the unholy war'' by raphael harris c 2001 chapter 1...
TRANSCRIPT
''The Unholy War''
by Raphael Harris c 2001
Chapter 1- background
On July 26th 1099 Crusaders gathered all the Jewish residents of Jerusalem, hundreds
of men, women, and children and forced them into a synagogue which was then set on
fire killing everyone inside.
On May 20th 1970 the PLO attacked a bus carrying children from Moshav Avivim to
school. Nine children and three teachers were killed and nineteen children wounded.
It seems that everyone would agree that these events were atrocities. The perpetrators
carry out their mission in the name of religion, of so called 'holy war'. Were these
incidents isolated? Is the first case an example of a recent phenomena and the second
case an example ancient history? Or are they both typical examples of a long chain of
events which began at the dawn of civilization?
While working in England in 1982 I was befriended by what I felt at the time was a
typical Englishman. We discussed many interesting subjects, contrasted the English and
American mentality and debated the pros and cons of our respective pop cultures. At
some point in our dialogues I brought up the subject of religion in general and belief in
G-d in particular. He related to me that he had decided long ago not to be religious for as
he put it, ''all the millions of people killed in the name of religion have put me off about
G-d."
Indeed, murder in the name of G-d is certainly a desecration. But is it more a
reflection of what or who G-d is, or of what man is?
If I believe in G-d, then someone comes along and commits an atrocity in the name of
his religion or his understanding of what G-d wants, should that effect my relationship
with my Creat-or? Of course not. Yet millions of people are put off of G-d and religion
because of all the people who have committed murder in the name of Jesus or
Mohammed and other self-proclaimed prophets. Is it possible to separate G-d from
religion? May we find G-d on our own, or do we need a system of rites and rituals to
follow in order to be spiritual? If religions contradict each other, does it mean that they
are all wrong, or is it possible to objectively analyze each on its own and choose the
correct one? If a man feels he has discovered the true path does he have an obligation to
teach it to others? Does he have a right to force it upon others? If he attempts to force it
upon others is that a reflection on himself and his own insecurities or is it a proof of the
inadequacy of the teachings his religion to influence others on its own merit?
In 1357 the church officials of Strasbourg offered the Jews the choice of baptism or
death. 1000 Jews refused to abandon their faith and were burnt to death. Did the church
think that they were setting so fine an example that it would be irresistible to embrace
their high values? Were they proud of themselves. Did they think they were doing G-d's
will? Or did they just do as they pleased and look for any excuse to justify their actions?
Will their behavior turn others away from
G-d? Should it?
In 1972 Arabs from Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq attacked Israel on Yom
Kippur, the Holiest day of the year, when the entire Jewish nation spends their day in
prayer, fasting, and meditation. The Arabs called it a "Jihad", or holy war.
Until 1965 the episcol Church still officially blamed the Jews for killing Jesus.
Yet my friend and many like him don't blame corrupt individuals or a tainted religious
bureaucracy for these crimes. The casual observer blames G-d.
"If G-d didn't exist these things wouldn't happen. Therefore the world would be
better off without G-d. I'm against religion because it sets people against each other."
Yes, wars and crimes committed in the name of G-d do cause a desecration of
G-d's name. While it is written in the Torah, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" (Leviticus
18:19), it is also written in the New Testament, "I come not to bring peace to the world,
but the sword" (Matthew 10:34). Thus, many gather all the teachings of all religions into
one basket and toss the whole package.
In 1964 Yasar Arafat forded the Jordan River, climbed an hill near Nebulas, fired a
single shot and declared to his followers, "the Jihad ('holy' war) has begun."
On May 15th 1975 the PLO attack a school in Maalot in Northern Israel and 24 people,
mostly school children were killed, 62 wounded. Can anyone really think this is an 'holy'
war? Are some people's definition of 'holy' so different from others?
How did it all begin? When will it end? Is there a qualitative difference between a so
called 'holy' war and a secular war, one which is fought over, say economics or conceit?
A quote from the Talmud states, "maseh l'avoth siman l'bunim" (sota 34a) which
means, "the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the sons", or less literally, "the ancestors
set the pattern for their descendants." This idea has been echoed in such commonly
quoted proverbs as, "History repeats itself," and "Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.
Thus we see in the book of Genesis a number of conflicts which have been repeated
throughout history. Cain verses Able (jealousy, brother against brother), Abraham vs.
Nimrod (monotheism vs. idolatry). Isaac vs. Ishmael (the Jews vs. the Arabs over who
inherits the land of Israel from Abraham). Jacob vs. Esau (the Jews vs. the Christians
over who receives the blessing from Isaac). Moses vs. Pharaoh (spirituality and humility
over hedonism and conceit). Moses vs. Bilaam (logic vs. anti-Semitism). Moses vs.
Korach (traditional Judaism vs. reform, Rabbinical authority vs. politics).
Their are numerous other examples. Some have led to bitter debate. Others have led
to bloody conflict. Some are between the Jews and the other nations. Others are between
the nations and themselves. Some are between the Jews amongst themselves.
After the Romans, descendants of Esau, exiled the Jews from their homeland, the
land lay barren and desolate for many generations. While there was always a small
Jewish presents in the Holyland the main communities were flourishing in first
Babalonia, then later Spain, Northern Africa, Germany, Russia, Poland, and eventually
to the four corners of the earth. The land was annexed to one empire after another. The
Romans, then in 324 CE the Byzantines. In 614 the Persians. In 638 the early Arab
Moslems. 1099 to 1250 the Crusaders. 1250 to 1517 the Mamelukes (North African
Berbers). 1517 to 1917 the Ottoman Turks. 1917 to 1948 the British. 1948 the modern
state of Israel.
When the early Arab Moslems arrived in Israel it meant little to them. It was another
place along the way in their conquest of land which they subsequently lost to other
empires along the way. When they arrived in Jerusalem, the city meant nothing to them.
It was mentioned no where in their Koran nor was it even worth fighting for. The
Byzantine patriarch Sofhronios informed Omar, commander of the Arab forces that he
could take Jerusalem if he wouldn't destroy the churches.
Omar agreed. While the loss of countless other lands and cities meant little more to
the Arab leaders then a loss of dignity and revenue, the loss of Jerusalem and Israel did
mean something. At first it meant no more to them than the lose of Barcelona or Toledo
or any of the other lands they had conquered and lost. But when the country was recently
regained by the Jews they began their fanatical fight. The loss of Israel to the Jews
becomes an eternal issue which they are willing to kill themselves and anyone in their
way to regain. That's when the bus bombings, Olympic murders, wars, lynchings, and
suicide attacks begins. Why? Because no one cares when something that's not theirs
anyway is lost. But when something you think is yours, erroneously or otherwise, is lost
to your main rival, you will not stand for it. So when they lost Barcelona they didn't mind
so much. And when they lost Israel to the British, so who cares? But when brother Isaac
gains the inheritance of father Abraham, Ishmael goes rabid because it means that Isaac
is the continuation of the royal line of Abraham, not Ishmael. Not Ishmael, the older
brother but son of a concubine, but Isaac, younger but firstborn of the wife, Queen Sara.
When Isaac, still a child, is challenged by Ishmael, he is defended by his mother
Sara who insists that Isaac be banished, be sent to other lands where he can inherit all he
wants. Abraham, the paradigm of kindness is loathe to send his own flesh and blood to an
unsure fate, he hopes a compromise can be worked out. But Sara's intuition is correct,
with Ishmael no compromise can be worked out. He only wants it all. So he must lose it
all.
"Sara saw that the son that Hagar had born to Abraham was a scoffer. She said to
Abraham. "Drive away this slave together with her son. The son of this slave will not
share the inheritance with my son Isaac." (Genesis 21:9-10)
It is only after Ishmael is banished that peace reigns. Both brothers go on to flourish,
to father great nations.
Isaac inherits the land. But Isaac's son's Yacov and Esau have a conflict of their own.
Esau's descendants were the founders of the Roman Empire. Let us examine how the
conflict of Yacov and Esau foreshadows the conflict of Rome and Judea, between the
Jews and what evolved into the Christian church.
The conflict of twins Yacov and Esau is who will be Isaac's spiritual heir. Who will
receive his blessing, the blessing which carries with it great responsibilities and great
rewards. The blessing which states, "Nations shall serve you, and who that blesses you
shall be blessed, and who that curses you shall be cursed". (Genesis 27:29). But does not
the blessing rightfully belong to the firstborn? Indeed the blessing would have been
Esau's if not for the fact that he sold it to Yacov. The birthright which included not only
the blessing, but the right to receive the Torah, build the Temple in Jerusalem and
become the Nation of Priests and Light amongst the Nations. However, after Esau sold
his birthright for a mess of beans (which indicated that he was not worthy of it) he
regretted his decision.
The descendants of Esau became the Roman Empire. The conflict between the
Romans and the Jews intensified when the Jews, unlike other peoples whom the Romans
had conquered, refused to embrace their many gods. Thus it was not enouph to subdue
the ancient Judeans, they had to be totally wiped out. Jerusalem was razed and its people
sent into exile. No other nation was treated so cruelly, it became illegal for any Jew to
settle in Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem was changed to Aelia Capitolina in 135 CE by
the Emperor Hadrian. A temple to Jupiter was built on the former site of the Beit
HaMikdash. The name of the country was changed to Philistisa (named after the coastal
peoples who had established a merchant class) in an attempt to wipe out the memory of
the once mighty Jewish kingdom. A victory arch was erected in Rome, the Arch of Titus
to commemorate the destruction of the Jewish nation.
But the Jews survived in exile.
In 324 CE the Emperor Constantine changed the once outlawed Christian religion to
the official religion of the Roman Empire. The early Christians were a sect of Jews, and
thus persecuted as vigorously as other Jews. But some hundreds of years later
Christianity was no longer a Jewish religion. Those few Jews who had thought Jesus was
Messiah had died out and the remaining Jews realized that Messiah had not yet come,
the world was far from at peace, they had not been redeemed, the temple remained
destroyed. Jesus was just one more in a long line of false messiahs beginning with Bar
Kochba and continuing with such personalities as David Reuvani and Shabtai Tzvi. But
to the many pagan peoples who were disillusioned with the performance of their false
gods of marble and gold, Christianity was a welcomed change. And with its doctrine of
blaming the Jews for the death of their deity it was ideally situated for the Romans to
embrace. It was what they had been waiting for all these years. The Jews had lost their
right to be called the 'Nation of God'. Now whomsoever embraces Jesus will be called the
Chosen of G-d. And who that doesn't will be doomed and damned for all eternity.
Constantine moved his capital from pagan Rome (which was later reestablished as a
'holy' city and the seat of Christianity returned to the section known as Vatican City) to
Byzantine, renamed it Constantinople after himself (now Istanbul) and made
Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. He vigorously persecuted all Jews
in the Empire. His mother, a religious fanatic, visited Jerusalem and set up churches in
every corner. For every event in the life of Jesus, she chose a spot, said it took place there,
and built a church on it.
In 325 CE the Church Council of Nicaea was convened by Constantine to deal with the
fact that Christianity was too 'Jewish'. What had once been a Jewish faction was now
changed to a new religion. Numerous changes were made, for example Easter was
changed from coinciding with Passover and therefore being dependent on it, to the
Sunday after the first full moon of spring. Many of its customs were derived by spring
fertility rites of pagan practitioners such as gathering eggs which were a pagan fertility
symbol. But the most controversial change perhaps being the change of the Sabbath from
Saturday to Sunday. The Sabbath was changed from the seventh day of the week as was
written in the Biblical account of creation, to the first day of the week which was clearly
not the Sabbath nor had it ever been.
