- August 29th, 2006, 10:30 am
#27135
Hmmm. Flames or Crusaders?
Let's examine this:
"Crusaders" -- a term applied to those knights who took part in the Crusades in medieval Europe.
The 1st Crusade set out in 1095 w/ 7,000 knights to recapture the city of Jerusalem for Christianity. In 1099, the 1,500 that remained captured the Holy City and massacred the population. As a result of this crusade, a number of "Crusader states" were set up in the Middle East. Which led to...
The 2nd Crusade set out in 1147 to re-take the Crusader state of Edessa which had been captured by the Turks. They fought a lot but accomplished nothing and, by 1149, everyone had gone home.
In 1187, the 3rd Crusade began with the purpose of re-capturing the Holy Land from Saladin, the legendary Muslim conqueror. This crusade was somewhat successful until the Crusaders ran out of food and water and were forced to stop fighting within sight of Jerusalem.
The 4th Crusade was sent out in 1202, again with the intended purpose of invading the Holy Land, this time through Egypt. Through various political machinations, the Crusader armies were diverted into attacking Constantinople, seat of the Byzantine Empire, and Zara, another Christian city in modern-day Croatia. Then, they went home.
The Albigensian Crusade was launched in 1209, this time against a group of heretics in what is now southern France. The town of Beziers was captured and the papal legate on hand was reportedly asked how the Crusaders were to determine which of the townsfolk were heretics and which were ordinary citizens. He replied, "Kill them all, for the Lord knows who are his own." Much of Bezier's population was butchered. The crusade continued until 1229 when the entire area came under the control of France. This crusade gave rise to the Inquisition.
The Children's Crusade of 1212, which may or may not have actually happened, featured 20,000 children marching off to once again re-take the Holy Land. All of them either settled along the way, were sold into slavery or otherwise died without ever reaching Palestine.
The 5th Crusade in 1217 was yet another attempt to re-capture Jerusalem. There was an early impressive victory in Egypt but disease and shaky decision-making took their toll. Eventually, the Nile flooded in 1221, trapping the Crusader armies and forcing their complete surrender.
The 6th Crusade in 1228 was the first Crusade not initiated by a pope. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II succeeded in re-taking Jerusalem almost entirely through diplomacy.
The 7th Crusade left in 1248 with the stated purpose of again capturing Jerusalem which had, again, fallen into Muslim hands. Under the leadership of French king, Louis IX, the Crusaders fought in Egypt for the next 6 years suffering setbacks and starvation but not outright defeat. In 1254, the money ran out and Louis returned home.
The 8th Crusade was launched in 1270, again under the leadership of Louis IX. Louis made the decision to first attack Tunis and use it as a base for attacking Egypt. His armies landed in July and promptly got sick due to poor drinking water. By October, Louis himself had died and nearly everyone went home. That is, everyone except for...
Louis' sidekick Prince Edward I of England and the 9th Crusade. He took his forces from Tunis and went to bail out the Crusader city of Acre in Galilee. This was the last of the independent Crusader cities that had not been captured by Muslim forces. Edward's army fought the Muslims into a stalemate, enough so that when Henry III died in 1272, Edward was able to negotiate a treaty that allowed him to return to England to be crowned king. In 1291, sectarian violence erupted in Acre which gave the Muslim Sultan a pretext for attacking the city. By the end of the year, the city was destroyed, ending the last of Crusader influence in the Middle East and ending the Crusades themselves.
To sum up: Flames are good for preparing food, heat, light, warding off bear attacks and otherwise burning stuff. Crusaders are good for dying in a great big wasted effort. I'll stick with Flames.
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