Politicians are proud to say that they are crusading against drugs or crime.
He decreed that Christians going on the crusade would require no further penances to achieve salvation. On the way to the Middle East, the Crusaders slaughtered hundreds of Jews in Mainz and Worms. It is estimated that the Crusaders killed between 30,000 and 40,000 Jews and Muslims when they reached Jerusalem. The fourth Crusade even destroyed the Christian city of Constantinople. Heretics were also attacked during these times.