Christianity was being taught differently by different people and having made it the
Official state religion the Emperor was responsible to put a stop to this and unify the
various groups. To gain popularity and acceptance among what was left of the Roman
Empire the Council called for the 'seclusion and humiliation' of the Jews. The death
penalty would be incurred by Christians who converted to Judaism, and by Jews who
obstructed the conversion of other Jews to Christianity. Intermarriage was outlawed.
Jews could not hold public office. They were not allowed to own Christian nor pagan
slaves, a serious economic blow, since slave labor was the only available manpower for
agriculture or industry. From 529 to 553 Emperor Justinian published his legal codes
'Corpus Juris Civiles', and 'Novella'. The legal status of the Jews was fixed for the next
seven hundred years. For the first time a Christian ruler had interfered in the internal
religious practices of his Jewish subjects. Jews were forbidden to read the Torah in
synagogue in Hebrew. The Mishna and Rabbinical literature was banned.
The church claimed that the Jews had not just rejected Jesus but were collectively
responsible for his death, blame being shifted from the Roman authority. The Jews had
ceased to be G-d's Chosen People, the church had become 'Israel according to the Spirit'.
When asked, 'what about the verses in Deuteronomy (26:15-18) which state, ''Look
down from heaven and bless Your people Israel, and the land you have given that you
pledged to the forefathers. G-d has declared allegiance to you today making you his
special nation."'
The Council responded, 'this now refers to the Christians. Since the Romans are now
Christians that means us.'
'What about the verse in Deuteronomy in which G-d states explicitly, "Israel is my son,
my firstborn son."'
"This also refers to us."
Thus the controversy between Yacov and Esau was repeated. The spiritual and
physical descendants of Esau, the Romans, having regretted the loss of the status of
'Firstborn' to the spiritual and physical descendants of Yacov, the Jews.
Chapter 2- History
Religious wars have been around for as long as religion. They have occurred in all parts
of the world. The Zoroastrian persecutions. The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. The
Hussite Dispute (1480) The St. Bartholomew massacre (1572). The Thirty Years War
(1618-1648) The Yom Kippur War. The conflict in Northern Ireland. The Indonesian
Church bombings. The Indian-Pakistani hostilities. The list is endless.
In the Book of Ruth we see the fragile yet determined Ruth imploring to her beloved
mother-in-law Naomi, "where you go, I will go... your people are my people, your G-d is
my G-d."
Naomi however tries to dissuade her, "your sister-in-law has returned to her people,
to her god; go follow your sister-in-law." Ruth says, "do not urge me to leave you, to
turn back and not follow you!"
Naomi sees she is sincere in her resolve. "When she saw that she was determined to
go on with her she stopped arguing." (Ruth 1:16-18)
Thus we see the proper path to influence our fellow man, to enlighten the fallacious.
Naomi is so pious and wise, so loving and amiable that Ruth clings to her like an infant to
its mothers breast. She will not leave her mentor, she wants too much to be near her, to
be like her. She wants to know what Naomi has done to become so spiritual. She wants to
do it herself.
Naomi for her part tests her student's sincerity. By trying to discourage Ruth it
crystallizes her resolve. She forces Ruth to chose, hoping she will choose wisely. She is
rewarded with a deserving disciple.
The talmudic rabbis saw this as the paradigm for dealing with potential converts to
Judaism. Set the example for others. Discourage them at first to test their sincerity.
Lovingly accept when convinced of it. This, they taught was why the land of Israel was
strategically placed on the map at the juncture between three continents, Europe, Africa,
and Asia. Anyone travailing the spice route, the silk route, or any other route would
naturally traverse the holy land, and while there could not help but be impressed with its
enlightened, spiritual inhabitants, and thus the message of the Jewish people, the lessons
of monotheism, of creativity, and of charity, would be spread throughout the world.
This in stark contrast to the pagan peoples of the world. To the insecure and violent
creeds of the nations of mankind.
This then becomes one of the reasons for religious wars.
When a
member of certain religion is unsure of himself, the thought of others
practicing
another faith threatens him. If he has invested much time and energy in
his religion or if he is in a position of power, his investment or
position become threatened. If he perceives the two religions as
contradicting each other, so that only one can be the correct
path, he must then either convert to the other religion and lose
his
investment and position, or convince the others to convert. When they
wont convert
willingly, he must use force. The Zoroastrian, Christians, and Muslims
were highly successful using this method of conversions on the
pagan peoples. For what did
those people have to give up? But when they came across the Jews "If
your religion makes so much sense to you, then convince me",
says the truly spiritual man. "If not, then why can't you do your
thing and let me do mine? If you threaten
to kill someone who won't convert to your faith, than what kind of faith
do you
have? Who would want to belong to it? Or are you just a violent person
in general and using your faith conveniently as an excuse to do
as you please. Or is that why
you chose that faith? Because it sanctions such behavior?"
Zoroastrian Persecutions
In the early 6th century BCE Zoroaster a 30-year-old Persian began to preach a new
religion based on his personal drug induced revelations. He eventually converted King
Vishtaspa of eastern Iran, after which the religion spread rapidly. Since the religion was
based solely on the divinity of its originator, its growth was severely retarded when the
Turanians invaded Bactria and slew most of its inhabitants including Zoroaster who was
powerless to stop them.
Zoroastrianism stagnated until the advent of the Sassanid dynasty. It then grew until
it was abolished as a state religion during the Islamic conquest in the 7th century. It is
still practiced by small groups of Ghebers in Iran and Parsis in India who have believed
all these years that Zoroaster will return to prepare the coming of the final judgment.
During the Sassanid's rule over Babylonia from 226 CE until the Arab conquest in 642
the attitude of the regime to its Jewish subjects was benign. The internal affairs of the
Jewish community was left to itself and it flourished.
However at the outset of the Sassanid's conquest Zoroastrianism became the state
religion and its zealous 'magi' (priests) tried to force those of other faiths to convert.
The Jewish community not only found their neighbor's fire-worshipping rituals
offensive, but their proscribed method of disposal of the dead to be singularly repulsive.
The Zoroastrians would apparently expose the corpses to the elements where they would
be devoured by vultures and wild animals (outlawed in Iran but still practiced in India).
The magi succeeded in outlawing many Jewish rituals, including burying the dead
which they perceived as 'old-fashioned'. They forcibly converted Jewish children and
even went so far as to exhume bodies from cemeteries and allow them to be consumed by
beasts. It soon became apparent that the magi were the beasts and they lost much
popularity even among the noble and royal class. When Shapur I ascended to power he
abolished the powers of the magi and returned the Jews to autonomy. His decision also
was no doubt influenced by his close relationship to his advisor Shmule bar Abba
(180-275 CE), who was head of the Rabbinical Academy at Nehardea. A great Talmudic
scholar, Shmuel was also the world authority on medicine and astronomy. Shapur I who
reigned from 241 to 272 CE, also consulted with the Rabbi on military matters and
thanked him for his greatest victory over the Roman Legions at the battle for Edessa in
Asia Minor (site of modern Urfa in Turkey, near the Syrian border). Shmuel for his part
always used his influence in the royal court, not for personal gain, but to better the lot of
his people. His influence was felt for many years to come in the Babylonian community.
He is also quoted extensively in the Talmud so that his influence has extended for over
seventeen centuries.
The Islamic Conquests
In the Sixth Century the Arabian peninsula was a mostly ignored, inhospitable, and
unappealing piece of real estate inhabited by a conglomeration of scattered tribes. While
the oasis towns of Mecca and Medina held a sizable merchant class due to their incidental
location along the spice route, the vast majority of the inhabitants were much given to
robbing and murdering each other in fierce family and tribal feuds. A major profession
was staging raids on caravans travailing east to India or west to Europe along the spice
route and robbing the merchants and selling them into slavery.
For a religion the peoples had slipped back from the monotheism they had once
inherited from their ancestor Abraham and were now worshipping crude pagan gods
and idols. The influence of the monotheistic Jewish community in Mecca was minimal
and the attempt of early Christian missionaries from Ethiopia to find converts had failed.
In 570 Mohammed was born. His father had died shortly before his birth and he was
raised mostly by his uncle. The roving desert Bedouins became his companions and his
ability to stage raids on caravans impressed them. However the inherent dangers of such
raids frightened young Mohammed and after a last successful raid he decided take the
advice of his uncle and to go into business. Although illiterate it soon became apparent
that he had a sense of the game and soon found success. It became obvious that in the
hierarchical society in which he was a part that the 'haves' were treated with respect and
authority and the 'have nots' were largely ignored. Mohammed learned that those with
wealth were considered wise and respected weather they had wisdom or respectability or
not. When Mohammed was introduced by his uncle to a wealthy widow he took the
opportunity to make himself wise and respectable and married her in 595.
Around 610 Mohammed began to claim that he was having dreams which he claimed
were messages from G-d. While he was ignored or viewed suspiciously by his neighbors
he began to piece together and organized system of precepts which eventually became the
new religion of Islam. His experiences with Bedouins taught him that thievery was so
ingrained into the Arab culture that to curb it he would have to punish thieves severely.
He called for the guilty to hand-amputated.
The fact that his elderly bride was hideously ugly also figured into the religion that
Mohammed was soon to found. He ordered Khadija to keep her face veiled not only
during sand storms, as was the custom at the time but at all times. To avoid
embarrassment he proscribed the veiling of all women, even those who were neither his
wife nor ugly. He also declared the Islamic preferred method of birth control to be coitus
interuptus. This was also practiced by Mohammed, the thought of bringing another like
Khadija into the world so repulsed him. Apparently he practiced this a bit too religiously
as he left no heir upon his death in 632.
The Crusades
The First Crusade
From 1096 to 1291 the European Popes and Kings led a series of wars which were
collectively known as the "Crusades." In 1095 Pope Urban II in Clermont in southern
France proclaimed an expedition to win the Holy Land back from the 'infidel' Arabs.
The cry, 'G-d wills it!' went up from his French knights and Urban cut crosses for them
to carry on banners. Crosses were also the sign used to decorate swords and shields. Thus
these soldiers were dubbed the title, cruce signati, "Signed with the Cross" and finally,
"Crusaders". There thus began two centuries of continuous bloodshed, tragedy, violence and
massacres which ended in no strategic, religious, nor military victory for its instigators.
In the years prior to the First Crusade there had been acute power struggles between
the Popes and Kings. The Pope was largely to blame for the constant state of war
between warrior classes, standing armies known as knights. European population
centers were expanding inward and each group of local knights, trained in the art of
killing were left with nobody to kill except each other.
"This land which you inhabit", declared pope Urban to his knights, "is too narrow for
your large numbers. Thus you devour each other, wage war, and kill each other, dying of
mutual wounds."
They were then sent east to return the European continent to the tenuous state of
stability it had once known and rid itself of those annoying, energetic, violent, trouble
makers, the knights.
In order to popularize the cause and increase the numbers of the fighting force the
Pope also granted "indulgences" to any man who would take up arms against anyone
who was considered an enemy of the church, which at first meant the infidel Turks but
soon came to include all non-christens, i.e. the Jews.
