Fig.1: The fedora fad of the 1920s would only be outdone by the one of the 1220s. |
Monday, June 29, 2015
The Seventh Crusade
Thursday, June 18, 2015
The Sixth Crusade
Fig.1: Most of the world's reaction to the calling of a sixth crusade. |
Labels:
Al-Kamil,
Ayyubid Dynasty,
Catholicism,
Christianity,
Crusades,
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II,
Islam,
Medieval Europe,
Middle East,
Sixth Crusade
Setting:
Jerusalem, Israel
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
The Fifth Crusade
Oh yeah, Crusades Month is back, and better than ever! Well the scope and overall effectiveness of the Crusades covered this month aren't better than ever (believe it or not, they're even worse), but that doesn't mean we still can't have fun at the expense of trivial religious warfare! This month I will be covering Crusades 5-7, which, if they were movie sequels, would be well past the tipping point of enthusiasm for even the most beloved film franchises (unless you're The Fast and the Furious, for reasons I dare not comprehend).
By the year 1213, the Crusades have had over a century to build up their reputation of suckiness. The First Crusade (1096-1099) allowed the Christians from Europe to conquer the holy city of Jerusalem from the various Muslim groups that previously controlled it, only to undermine their victory by bringing their typical European pettiness along with them. The fall of one of their possessions led to the Second Crusade (1145-1149), which not only attacked the wrong Muslims, but also lost against them! The fall of Jerusalem to Saladin led to the Third Crusade (1189-1192), which started out pretty promising for the Christians under the leadership of Richard the Lionheart, only to have it all end with a dud in the name of peace (yawn). And then there was the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), which didn't even make it to the Holy Land and only led to the destruction of the Christian city of Constantinople (granted, they totally deserved it for leavening their communion bread). Instead of just cutting their losses and focusing on other things, like, I don't know, feeding their starving peasants or something, Europeans decided to call for yet another crusade. And so the franchise regretfully continued (a quote that would be repeated ever since Transformers got a sequel).
Fig.1: Europe just couldn't wait to add another one of these to its list of "Reasons Why the Rest of the World Thinks We're Jerks." |
Labels:
Al-Kamil,
Ayyubid Dynasty,
Catholicism,
Christianity,
Crusades,
Fifth Crusade,
Holy Land,
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II,
Islam,
Jerusalem,
King Andrew II of Hungary,
Medieval Europe,
Middle East
Setting:
Damietta, Qism Damietta, Egypt
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