The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-05-10
The CrUsRdes as PrOpagatOrs
of Religious Indifference i'm
Europe i'm the Middle Age.

.H --S
One consequence of the crusades, that
has not been sufficiently remarked,
though it certainly is highly astonishing
and we might have expected any other
effect than that from those expeditions.
is the liberation, or rather the religious
indifference, that succeeded the first
fierce outburst of fanatical zeal.
When we read the historians of the
first crusades we find the spirit of relig-
ious hate burning wildly and fiercely.
ct was laughable," says Raymond d'A-
giles, "tO see the Turks, pressed on all
sides by our men, cast themselves, flying
Il on the other, pushing each other,
over the precipices, it was an amusing
and cheering sight" The crusaders, in
their blind fury, not taking into account
the distance of time, believed that in
each infidel they slew in the Holy Land,
they put to death one of the execution
ers of Jesusldhrist. Relating how the
count Of Toulouse one day had his pris-
oners' eyes put out, and their hands, feet
and noses cut off, Raymond dAgiles
adds: 1T is not easy to do justice to the
bravery and wisdom c"onspicuously dis
played by the count here"
But after the crusade a marked change
very soon took place. King Baudouin,
GeoffrOy de BOuillon's brother and sue
cessor, married a lady of noble birth
"from among the gentiles of the coun-
try" Adopting the custom of the ma
tives, he wore flowing robes, let his beard
grow and enforced obeisance after the
oriental fashion. He begins to account
the Saracens human beings. When his
physicians desired, onceh he was wounded,
to int1ict a similar wound on a prisoner,
i'll order to study the nature Of the hurt,
he refused permission and, in pity fora
Musulman woman who was taken in la
Dor, he gave his own cloak to cover her,
and halted with his army, rather than
abandon her in the desert.
The spirit Of the crusaders, as well as
that Of the MOslem world, had changed
entirely in the interval between the first
and the third crusade. During the long
siege of Acre Q190-1192) the crusaders
and the Mahommedans entertained quite
an amicable intercourse. The Christian
camp assumed the appearance of alarge
city, freQuentod by merchants of both
religions. The cOnfessors of the gospel
and thOseof the Koran willingly mingled
and danced together, and the Christian
MINISTRIES lent their voice to the sound of
Arab instruments. The miners ON both
sides agreed to do each other no injury
when they met in their subterranean
task. Salaheddin sent presents to the
Christian princes on theiraTrival, which
they returned with presents to him. Phi
lippe Auguste held correspondence with
the Musulmans. Richard Occur de Lion,
who at Cyprus had worn q silken mantle,
embroidered with c~rescents (the emblem
of Islamism) Of silver, offered his sister,
the widow of King GuglielmO of Sicily,
in marriagetO Malek Adhel, Salaheddins
brother, and the two were jointly to gov
ern the kingdom of Jerusalem, under the
auspices of Salaheddin and Richard.
This proposition was well received by
Salaheddin but was s~hipwrecked on the
stubborn resistance of the Christian
bishops and the Muhammedan imaums.
Salaheddinw ishedto acknowledgements
with the laws of chivalry, and Malek
Adhel sent his son to be knighted by
Richard.
When Jean de Brienne was besieged
in his camp, in 1921, he wasloaded by the
Sultan of Egypt with testimonials of
good viii. "From this time," says Ma
krizi, "they contracted a sincere and
lasting intimacy, and their interchange
of presents and friendly intercourse only
ceased with their lives" In a war with
the KhOrasmins, the Christians Of Syria
placed themselves under the order of
the Musulmans; priests mingled in the
ranks, invoking blessings on the war
riors, Muhammedans as we'll as Chris
tians.
Among the European princes of the
18th century we meet with several in
stances of perfect Indifference as to re-
ligious belief. In Ge latter part of the
year1213, the miserable King John of
England, after his brOther-in-law, the
count of Toulouse, had been crushed in
the battle of Muret Sept. 18th, 1879,
where King Pedro of Aragon was killed,
dispatched in allhaste trusty messengers
to Abu Abdallah Muhammed Al Nassr
Ledin-Allah, Emir al Munemin of South
ern Spain and Morocco, to try to con
clude an alliance with him. He offered
even, as Mathew of Paris informs us, to
forsake Christianity, which he p~rofessed
to look upon as mere vanity, for the law
of Muhammed. According to the above
named author the Moorish prince refused
to ally himself with John and testified
his disgust for a man who would give
up the law, under which he was born,
and pass under another, like a deserter
and runaway. AT all events, this Emir
al Munemin died of poison, very shortly
after, Dec. 25th, 1918, and afterhis death
internal struggles and continual revolu-
tions broke down the power of the Al
mohades.
The Emperor, FrederickI, always sur
rounded by Bolognese legists and Arab
doctors, wasa be1-esprit and freethink-
er, or rather a perfect unbeliever. He
had Saracen guards, q Saracen uniVer-