In order to gain the support of the illiterate masses the church invented the concept
of "granting Indulgences." They reasoned as follows: since the saints of bygone days had
amassed so many merits in their favor, many more merits than they needed to gain
entrance to heaven, it must be that their surplus of merits were available to those left
back on earth. Thus the church, the ultimate spiritual authority could calculate the
number of available merits, and distribute them as they saw fit.
So, for example, if a certain Bartholomew had amassed one thousand merits in his
lifetime, yet needed only two hundred and fifty to enter heaven, that left seven hundred
and fifty extra which the church could distribute to its members. So if a certain ignorant
peasant would agree to go to Jerusalem and kill as many people living there as he could,
he would be granted two hundred and fifty indulgences, which would surely be enouph to
gain access to heaven.
Urban's goal in the First Crusade was not only to liberate the Holy Land but to rid
themselves of unchristian influence. So that the enemy became not only the infidel in far
off Israel but the Jew in your own backyard. The influence and profile of the Jews in
Europe was great, their presence ubiquitous, their financial prowess annoying , and their
refusal to convert infuriating. Being financialy dependent on someone who, according to
your religion shouldn't even exist was more than the average peasant could bear.
The existence of the Jew was a theological puzzle for the Christians. The illiterate
peasants were confused by the questions the Jews in their midst posed.
If Jesus was the messiah, then why didn't the Jews ever accept him as such, in
ancient times or now? Wasn't the messiah meant to redeem the Jews? Wasn't the
messiah meant to bring peace? What do the Jews have that we don't? Why are they
willing to die for it? What's in those books they're always carrying around? Why are
they so smart?
The more literate clergy and nobles were even more annoyed at their own inability
to answer the same questions. The answer, they finally decided, was in the teachings of
Jesus. "Take my enemies who would not have me rule over them, bring them here and
kill them before me." (Luke 19:27 ) The Crusades were the answer.
This, together with the granting of indulgences spelt disaster for the Jews.
The Pope was more or less saying, "kill anyone who's not Christian and you get a
free ticket to heaven." If, dear reader you are nonplused at this statement, you'll be
happy to know, you should be. I have studied the Crusades all my life, visited many of the
sites of Crusader battles, lived in a Crusader castle for over a year, and discussed the
III and ascended the throne of an empire financially exhausted and surrounded by
aggressive enemies. By instigating the Crusades he was able to unite the Pope and the
European kings under his own banner and recover western Asia Minor. At the time of
his death the empire was again an important power.
Unity of purpose served the over 130,000 soldiers well. On June 18th the city of
Nicaea surrendered. On July 1st victory at Dorylaeum broke Turkish resistance in Asia
Minor. Nine months of siege followed at the walls of Antioch in northern Syria. Finally
the city was delivered by treason to Bohemund. As soon as the Crusaders entered the city
a new Turkish army under Karbuqa, Atabeg of Mozul arrived too late. The former
besiegers were now themselves besieged. Having entered a city bereft of all supplies
thanks to themselves they had no choice but to exit and do battle. Surrounded by hostile
enemies and far from home and with no hope of recruiting new troops or being aided by
fresh troops from home or allies, the Crusaders fought desperately. At last on June 28th
1098 they overpowered the Turks in the most decisive victory of the First Crusade.
During the next year the generals plundered and carved up their conquests. Baldwin
I seized Edessa in upper Mesopotamia. Bohemund against the protests of Alexius and
Raymond kept Antioch. Raymond took Tripoli. The Papal Legate accompanying the
Crusade, Adhemar of Le Puy died at Antioch and Jerusalem was conveniently forgotten.
Finally word arrived from the Pope in effect saying, "Hey, you guys, what about
capturing Jerusalem? Isn't that what its all about?"
A year of rest and relaxation (read plunder and looting) seemed enouph after their
harrowing experience at Antioch. They were by now feared and experienced warriors
and their bloodlust was up again. They regrouped and marched toward Jerusalem which
they first sighted June 7th 1099. Having planed to build siege machinery from local trees,
their engineers were shocked to discover that unlike the European countryside, the Holy
Land had had no trees for over a thousand years. The Romans had destroyed them. No
water was also an unwelcome surprise. A Genoese fleet arrived at the port of Jaffa and
supplied the by now flummoxed Crusaders with enouph wood to lay siege to the Holy
City. On July 15th the soldiers burst into the gates of Jerusalem and vented all their pent
up fury on the defenseless inhabitants. The vast majority of the population, Jew, Turk,
and Arab, was massacred in eight days of frenzied blood-letting. The few survivors were
sold into slavery or forced to rebuild the city's fortifications.
Godfrey became ruler, choosing for himself the title, "Protector of the Holy
Sepulcher" but was succeeded a year later by his brother Baldwin I who named himself
King. He reigned until 1118. Thus ended the First Crusade with the massacre of tens of
thousands of innocent Jews in Europe, the death of thousands of Turkish, Arab, and
Christian soldiers, and the slaughter of about 7000 Jews, Arabs and Turks in Jerusalem.
The church publicized the conquest of Jerusalem as 'proof' of the superiority and truth
of Christianity. They were to enjoy their victory for less than ninety years. By 1187
Jerusalem was lost to them forever.
The Second and Third Crusades
Almost as soon as the Crusaders established the kingdom of Jerusalem in the Holy
Land, they began to lose it. The vast majority of soldiers returned home to their families,
heroic victors, their booty sacks full of gold, gems, and miscellaneous plunder. This of
course left their conquered territories highly vulnerable.
The Arabs in effect relinquished and forgot Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Jerusalem was not mentioned in their Koran and anyway they had not fought for it in the
first place (it had been given by the Byzantine Patriarch Sophronios to Omar, leader of
the Omayyad Dynasty in 638), nor had they fought for it against the Crusaders, (after a
month of siege the Crusaders had found no resistance).
But the Turks began a long, sustained, powerful, and eventually successful offensive
against the invaders.
In 1144, Zangi, Atabeg of Mosul, attacked and recaptured Edessa, destroying the
major Crusader principality.
The new church authorities and kings realized that the rest of their conquests would
soon follow including Jerusalem and in 1145 Pope Eugenius III declared the Second
Crusade. Louis II of France and Conrad III of Germany mustered their troops and
traveled overland to Constantinople.
Rather than leave his young queen Eleanor of Aquitaine at home where she was not
to be trusted, Louis brought her along with. This caused an almost constant distraction to
Louis as scandal followed scandal. The promiscuous queen and her entourage were
delighted to be surrounded by so many young, fit, fighting Frenchmen, and did much to
instill a sense of purpose in her husband's troops. Unfortunately for Louis it was not the
purpose he intended.
The breakdown in discipline in the French ranks caused constant friction with the
German troops. That and the fact that the new recruits had little or no battle experience
made for a rather ineffective army.
The soldiers fearing the might of the Turkish power at Edessa turned instead to
Damascus which had been sympathetic to the Latin cause. This political blunder slowed
the Crusaders progress and strengthened the Turks, the only serious contender for the
continent.
In 1153 The Crusaders attacked Egypt and by 1168 Cairo was under siege.
Zangi's son and successor as Atabeg of Mosul was Nur al-Din who continued the war
against the Crusaders and allied Egypt as well. Nur al-Din's lieutenant in Egypt was the
famous Saladin (Salah-al-Din ibn Ayyub) who was of Kurdish blood. He became ruler
of Egypt in 1174 and later succeeded Nur al-Din. Saladin gained support of numerous
allies in the adjacent regions and led a unified front, the first ever assembled, against the
Crusaders. Not only were the Crusaders never able to enter Cairo, but they were now on
the defensive.
In 1182 Saladin attacked the Crusaders and the hunters now became the hunted. In
1187 he amassed an army of 12,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers. They left Egypt
and marched toward the Holy Land. The Crusaders were smashed in one battle after
another as the army approached Jerusalem and on September 17th, 1187 Jerusalem fell
to Saladin.
Unlike the Crusaders, who had never allowed even a token Jewish presence in
Jerusalem, Saladin who had been impressed with the noble behavior of the Jewish
community in his native Cairo and who was on cordial terms with their leaders, allowed
the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Also unlike the "Christian" Crusaders, Saladin also
allowed the Crusader's prisoners of war to buy their own freedom which they did, after
which they returned to Europe or other places which still maintained Crusader presence
such as Antioch and Tyre. He also allowed Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem. But since
Christian pilgrimages had been allowed before the First Crusade, the Christian world
was now back where it had started one hundred years before!
The failure of the Crusades in general and the murder of so many Jews during the
First Crusade in particular shocked the world. While there had been numerous pogroms,
blood libels, expulsions, and massacres prior to the First Crusade, this had been the
greatest number of civilian deaths in Diaspora history. It would not be superseded as the
greatest single massacre of Jews until the Spanish Pogroms of 1391 (50,000 dead), which
would remain the worst blood bath in Jewish history until the Chmielnicki Cossack
massacres in Ukraine and Poland in 1648 and 1649 (300,000 mercilessly slaughtered),
which itself would not be superseded until the German Holocaust of 1939 to 1945
(6,000,000 tortured, starved, gassed, and shot to death).
One of the leaders of the Second Crusade was Bernard of Clairvoux, a Cistercian
monk. He declared that the target of the Crusades from now on must be non-christen
control of the Holy Land in particular, and not non-christens in general, including Jews.
The lives of the thousands of Jews who had survived the First Crusade or returned to, or
settled in, or were born in France and Germany since then, were hinging upon his words.
The wide scale murders of the First Crusade were thus not repeated, but the
precedent of guiltless persecutions set a dangerous precedent which was to hound the
people of the book for the next ten centuries.
In 1146 a mob forced their way into the house of the leader of western European
Jewry's home, Rabbi Yacov ben Meir, the Rabbeinu Tam. A grandson of Rashi,
Rabbeinu Tam was head of the Academy at Ramerupt France where the most illustrious
scholars of the world flocked to hear his penetrating discourses. With his encyclopedic
knowledge he was able to examine any verse in scripture or legal enactment in the
Talmud and compare it to any other verse or law and resolve any apparent contradiction.
No subject was off limits, no question too basic or complex, his teachings and
methodology were the basis of the Tosafos commentary on the Talmud which today is
published in all modern editions.
His secular knowledge and financial expertise as a wine merchant and financier
brought him in contact with all of the most influential nobles and royalty of his day, all of
whom admired him greatly. His large staff of Jewish and non-Jewish workers, his large
family, and his refined manor was the target of the rampaging hordes on their way to the
Second Crusades. His home was looted, his Torah scroll and library desecrated, and he
himself was taken outside to be hacked to death. After five chops to the head a prominent
nobleman miraculously happened by and was drawn to the commotion. He recognized
the Rabbenu Tam and at a risk to his own life mollified the crowd and administered
medical attention saving the sage's life. But Rabbenu Tam and French Jewry's troubles
were far from over. The Jews' role as scapegoat had been firmly established by the
Crusaders. In 1171 the community of Bloise was massacred in a baseless blood libel claim,
and in 1182 the Jews of Paris and Ile de France were expelled by King Philip II, who then
confiscated their property, again as a result of a baseless blood libel.
The Church's response to the loss of Jerusalem was to call for a third Crusade. This
most international Crusade was spearheaded by Richard I of England, the first English
king to join the Crusades, an indication of England's growing wealth and power. With
him were Philip II Augustus of France and Frederick I Barbarossa of Germany. By 1191
one hundred thousand troops were on the march. On June 10th 1191 Frederick was
crossing a river near Tarsus in Asia Minor. The king fell from his horse into the raging
waters and cried out to the heavens, "Save me, lord, I am after all a servant of the
church!"
After the drowning of their leader the German army disbanded and returned home.
The French and English marched on and after a short pause on the part of Richard to
capture Cyprus, the two armies met in the land of Israel at Acre.
Saladin's forced were up to the task and bitter battles raged, some won by the
christens including Richard's decisive victory against Saladin at Arsuf (1191), some won
by the Moslems. Philip pleading illness left Richard to finish the task alone. Richard, left
with a fraction of the number with whom which he had started, realized that Jerusalem
was beyond his grasp. In 1192 he fell ill. That and the fact that his crown was being
usurped back home by his younger brother John, convinced him that he must return to
England at once. In a last ditch effort to save face he offered Saladin a peace treaty.
Saladin agreed to allow Christians, unarmed and in small groups, visitation rights to
Jerusalem, which they had of course had before the Crusades began.
When Richard returned to England all was not well. Born in 1157 to Henry II and
Eleanor of Aquitaine, he was made Duke of Aquitaine at age 15 in 1172 by his father the
king. A year later he showed his appreciation by joining his mother and brothers Henry
and John in a rebellion against his father. During the next 16 years he was at war against
his father and his older brother Prince Henry. His rivals were shocked when in order to
strengthen himself against them, he allied himself with the French king Philip II.
Richard's two older brothers died under mysterious circumstances and Richard
ascended the throne in 1189 at 32 years of age. He immediately broke treaty with France
and prepared for war against Philip but the Second Crusade ironically allied them.
Philip would get his revenge for Richard's treachery by abandoning him in the Holy
Land. Richard never forgot his old rival and later launched a campaign against him but
Philip would have the last laugh.
Of his ten year reign until his death in 1199 Richard spent only six months in England.
Every opportunity to fight was taken up at any cost. His country was no more than a
treasure chest to be rifled through to pay for his foreign exploits. To finance the Third
Crusade he sold everything he could including suzerainty (political control) over
Scotland which his father had exacted.
His need for an unlimited expense account put him in close contact with the Jews of
England, relative new-comers who had crossed the English Channel after the Norman
Conquest (1066) and still held close contact with the wealthy Jews of France. The English
Jews showed their own prowess at finance and Richard admired and consulted them,
and borrowed from, taxed and protected them in a symbiotic relationship. When the
celebrations at his coronation at Westminster Hall in London went out of control, and a
pogrom against the Jews ensued, Richard quickly took measures to protect them. A
number of Jews were killed and their homes looted and Richard took steps to punish the
perpetrators.
Shortly after his coronation (1189) Richard was off to the Crusades (1191). A year
later it became obvious that the cause was lost and he was on his way home.
While crossing the European continent he was captured by an old rival, Leopold of
Austria, who turned him over to Henry VI, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire which at
that time included Germany, Northern Italy, parts of southern Italy, and the Kingdom of
Burgundy. (Richard got the last laugh when Henry VI was preparing for a later crusade
of his own in 1197 in Sicily and suddenly caught cold and died).
The ransom paid for Richard's release was borrowed from English Jews.
When Richard returned to England he was shocked to discover that not only had his
brother John laid claim to the throne (the Robin Hood legend takes place at this point)
but his Jewish subjects had been mercilessly persecuted in his absence including the Jews
of York the entire community of which had perished.
Richard summarily forced John to submit and then proceeded to compensate the Jews.
Richard instituted a system in which an official registry of Jewish loans was kept in each
of the larger English towns. In White hall an 'Exchequer of the Jews' was hired to
organize the offices, keep records dealings in twenty-six towns, and collect the king's
share of the interest. He also set up the appointment of a Jewish Archpresbyter, held by a
leading member of the Jewish community. The Archpresbyter served as liaison between
the palace and the Jews in England.
A few weeks after his return to England, Richard crossed the English Channel to
protect his interests in France. He had inherited large sections of Western France from
his father, and his old rival Philip was trying to annex them. While laying siege to Chalus
on April 6th 1199 a stray arrow cut him down and at 42 years of age the "Lion Hearted"
breathed his last.
He was succeeded by his younger brother John who proved to be the most
tyrannical, cruel and incompetent of England's kings and who's first act of treachery was
to murder his 12 year old nephew Arthur of Brittany who was a rival claimant to his
French possessions. In 1290 the Jews were expelled from England by Edward
(Longshanks) the First, and the expulsion order was not rescinded until 1656 by Oliver
Cromwell.
The Forth Crusade
The military and political disaster known as the Forth Crusade had an enormous impact
on the church and the direction and face of Christianity.
By now Crusading was becoming a popular way of uniting forces under your banner
for the kings and popes, and a sort of fun way to get away from the cold boring poverty of
Europe for the peasants. Crusaders returned home as heroes with bags of booty,
fascinating stories of exotic lands. They could now take up positions of power in their
local principalities and marry into the better (read wealthier) families. If you hadn't been
out Crusading you were branded coward or worse, a heretic. The fact that Jerusalem
was in the hands of infidels and the risk of life did nothing to dampen the spirits of the
training hopefuls. The fact that the infidels were more educated, sophisticated and polite
than the Christians didn't seem to dampen anyone's resolve. The masses must be
converted to Christianity in order to save them and ourselves whether they liked it or not.
The fact that non of the conquered peoples had converted to Christianity was their fault
not ours. We were doing our part, now it was up to them to see the light.
Life in medieval Europe was to short and anyway too dangerous to worry about
such possibilities as getting killed or sold into slavery. So you could either stay in Europe
working on the farm and probably die of some illness or you could go off and kill and
plunder and travel. And gain indulgences for a free ticket to heaven to boot. Most people
opted for the latter.
In 1203 Pope Innocent III called for a new Crusade and another large group of
Crusaders set out for the Holy Land ostensibly to recapture Jerusalem. Unable to pay
their ticket to the Venetian sailors the Crusaders agreed that in return for transport to
Egypt they would capture the Christian city of Zara on the Dalmatian coast in
Yugoslavia. Dalmatia had been part of the Roman province of Illyria but was overrun
and depopulated in the 5th century CE by the Ostrogoths, then acquired in the 6th
century by Byzantium. The original population was assimilated by the Slavs migrating
into Dalmatia in the 7th century. Between the 9th and 12th centuries Venice wrested the
coastal areas from Byzantium.
When the Pope heard that the Crusaders had captured Dalmatia and handed it over
to his rivals in Venice he was furious. Outraged at their treachery he excommunicated
his own soldiers. But if he thought this would stop them from continuing on to
somewhere they could conquer for their own, he was sadly mistaken. They continued on
to Egypt. At Corfu the disposed Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelus asked their help in
recovering his father's throne. The leaders of the Crusades Boniface III of Montferrat
and Philip of Swabia agreed. Philip was also related to the deposed Isaac by marriage. In
1203 Isaac was restored as Emperor in Constantinople but died soon
after. .
Who would be the next Emperor was hotly contested and in 1204 in the midst of the
flared tempers and confusion the Crusaders attacked, captured, and sacked
Constantinople. The plunder and massacres that followed on the capital of the Christian
Greek Orthodox ended any hope of reconciling the Latin and Greek church authorities.
The Crusaders forgot about Jerusalem and instead shamelessly partitioned the
Greek empire. It was thus that the crusading idea was finally discredited
Excommunicated soldiers, slaughter of innocent civilians, abuse of indulgences, military
failure, and finally the destruction of a Christian city. The axioms of Christianity were
questioned. What happened to our divine protection? What happened to the infallibility
of the Pope? If our mission was to enlighten the infidels why did they seem more
enlightened than we? How could so many Crusaders have fallen to the infidel's sword, so
many be sold into slavery if they were blessed by the church and the pope? Why was the
church's blessing ignored? If the Crusades were blessed and sanctioned by the church
how could so many Christians fall in Constantinople at the hands of other Christians?
Until now the church had succeeded in recruiting new members of the faith by
offering prospective members tickets to heaven, and by tempting them with material
rewards such as joining the holy battles. The direction of the church would slowly change
after the Forth Crusades. The clergy would now be forced to threaten eternal hell fire for
heretics and non-believers. Their was no longer much to offer materially, so the
authority was forced to use fear. At the same time the image of Jesus as an appealing
mighty sword wielding victorious warrior would have to change since the troops had
failed so dismally. Jesus would from now on have to represent a loving father figure who
loved his flock when no one else could. After the Forth Crusade, the image of Jesus in art
and literature would change from strong and tough to gentle and mild. The victim with
whom you could identify.
The conflict and enmity, between the Eastern Greek Church based in Constantinople
(recaptured by the Greeks in 1266) and the Latin Church based in Rome was never
resolved, and the masses discontent with the excesses of the Popes and clergy severely
diminished the church's authority and eventually led to the violence of the 30 Years War
and the Reformation.
Later Crusades and the Children's Crusade
The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Crusades, collectively known as the "Later
Crusades" or often as the "Other Crusades" or sometimes just as the "Stupid Crusades"
took place between 1212 and 1272. The Moslems continued their assault against the
invaders and by 1290 all the major Crusader enclaves but one were abandoned, the
exception being the Fortress at Arwad on the Lebanese coast which also fell in 1302.
The catastrophic failure of the Forth Crusade, especially after the legendary heroism
and accomplishments of the earlier crusaders (which had by then already been glorified,
legendized, and sugar-coated, a trend which continued to modern times), shook the
medieval Europeans to the core. In order to reclaim some of their hurt pride they
decided to give it another shot.
In 1212 the disillusioned peasants decided that the Crusading idea was a good one but
that the sinful behavior of the Popes and soldiers had spoiled their chances by forfeiting
their blessings. They had lost Divine assistance thanks to their tendency to murder,
plunder, rape, and torture their victims, instead of just heading straight to Jerusalem
and claiming it for themselves and allowing the infidels to come to the realization of the
truth of their purpose and be converted on their own. Only the sinless pure of heart could
succeed. A French shepherd boy Stephen of Vendome preached a "Children's Crusade"
a crusade led and carried out by the only available 'pure of heart' the children of Europe.
He and his friends marched southward through France with no real plan of action,
hoping to be guided by Jesus. They were joined by other children along the way and the
entire project gained wide attention and sympathy. The hope and hearts of all Europe
were with the scruffy band of preadolescents on their way to Jerusalem and those they
met along the way fed and encouraged them, many donating one or more of their own
children to the cause until their numbers swelled to tens of thousands.
They reached the Mediterranean coast at Marseilles where they expected the
waters to divide before them as it had for the ancient Israelites. Instead they were greeted
by a fleet of pirates who captured them, brought them to Egypt and sold them into
slavery. They never saw their parents again.
Taking a lesson from this debacle, a group of German children soon afterwards
decided to have a "Children's Crusade" of their own. Led by Nicholas of Cologne they
moved down into Italy where they eventually met up with the Pope. Innocent III took
one look at the pitiful 'army' and with the recent French disaster fresh in mind told them
to all go home.
In the words of noted historian David Herlihy (Bryn Mawr College), "These pathetic
efforts by children to free the Holy Land highlighted the growing reluctance of adults to
participate in the crusades and illustrated the considerable and general decline in
Europe of crusading fervor."
The Fifth Crusade (1218) struck at Egypt, failed, and didn't even attempt to take
Jerusalem.
In 1228 the Sixth crusade was on led by Frederick II of Germany. A political
opponent of the pope, the church tried to dissuade him and finally ordered him to stop.
When he ignored their orders the pope excommunicated him. In spite of these political
setbacks in 1229 he actually succeeded in leading an army to the Holy Land and,
preferring to chat than fight, managed to negotiate a settlement to the Pope's surprise
and chagrin. This further weakened the Pope's authority and power. The little he could
do, that is to threaten then finally to excommunicate an opponent, had little or no effect.
The Crusades had set out to strengthen the church and had at last weakened it.
The settlement which Fred had obtained included free access for pilgrims to
Jerusalem and the right to garrison certain fortresses in the city. However rebellion at
home forced him to return to Germany and by 1244 the last of his troops were on the
march back to Germany. Jerusalem was Crusader-free again.
The last two Crusades were led by Louis the Ninth of France, infamous in Jewish
history as being the one who ordered all copies of the Talmud burned before the
Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Furious at his own inability to vanquish his religious
opponents through logical means, debate, or rhetoric, he destroyed twenty-four
wagon-loads of Talmud and Rabbinical literature, all in manuscript form, precipitating
the end of the illustrious Tosafos academy. His book burnings won him acclaim by the
church and he was later canonized by the church authority. The American city St. Louis
is named after him.
In 1249 he led the Seventh Crusade, traveled with his army by sea, landing in
Cyprus and continuing on to Mansura in Egypt where in 1250 his army was routed by
the Mameluke forces. Louis was captured and had to be ransomed. He was released after
giving his solemn oath never to lead another crusade. The fortress where he was
imprisoned still stands.
In 1270 Louis led another crusade. In this Eighth and final crusade he sailed with his
army due south from southern France directly to the ancient city of Tunis (in modern
Tunisia) in North Africa. While laying siege outside the walls of Tunis there was an
outbreak of plague. Louis succumbed and died on August 25th.
By now the futility of the Crusades was obvious to even the most stubborn. In 1302
their last outpost was evacuated. The Crusades were over.
The Spanish Inquisition and the Disputation
With the establishment by the Christian popes of the Inquisition the war against
heretics was on. The Inquisition may have started in the hope of enlightening the
ignorant and protecting the vulnerable, but it soon decayed into a violent, malignant
form of heresy itself. When it became established that the possessions of those sentenced
to death would be confiscated by the church, government, or Inquisitors, the forces of
avarice completely corrupted and consumed an already abused and abusive system of
authority.
If the inquisitors thought that their victims would renounce their erroneous
theological beliefs as a result of their penal methods they were diluting only themselves,
and most likely deliberately at that. During, for example the notorious heyday of The
Spanish Inquisition it was not uncommon for a man or woman to be asked, while in the
process of being tortured to death, whether he would not now accept the religion of the
one doing the torturing. It became clear that the Inquisitors were less interested in the
welfare of the accused in particular, or the community in general, than with their own
sadistic hunger.
The Spanish Inquisition was a relative late-comer to the European scene, following
on the heals of the French and Germans and Italians. The public burning of heretics by
Christian kings or clergy was known as far back as 1022 when King Robert of France
publicly burned 13 heretics in the name of "Public Welfare". Emperor Henry III burned
approximately ten in his domain between the years 1051 and 1052. These executions
kicked off a series of mob lynchings of those accused of heresy. The need became
apparent for more legal ways of dealing with heretics. Frederick Barbarossa's Verona
decree of 1184 prescribed penalties of exile, confiscation of property, demolition of
houses, and loss of personal rights. Pedro II of Aragon decreed in 1197 banishment.
Emperor Frederick III enacted the death penalty for heresy.
Pope Innocent III in 1215 instructed bishops in methods of determining guilt. The
agents of the Inquisition were Dominican friars, Franciscans or local clergy. Those
denounced by informers were placed on trial. Trials were secret. The inquisitors were
both prosecutors and judges, the accused had no right to counsel. or rights to call defense
witnesses
In 1252 Pope Innocent IV authorized the use of torture to extract confessions.
Thus the main elements of the Inquisition were in place. Trials of those suspected or
accused, and confessions exacted after torture and finally punishment.
Those found guilty were burned at the stake. The inquisitors themselves did not
execute anyone. Secular authorities carried out the sentences. The Inquisitors enjoyed a
wide discretion in imposing sentence. The Dominican, Robert le Bougre, within one week
judged and caused to be burned 183 people. He was later imprisoned for life for his
fanaticism.
Bernard Gui found 930 people guilty between 1308 and 1323. Of these 89 were
already dead, 42 were executed, 307 were given long prison terms, and the rest were
given other punishments.
Innocent III theorized that heresy was the equivalent to treason against G-d, and
should be dealt with as severely as treason against civil authorities.
But it was the confiscation of heretics property which offered an incentive to
unscrupulous rulers and was a source of abuse . It also explains the trials of dead men.
The Pope sometimes gave authority to local tribunals, as in the case of Joan of Arc,
burned to death by the Bishop of Beauvais. Spain did not catch up until the 14th century.
By the 15th century they were leading the way. In 1480 King Ferdnand of Aragon
nationalized and authorized the notorious Spanish Inquisition which was beyond the
control of the Pope.
From 711 to 1100 Jewish life flourished in Moslem Spain. The Jewish community
was very ancient dating back to the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans.
When Roman Catholicism became dominant in the sixth and seventh centuries the
situation for the Jews deteriorated rapidly. But in 711 the Arabs of North Africa or
'Moors' crossed into Spain from the Straits of Gibraltar in the South and by 715 most of
Spain was under Moslem rule. The Moors were tolerant of the Jews, even granting them
limited autonomy and for the next four centuries the "Golden Age of Spanish Jewry"
gave us such illustrious scholars, poets, statesmen, philosophers, and scientists as Shmuel
HaNagid and Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides).
When the Christian Reconquest of Spain began the Jewish community was at its
zenith. Toward the beginning of the Reconquest the Jews were more often than not put to
the sword. They were not easily distinguished from their Moorish neighbors, the
Christian's enemies, and they were treated in a similar fashion. From the tenth century
however this situation began to change. It was realized that the Jews constituted an
important minority and that their success and support was beneficial to the conquering
forces' tenuous hold on their recently acquired lands.
They were physicians, financiers, diplomats, and interpreters.
Alfonso X of Castile captured Toledo in 1085 and in 1212 at the battle of Las Navas
de Tolosa the Moor's power was finally crushed. The last hope of a permanent Moslem
Spain was ended. The Moors maintained control over Granada in the south for a few
more years and thus ended the Reconquest for the Christians. By now there were
hundreds of thousands of wealthy, flourishing Jews all over Spain in all sections of
society, from government to pest control.
The threat of the Moors diminished and importance of placating the Jews diminished
with it. When a struggle for the throne took place between Pedro the Cruel and his
half-brother Henry II of Trastamara, the Jews were caught in the middle. When Henry
was at last made king he began to enforce hitherto ignored anti-Jewish legislation
including the wearing of the Jewish badge of shame.
In October 1390, Juan I of Castile died and was succeeded by his son Henry II
(1390-1406). Being less than one year old at the time, administration fell to the Queen
Mother, Leonora. Her confessor was Ferrand Martinez, Archdeacon of Ecija, a rabid
anti-Semite. His constant demands to tear down synagogues and expel Jews from
townships, which could be ignored by the previous king, could no longer be silenced. His
message spread to all of Spain and was preached by other clerics as well. The Spaniards
began to view their Jewish neighbors with whom they had coexisted peacefully since the
eighth century, with distrust. Distrust turned soon enouph to jealousy and loathing.
On Ash Wednesday, March 15th, 1391 Martinez instigated a crowd which broke
into the Jewish quarter bent on destruction. The authorities were able to arrest the
vanguard marauders and the crowd backed off in frustration. But on June 9th the mobs
bloodlust was up again and this time they could no longer be stopped. A pogrom ensued
in the Jewish neighborhood And four thousand victims were slaughtered. The killing
spree spread to all of Spain. In Cordova the large Jewish community was destroyed and
the thousands of affluent Jews of Toledo were massacred. Seventy towns in Castile saw
pogroms and the ancient community of Barcelona was decimated. In Valencia, and
Palma the destruction was total. The death toll was over fifty thousand.
While the destruction of Jewish communities was not a new phenomena, especially
coming so soon on the heals of the Crusade massacres, the results of
this particular destruction was entirely different. The surviving Jews of the Crusade
massacres were strengthened in their faith, their revulsion of the Christian ideal total.
Most of the hundreds of thousands of surviving Spanish Jews however reacted however
by becoming 'crypto-Jews', Jews who accepted Christianity publicly in order to save
their lives, but who practiced Judaism in secret.
However if they thought that ostensibly accepting Christianity would solve their
problems they were sadly mistaken. The church did not profess to authority over Jewish
citizens in its domain, but it held total authority over Christians in its domain. Thus as
soon as a person was baptized his spiritual welfare was now legally in the hands of the
church. Therefore, if he was discovered to be acting not in accordance with the rules of
the church by say, practicing Jewish rituals, he could then be considered a heretic and
burned at the stake. A Jew could not be burned for acting Jewish, that was his religion.
He could perhaps be burned for proselytizing and converting Christians to Judaism, a
very real danger. But if a Christian was known to be acting Jewish or 'Judaising' in any
way whatever, it was the churches responsibility to have him punished for heresy.
The church, delighted at first at the wholesale conversions of Jews in their land, soon
began to realize that they now had a much worse problem than before.
The converts or "conversios" had been converted under duress. Such a conversion is
seldom sincere, but the converts must now be treated as any other Christian, with all the
rights and privileges that entailed. If a Jew was forbidden from certain occupations, or
from marrying certain people, the convert was not. If a Jew was forced to pay a special
tax or wear a special badge, the convert was not.
Before the mass conversions the church was able to recognize the strangers in their
midst and take steps to confine and weaken them. It soon became obvious that the
converts were not sincere at all and now their society was replete with, not infidels
outside, but heretic inside. Heretics everywhere, in all walks of life, in all parts of the
country, in each city and town, neighborhood and building, in all professions from
government to artisan, from physicians to clergy, yes clergy, and they were coming for
you next.
The Spaniard became confused and paranoid. Why doesn't the boss eat pig? Why
does the governor's wife instruct the maid to change the linen each Friday? Where do the
merchants disappear to on Friday nights? Why do the chandler's children have biblical
names? The conversos for their part became expert at hiding their true religion in order
not to be caught, the results of which could mean being burned to death in public. Large
cellars were refurbished in affluent homes as synagogues. Passover seders were held in
secret. People stopped eating bread all year long in order to not attract suspicion by
refraining on Passover. Conductors instructed musicians to blow shofars at public
concerts on Rosh Hashanah as part of the orchestra.
It became increasingly clear that to force such a multitude into accepting baptism
under duress had been a mistake. They had never had any intention on faithfully
adhering to Christianity. They had intended on remaining Jewish from the outset. Yet to
allow the conversos, by now disdainfully known to the Spaniards as "marranoes" (from
the Spanish for 'swine'), or to the faithful Jews as "anusim" (from the Hebrew for
'forced') to return to the faith of their fathers was out of the question. Firstly, they had
been baptized, an irreversible process, and secondly, if the church admitted they were
wrong about this it would cast doubt on the fundamentals of Christianity in its entirety.
Before the Jews had converted it could be argued that once they get a taste of the true
religion they would see the error of their ways. Now however it seemed that the more
Christianity they got the less they wanted. This coming on the heals of the famous
'Disputation' would surely weaken Christianity, perhaps even causing it to revert back to
the local cult it had started off as. The Popes and Bishops stood to lose all their wealth
and power.
The 'Disputation' was a public debate in Barcelona under the auspices of the King
James I of Aragon in 1263 between the illustrious scholar Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe
ben Nachman a.k.a. the Ramban -not to be confused with the earlier Rabbi Moshe ben
Maimon, Maimonides, the Rambam), and Pablo Chrisanti, an apostate friar. Chrisanti
was a powerful and influential orator. He convinced the Church authority that he could
win the debate, a great victory in its own right for him.
His opponent Nachmanides was a local hero, leader of the Jewish community, Rabbi
of Barcelona, and head of the talmudic academy at Gerona, and a true renaissance man,
centuries before the term even existed. An expert in many areas of Jewish and secular
learning, he was a physician, linguist, talmudist, and kabbalist. His Biblical commentary
remains one of the most popular in yeshivoth to this day, and his legal 'milchmeth
Hashem' are printed in most volumes of Talmud.
Before the debate began the Rabbi insisted that he be able to speak his mind freely,
and not be forbidden to answer or asked as he pleased. This seemingly obvious and
fundamental right was considered radical in its time. There had been debates of this
nature before but the church always insisted that the Jewish protagonists be forbidden to
bring up certain subjects, forbidden to utter what they considered blasphemy, forbidden
to attack the Christian religion or the Christian savior. It was often futile to debate under
these circumstances, the results decided before the debate began, it having only been an
excuse for more persecutions, an excuse to be able to say, 'we beat you in a debate."
King James promised the Ramban, whom he greatly admired, that the debate would
be fair and equal and he was as good as his word. The brilliant scholar immediately took
an offensive position, the friar unable to defend himself against the onslaught. Instead of
being able to answer the Ramban's questions his responses consisted mostly of saying
that to ask such questions were blasphemy.
The Rambam pointed out that Jesus was rejected by all but a small handful of the
Jewish nation in his time. In the biblical descriptions of messiah it is written, "Out of you
shall one come forth unto Me, to be a ruler in Israel (Michah 5:1). Jesus was never a king,
never accepted as ruler in Israel. If he wasn't accept in his time why should he be
accepted thousands of years later?
The friar's response to this was to point out that to ask such questions about the savior
constituted blasphemy and that the Rabbi should be punished (Ramban was in fact later
fined by the Dominicans).
The scripture went on to say, the Rabbi argued, that messiah shall bring peace to the
world as in, "there shall then be peace"(Michah 5:4), and, "they shall beat their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more," (Isaiah 2:4) and, "how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the
messenger who announces peace" (Isaiah 52:7). Not only had Jesus not brought peace,
but his followers had waged more war than any other peoples in history, with wars going
on non-stop from the time of Jesus until then (and until today).
Furthermore the belief in the 'trinity', a three part god, was contradictory to the
Jewish concept of One G-d, as in "Hear oh Israel, the Etern-al our G-d, the Etern-al is
One (Deuteronomy 6:4). The worship of a three part god was an improvement for
Christians who prior to this worshipped many gods, but for a Jew a three part god
constituted idolatry. The Christian belief in the trinity as in, "baptize them in the name
of the father, the son, and the holy ghost"(Matthew 28:19), and in the belief that Jesus
was also god, as in "I and the father are one" (John 10:30) contradicted Jewish concept
of one G-d as in, "Know this day and place it upon your heart, the Etern-al is G-d, in the
heavens above and on the earth below, there is none other" (Deuteronomy 4:13).
But Jesus performed miracles, argued the friar.
He was answered that even if that was true, G-d warned us about this in the Bible,
"If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer, and he gives you a sign or a miracle,
and the sign or miracle comes to pass, and he calls on you , saying, Let us go after other
gods, whom you have not known, and let us worship them. You shall not listen to that
prophet or dreamer. For G-d is testing you , to see whether you love the Etern-al you G-d
with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 13:2).
In fact, he went on, how do we know that any miracles were in fact performed? If
Jesus wanted his teachings to be known why didn't he perform miracles in public for all
to see? Why only for a small handful of disciples? This in contrast to Moses who
performed miracles for the entire nation, such as the splitting of the Red Sea, and the ten
plagues of Egypt. When G-d revealed himself on Mt. Sinai he did it for the entire nation
of Israel. Thus it can be proven logically that the words of Moses and the Torah were
truth. How could Moses convince his people to accept the Torah which clearly states
these events happened before the entire nation, had they not happened? The people
would not have accepted it, saying, "hey, it says we saw these events, but we never saw
them." They accepted it because they saw it. But Jesus asked to be accepted for
performing miracles which no one saw. Why didn't he perform them in public? The
Torah had been given to the multitudes. If it were to now be abrogated as the Christians
said it was, why wasn't it revealed to the multitudes?
The debate took place on four days between the 20th and 31st of July 1263.
Meanwhile the local populous was infuriated at the sound thrashing that their champion
was receiving. The unrest threatened to get out of control. The Ramban was meanwhile
receiving death threats yet refused to discontinue. Finally in order to maintain order the
king ordered the proceeding to be temporarily halted.
When it became clear that the Rabbi had decisively won the debate yet had only
just gotten warmed up and intended to bring out the big guns for the next stage, the friar
agreed to discontinue. The King awarded the Ramban with 300 gold pieces for his
trouble, and stated, " I have never seen any one who, in spite of not being a legal advocate,
could make so excellent a presentation of his position". The king then visited the
synagogue on the following Sabbath and greeted the congregation, an unprecedented
gesture.
The Ramban's book, "Sefer Havituach", or "The Book of the Debate" was a
published account of the debate. It has been translated into English and published under
the title, "The Disputation."
The church's response was to persecute the Ramban and his family mercilessly, and
to fine him for blasphemy. The Ramban moved to Jerusalem where he rejuvenated the
Jewish community there. He built a yeshiva and synagogue there and the building which
housed it stood until 1948 when it was destroyed by the Jordanian army. In 1967 after
the Israeli forces captured the old city of Jerusalem they rebuilt the synagogue where it is
in constant use to this day. I daven there myself often.
The church's response to the aftermath of the Disputation, that is when finding itself
in a defensive position was to redouble its efforts on a offensive front, was the same at the
establishment of the inquisition.
The conversoes were threatening the stability of the church authority. They were
raising embarrassing questions about christen dogma. They weren't behaving as was
expected of those who had been exposed to Christianity. Having experienced both
Judaism and Christianity, how could they now revert back to their Jewish ways? They
had to be stopped.
On March 18th, 1478 a young Spaniard escorted home a beautiful young converso girl
with whom he had become infatuated. Upon entering her father's exquisite residence he
was surprised to find a gathering of Jews and conversoes for what purpose he could not
imagine. As he knew nothing about the ritual of Passover Seder which was taking place
he immediately assumed, evidenced by the look of shock and surprise on the faces of the
participants at the sight of him, that they had gathered to blaspheme the savior, it
concurring with the Christian holiday of Holy Week. The youth fled, convinced that they
would soon murder him and use his blood for ritual purposes as he had been taught by
his beloved bishop.
When the news reached the king and queen they instructed the ambassadors to
the pope to immediately grant permission to set up an inquisition. Pope Sextus granted
authority to appoint three bishops with complete jurisdiction over heretics and their
accomplices. The red tape involved and the reluctance of the pope to relegate some of his
authority delayed matters at first, but at the earliest possible moment the inquisition had
completed its legal proceedings and began its pious activities. On February 6th, 1481 the
first group of conversoes were found guilty of heresy and the accused, six men and
women, were burned to death.
The decision to burn those sentenced to death was based on the teachings of Jesus,
"He who does not abide in me is thrown away like a withered branch. Such branches are
gathered together, cast into the fire, and burned"(John 15:6).
The inquisition accelerated its work with all speed. By November 4th, 1481 298
people had been burned and 98 condemned to life imprisonment. Not a day went by
where at least one person wasn't burnt to death in public and the screams of the victims
and their loved one's wails were echoed throughout the kingdom to the delight of the
sadistic sovereigns and their henchmen.
The inquisition's brutality became infamous and word spread to France and from
there to all parts of the globe. The pope was dismayed at the severity of the inquisition
and the bad name it was giving the church and wrote to Ferdnand and Isabella
expressing his disapproval. He was ignored which was a challenge to his authority which
was exactly what he had originally feared. It was to late to renege, popes are not known
for admitting they are wrong, especially as the 'infallibility of the pope' was axiomatic to
Christian dogma.
The tribunal at Seville soon became overloaded with work and on February 11th 1482
seven new Inquisitors were elected, among them the Dominican monk Thomas de
Torquemada, queen Isabella's fanatical confessor who later became Inquisitor General.
When Granada, the last stronghold of the moors was at last captured in 1492, ending
seven centuries of Reconquest, the last restrictions to the Spanish sovereigns fell to the
wayside. They were now in full control of Spain. War against the Moors was over. They
could devote their full attention to the war against the Jews and heretics.
On March 31 1492 Ferdnand and Isabella consented to the Church and
Torquemada's demands to sign an order expelling all the remaining Jews in Spain. The
Jews were given four months to convert or leave. July 1492 on tisha b'av the last of the
openly practicing Jews, 200,000 by number, left Spain, their home for over eight
hundred years. They were forced to abandon their property or sell it for a pittance. Vast
estates fell into the hands of their gloating neighbors. The old, and sick, the wealthiest,
and the poorest were not exempt, each took to the streets carrying his meager belongings
on his back. Thousands would die on land or on sea on their journey to find a new home.
The crypto-Jews remaining continued their charade with a sense of dread and
impending doom. New tribunals soon followed in all parts of the kingdom, including
Toledo in 1485, Barcelona in 1488, and Huesca in 1489. No one was safe regardless of his
position in society, the government or even the clergy. Informers were everywhere, the
entire country was suspect, arrests were constant. Those arrested were not informed as
to whom had denounced them, no defense council was allowed. Anyone could accuse
anyone else and remain blameless, a personal grudge, debt, or jealous love sufficient
reason for the unscrupulous to disappear his or her rival. The church found any excuse
for finding someone guilty to their advantage as the victim's property would then be
confiscated. The cupidity of the inquisitors
soon became apparent as their personal excesses and splendid living conditions became
impossible to conceal.
At Cordova the mistress of the Treasurer of the Cordova Cathedral was burnt to
death. The following year the Treasurer himself fell victim. Large numbers of friars,
nuns, and church administrators were tried and found guilty as well. Paranoia and fear
reigned supreme. It became impossible for even the most innocent to carry on with their
daily activities without constantly glancing behind their back, certain that the inquisitors
were about to pounce. Torquemada's murderous rule lasted for twelve full years.
The next Inquisitor General was Diego Deza. The hopes of the conversoes that the
terror would cease or let up was dashed when it became apparent that he was as vicious
as his predecessor. It should have come as no surprise considering that the chief
prerequisites for the job was unmitigated ruthlessness and fanaticism.
On February of 1501 a converso woman was found guilty of comforting her friends by
speaking of the immanent arrival of the messiah, who would alleviate their suffering. She
and 105 of her friends, all women, were burnt to death in two days.
Some time later, for the crime of listening to a sermon of Membreque, a Bachelor of
Divinity who was accused of presenting Jewish values in a positive light, 107 people were
burned to death. Amongst the victims of the inquisition during Deza's tenure were the
Archdeacon De Castro who's mother was of old Christian blood but who's father was a
high ranking converso. His high position in the church hierarchy could not save him nor
prevent his humongous estate from being confiscated.
Another victim was the illustrious Archbishop of Granada who had been confessor
to Isabella the Catholic. One of his early ancestors had been a converso and Deza found
that enouph to accuse him of "heresy by thought".
Meanwhile the King and Queen were hearing numerous complaints from the
military and clergy that the inquisitors were abusing their power, confiscating property
and burning victims indiscriminately, torturing victims who had not even been accused,
arresting then raping young women then threatening to accuse them of heresy for which
they would be burnt if found guilty which they would since they were also the judges and
jury, threatening even the most honorable families, frightening pedestrians, and
generally dishonoring the Christianity and Spain.
The stench of burning flesh filled the air and the death of the Archbishop was the
last straw. Ferdnand dismissed Deza. The next inquisitor General was Cardinal Ximenes
who took office in 1507. If the crypto-Jews thought that the situation would grow more
tolerable they were soon to discover that Deza had been positively mild in comparison.
During Ximenes' rule 2500 victims were burnt.
When Charles V became the next king (1516-1556) the converso community offered
him an enormous bribe to restrict the inquisitions activities but he refused. His successor,
Philip III (1598-1621) did attempt to restrict the inquisitions authority but by then it was
too late. They were a law unto themselves and feared in all circles. During the reign of the
next king, Philip IV (1621-1665) the Inquisition reached the height of its powers.
Meanwhile with the previous generations of conversoes making way for the next, a
new phenomena began to manifest. The conversoes had infiltrated in every walk of life,
every strata of society. They were often the wealthiest merchants, physicians and
professionals, and admired if not envied by all. Their high integrity, physical beauty,
talent, and social positions made them desirable matches for young availables.
Intermarriage was inevitable.
However if they thought that by marrying out their children would be less
susceptible they were in for a big surprise. When ever anyone would apply for a position
in the military, clergy, or for marriage, their lineage was clearly recorded. The populous
became obsessed with family records which were kept meticulously. Those families of
"old Christians" who were able to do so would not marry one of their daughters or sons
off to one of "one quarter converso on the father's side", or "eighth part converso on the
mother's side." A pure blood old Christian was less likely to be accused by the inquisition,
more likely to obtain a position in the military or marry into a noble or royal family.
This problem was exacerbated by the numerous shouts of people from the pyre
who's last words might be "Shma Yisroel" even after four or five generations of life as
crypto-Jews. The disgraceful example set by the Popes and Inquisitors had only
succeeded in strengthening their resolve, which remained unshaken even when their only
connection to their Jewish roots was the defiance of the hated oppressors. At his trial in
1486 Father Andre Gonzalez, a parish priest confessed that for fourteen years he had
been a Jew at heart. He was burnt to death.
Numerous families took the first opportunity to escape to other lands, to openly
proclaim their dedication to the religion of their fathers. On occasion the Inquisition
followed. They were arrested and convicted in far off Italy, England and later even the
New World including Peru, Mexico and Brazil. As late as the nineteenth century
Marranoes were being tried and sentenced to death in the Americas.
The Inquisition lasted from November 1st, 1478 to July 15th 1834 when it
Inquisition was finally abolished by Spain's Queen Mother Maria Christina.
In those years three and a half centuries 30,000 of its victims lost their lives on the pyres,
and countless others lost their lives in the prisons and torture chambers. Many others fell
victim in other ways, loosing their homes, possessions (ranging from a few meager
belongings to fabulously wealthy manors and estates), others losing their jobs or
reputations.
The Inquisition would ultimately go the same route as the Ancient Egyptians,
Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans before them. They would become extinct
while their target, the Jews would survive.
The Reformation and the Thirty Years War
The Great Schism
How did the Church go from its status as ultimate law and authority with the ability
to execute individuals, or wage war, to its present position of titular advisor? The process
took many centuries.
The separation of the Eastern Greek Church and Western Latin Church in 1054 laid
the groundwork. The Church was thus strengthening itself and weakening itself at the
same time. The two Churches had been growing apart since the third century. Their
differing religious practices, historical evolution, and cultural diversity had caused each
to view the other with suspicion and animosity, each claiming to be the "real" church. In
1053 Greek Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople published an attacked on
Latin practices and closed and desecrated Latin Chapels in his domain. The infuriated
Latin Pope Leo IX sent Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople but the Greek refused to
see him. Humbert reacted by excommunicating the Greek Patriarch on July 16th 1054.
Pope Leo concurred.
Greek Patriarch Michael Cerularius, in an attempt to reconcile their differences
and set an example of humility and compromise and mutual respect, sacrificed his own
honor and admitted that his rival the head of the Latin Church was an agent of the devil
and excommunicated Pope Leo. Both leaders refused to relent and went to their graves
"unrepentant."
The church was further weakened when the Crusaders (Forth Crusade 1203)
attacked and sacked Constantinople. The masses had never considered the Church
exemplary, nor the Church leaders noble, but these and other atrocities and immoral
acts had further weakened their esteem. But not yet their power. The church attempted
to reestablish its primacy and the authority of the Pope. However this only served to
ignite the rivalry between the Pope and the Emperor. King Philip the Fair (hair, not
share) accused Pope Boniface VIII of heresy. A pope accused by the king of France of
heresy is as credible as a warlock with a thumb-tip, egg bag, and dove pan. He was
removed from office. In his stead was placed Clement V, who for the privilege of running
the church was to remain subservient to the king.
In order to keep an eye on the pious, the king ordered the seat of the papacy moved
from Rome to the palace at Avignon in Provence in 1309. The office of the pope remained
in Provence until 1377 when the new pope, Gregory XI moved it back to Rome to remove
himself from the watchful eye of the hegemonious French. When he died in 1378 the
question of who would be the next pope was debated hotly, the Roman cardinals
demanding an Italian pope and the French cardinals demanding a French one.
Each side insisted that their candidate was superior based not so much on the
virtues he possessed but rather on the lack of virtues of his opponent. This immature
mudslinging match was taken up in turn by the masses until an unruly Roman mob
almost lynched the Italian cardinals demanding that the Roman candidate be sanctified
immediately. The cardinals caved in and elected Urban VI. The French cardinals
declared the election invalid and set up their own candidate, Clement VII. He set up his
office back in Avignon, far from unruly mobs and hostile elements. Meanwhile Urban set
up his office in Rome. Two popes! Neither recognized the other, each sold indulgences
and excommunicated its perceived detractors at will insisting that the authority of the
other was void. Nothing could have weakened the church further. Did I say nothing?
The offices of two popes continued until 1409 when a group of cardinals realized they
had to do something. Two popes is really no popes, they argued and so they met in Pisa
and declared both popes invalid and set up a third man of their own. Neither the French
nor Italian recognized his authority so now their were three popes.
By the time the matter was straightened out by the Council of Constance in 1418, and
the seat returned to Rome, the office of pope and the authority of the church was
irrevocably damaged.
The more the church tried to crush its detractors the more damage it did to itself. The
masses began to view it not as an authority but as an oppressor. It was based on religion
but was itself greedy selfish and violent. It crushed its critics rather than answering them.
The more it did this the more critics it encouraged.
The critics or 'heretics' as they were called by the church became more powerful and
popular until at last they could no longer be removed. The critics who were the
predecessors to the reformation were Jan Huss and John Wyclif. English Wyclif
(1329-1384), priest and Oxford philosopher was called the "morning star of the
Reformation." For the crime of criticizing the church he was condemned by Pope
Gregory XI. His teachings based on his understanding of scriptures was that it was sinful
for the clergy to hold property. Though loved by the common people he was despised by
church administrators who were denied the pleasure of burning him at the stake by his
natural death. Hoping that his ideas would die with him the church took no action for
thirty years. By then it became clear that his teachings were being promulgated at all
speed. His bones were then dug up and cast out of consecrated ground.
The Bohemian Jan Huss (1369-1415) took up the fight and advanced Wyclif's ideas.
He was a lecturer in theology at the University of Prague from 1398, and was ordained a
priest in 1400. Eventually he became rector of the University in 1403 Huss became a
national hero by criticizing the German clergy. He criticized not only the clergy's greed
but also their immorality. He was branded a traitor and heretic. He was
excommunicated in 1411. At this point he expanded his criticism of the clergy to include
the Pope. He insisted that it was the duty of honest men to refuse obedience to priests who
were corrupt.
When the church authority came to arrest him his huge following of Czech citizens
protected him and refused to turn him over to the gendarmes. It was at this point that his
followers realized that only through force, not by reason, could they get their way with
the church. The teacher was slower then the students in this area. The Emperor
Sigismund invited him to the council of Constance in 1414. Hoping to reform the church
he agreed to attend to defend his cause provided that he would be promised safe passage.
The emperor who fancied himself the protector of the church gave him letters of
safe-conduct and solemn promise to protect him.
As soon as he arrived at Constance he was arrested. The Council of Constance in
1414 condemned him and his ideas. He refused to recant. He was not as lucky as Wyclif.
He was sentenced to death by the council and was burned at the stake with the consent of
the Emperor.
Having created a martyr the church had to now contend with his numerous and
furious followers. He was a hero to the Czechs and they now viewed the church as their
enemy. Where ever possible the nobles of the Czechs replaced Roman Catholic priests on
their estates with followers of Huss. The King of Bohemia, Wenceslaus (I'm not making
this up) decided that his authority was being challenged and that the church was being
treated disrespectfully. He insisted that Roman Catholic orders be restored. The Hussites
now formed an order and community of their own. These "Taborites" as they were
called turned to violence and attacked churches and cloisters. Pope Martin V ignored the
fact that the King's edicts further prodded the Hussites into action and he called for a
crusade against them. Again the pattern of church criticized-church on the
offense-church further weakened, repeated itself. In 1420 the Pope sent troops to stamp
out the Hussites promising them victory for defending the cause of righteousness. The
Hussites rose to the challenge and met the churches forces with a decisive counter attack
and crushed the Pope's men. They now took up the offensive and their new leaders, Zizka
and Procopius waged war on countries bordering Bohemia.
The Hussites soon divided over differences among themselves, the more moderate
nobles forming the Ultraquists and the more violent peasant Taborites becoming more
apocalyptic, condemning to death those guilty of such sins as envy and avarice. The
persecuted had at last become the persecutors.
The conflict between the Hussites and the church raged on until 1485 when the
church saw that they could not prevail against them. A statute of toleration was issued in
1485 and confirmed in 1512.
The stage was now set for the reformation to continue in Germany.
In 1517 a 34 year old monk of peasant stock by the name of Marten Luther nailed a list of
95 complaints against the church to the door of the Castle church in Wittenberg. His
ideas were copied and printed and spread throughout Germany (this was one of
numerous examples of how the invention of the printing press and the education of the
masses was instrumental in the weakening of the church). By 1520 Luther was
excommunicated by Pope Leo X.
The "95 Theses" were the result of a pilgrimage to Rome that he had made which
opened his eyes to the widespread corruption of the Papal court. The pope and his
entourage were spending vast fortunes on wine, women, and song (mostly wine and
women), adorning themselves with the costliest finery, and using every opportunity to
wage war and collect the booty.
In 1517 a Dominican friar named Johann Tetzel came to Wittenberg to sell
indulgences to raise funds for the rebuilding of St. Peter's in Rome. Indulgences were
church sponsored tickets to heaven (see The First Crusade). Luther considered
indulgences a scandalous abuse of church authority. Tetzel himself received a large share
of all he sold. Luther called him a corrupt and greedy hypocrite. Tetzel replied that if he
was than so was the church. Luther shocked Tetzel by agreeing. Tetzel reported Luther's
blasphemy to the Pope.
Shortly thereafter Luther nailed the '95 Theses' to the church door and the
Reformation quickly spread. Luther recruited converts to his new faith one at a time.
When he came across the Jewish community living in his vicinity he was impressed by
their piety and sincerity. Here, he thought was what he had been talking about. It was
indeed possible to lead honest and sincerely spiritual lives, without the influence of the
church. He had found living proof of his own ideas! He understood why the Jews had
rejected the church all these years, he had rejected it himself. The Jews didn't just
preach truth, justice, and charity, and honesty, they practiced it as well. And their
leaders didn't sell bogus tickets to heaven either. They led their flock and implored them
to turn their hearts toward their Creator in Heaven and to act in accordance with the
teachings of the holy Torah. And they set an example for their people to follow. They
attracted students through love and wisdom, not by threats and cruelty. Luther stated
that the Jews were, "of the best blood on earth, children of G-d, while we Christians are
the guests and strangers"(Luther's Sammitleche Werke).
As Luther gained popularity and power he realized that he could be "the one" to
convert the Jews to Christianity. They had rejected the church thanks to its own
corruption, but now that he had reformed the church surely the Jews would follow so
exalted a leader as himself, a man who the planet had not seen the likes of since the time
of Moses. His enthusiasm was crushed however when the Jews refused to abandon the
faith of their fathers. Luther reacted violently against them, instigating numerous
pogroms and sustained persecutions against those whom he felt had rejected him. He
later wrote about the Jews, "...they will all burn in hell, their existence is a hopeless,
wicked, and devilish thing. They are our pest, torment, and misfortune."(Luther's Juden
und jren Lugen 1543).
He also rekindled arcane prejudices by accusing them of blood libels and
well-poisonings, and insisted that their synagogues and schools be burnt to the ground.
He proudly proclaimed that he could solve many of the problems of the German peoples
by being allowed to burn Jewish books and confiscate their possessions. As a result, the
Germans of Saxony and Hesse mercilessly persecuted the Jews there and finally expelled
them. The full implementation of his plans however lay dormant until the 20th century
when Hitler began his public propaganda campaign by quoting Luther, "the Jews are
our misfortune".
Lutheranism spread throughout Germany. In 1526 Emperor Charles V allowed
each prince the right to decide for himself in matters of religion, thinking that the vast
majority would choose Roman Catholicism and the new 'fad' would quickly die out.
In 1529 he decided the Lutherans were gaining to much power and revoked the
privileges. Against this action the evangelical princes issued a vigorous Protestation. It
was from this that the name "Protestant" derived. In 1545 Luther continued his assault
on the Pope and church and published a tract entitled, "Of the Papacy in Rome Founded
by the Devil." He died of heart failure a year later.
Conflict raged on until 1555 when the Emperor allowed rulers of various states into
which Germany was divided to decide whether their particular subjects should be
Roman Catholics of Lutherans. The princes and nobles of each state decided which
religion was allowed for their peasants. Nobody seemed to see anything wrong with that
and it became policy. In the end the South adhered to Rome, the North established the
Lutheran Church. From thence the new doctrines spread over Denmark, Norway and
Sweden.
In Switzerland, Ulrich Zwingli, and French exile John Calvin adopted Luther's
ideas and the Presbyterian Church was established there. In France where Calvin's
followers were called Huguenots the new Protestants had to fight for there religious
freedom. From 1562 to the early seventeenth century the bloodiest conflicts between
Catholic and Protestant raged on in France. The country was drenched in blood for forty
years. On August 24th 1572 Roman C
trumped up charge of adultery which she knew carried with it the death penalty.
Henry was succeeded by his and his third wife Jane Seymour's son Edward VI
(pro-Reformation) who was succeeded by his and Catherine's daughter Mary
(anti-Reformation) and then by Elizabeth I (pro-Reformation). Mary, or "bloody Mary"
Tutor was despised not only for mercilessly persecuting the Protestants and having three
hundred of them burnt at the stake, but also for marrying a Spaniard, Philip II. The
thought of a succession of half-Spanish Catholic heirs to the throne was anathema to the
English and when Mary died without issue in 1558 their spirits soared. Philip went on to
become king of Spain and latter clashed with his sister-in-law, the new queen Elizabeth.
"Good queen Bess" reigned for 45 years.
Meanwhile in the Netherlands the ideas of the Reformation found a warm welcome.
But champion of the Roman Catholic Church, Emperor Charles V resorted to the
terrors of the Inquisition to root out all traces of Protestantism. In 1522 his persecutions
in the 'lowlands' began and continued unabated for thirty years. Over 30,000 men and
women were hanged or burnt to death at the stake for the crime of challenging the
church's authority. The terror did nothing to abate the growth of Calvinism there.
In 1555 Charles abdicated and his son Philip II ruled Netherlands and Spain and the
persecutions intensified. The nobles and peasantry alike resented the Spanish troops
situated there and the lack of religious freedom and demanded independence. In 1567
Philip sent the Duke of Alve to crush the offenders and six years of hideous slaughter
and ferocious oppression followed.
The Dutch leader, William the Silent, Prince of Orange stood as a unifying force to
the tough little Calvinists. In 1568 revolt broke out. England's Queen Elizabeth I,
notorious enemy of Philip, abetted the rebellion. In 1581 The Union of Utrecht declared
independence from the Spanish despot.
The Spanish refused to let the wealthy little principality go. The numerous
marranoes who had settled there had made the country into a leading commercial,
colonial and navel power. They had transformed the unknown village of Amsterdam into
the most important commercial port on the content. This was more than the Spanish
could stand.
In 1584 Philip was getting desperate and offered a reward for William's head.
William who is mourned to this day by the Dutch as 'father of our country' was
murdered. This not only didn't stop the rebellion against Spain, it strengthened it. When
Elizabeth I defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 the Dutch were able to intensify their
offensive and strike a crippling blow. In 1609 The Netherlands' independence was
acknowledged.
With the Reformation firmly established the stage was set for the Thirty Years War
(1618-1648). As if enough blood hadn't been spilt already the Catholic Church and
Emperor attempted do crush all opposition. Rather than answering those questions
raised by the Reformation, rather than accepting the rebuke that their subjects
presented to them, they responded to being accused of being violent and stubborn by
killing anyone who dared challenged their authority.
The war began in 1618. With Protestantism strengthening all around, the ruling
Hapsburgs of Austria decided to uproot all of them if possible, exterminate them if
necessary, from all their dominions, beginning in rebellious Bohemia. The Czechs
resented the special favors granted to Germans and Catholics and requested equality.
When the Emperor refused, the Protestant Count Matthias of Thurn and his men picked
up the Hapsburgs representatives who were stationed in the Castle of Prague and threw
them out the window. This event was referred to a "the Defenestration of Prague." They
survived the fall when they fell into a pile of garbage and human and animal waste, but
Most of the foreign troops were seasoned Scots. In 1617 he put his new technology to the
test. He fought the Russians and won a decisive victory gaining Ingermanland for
Sweden.
When the Reformation spread from Northern Germany to Norway, Denmark, and
Sweden the Scandinavians viewed themselves as progressive adherents. When Ferdinand
waged war on the Protestants Gustavus stayed out of the fray allowing King Frederick
and King Christian to deal with it. In 1630 it became obvious that Ferdinand could not be
stopped.
The prospect that Catholic power would soon be entrenched on the North and Baltic
seas prodded him into action.
Just when the Protestant cause seemed hopeless he came to the rescue to Ferdinand's
chagrin. By now Ferdinand's resources were severely depleted. Gustavus was
unstoppable. He attacked and routed Ferdinand's men at Breitenfeld near Leipzig in
September 1631. In November 1632 Ferdinand again faced "The Lion of the North" and
Ferdinand's best general Albert of Wallenstein was crushed in the battle of Lutzen. But
the cost to the Swedes was great. A musket ball penetrated the king's armor and entered
his upper abdomen. Gustavus died on the battlefield. The suit of clothes he wore beneath
his armor can be viewed in the National Museum in Stockholm adjacent to the crown
jewels. The hole left by the bullet and the blood stain surrounding it are clearly visible.
Normally an invading army is viewed with hostility by the indigenous population.
This was not the case with Gustavus and his army however for several reasons and the
support of the locals helped his cause. Firstly most northern Germans were Protestants
and considered the Swedes as their saviors from the oppressive Catholics. Secondly the
barbarous armies of Frederick plundered all lands they occupied and the brutal sacking
of Magdeburg by Tilly's undisciplined soldiers in May 1631 was fresh in their memories.
The defenders of the Catholic church and the agents of the Pope and the Emperor went
house to house, raping, murdering and robbing in that order and then burning the
remains to the ground. Most of Northern Germany and Bohemia was dealt with likewise.
To this day the Northern Germans are grateful to the Swedes and this was another
reason Sweden was allowed to remain neutral during World War II (besides having been
the seat of the international Red Cross).
Gustavus was able to feed and supply his men without looting which gained him
favor with the locals. This was a novel development in the history of warfare but to do
this he needed an ally which he found in Cardinal Richelieu who subsidized his troops.
Richelieu kept the French out of the fighting until he deemed absolutely necessary, as
Gustavus had d one. He supported the Swedes indirectly until 1635 when French troops
entered the war and eventually finished Frederick off for good in 1648.
French Cardinal Richelieu was a Roman Catholic but his hatred of the Hapsburgs and
the Holy Roman Empire superseded all other concerns. What did he care if Protestants
gained victory in Germany, as long as the despised Hapsburgs were crushed. This in spite
of his mercilessly persecuting the French Protestants at the same time. In this sense the
Thirty Years War started out as a religious war and ended as a political war.
The end came in 1648 with the treaty of Westphalia. Germany was destroyed and its
political fragmentation officially sanctioned. A divided Germany meant, as it always has,
future peace in western Europe for years to come.
In terms of land, France acquired notable gains of previously German lands, and
Sweden also carved up German lands along the southern coast of the Baltic, some of its
most valuable property. Sweden also received a large cash indemnity and the right to
cast three votes in the Diet of the Empire, meaning the right to interfere with German
politics.
Other results of the treaty were Switzerland and United Netherlands gaining
independence and being recognized as political republics contrary to the wishes of Spain.
Calvinists (Swiss Protestants) received the same rights as Lutherans and parity between
Catholics and Protestants in the courts of the Empire was established. Rulers received
the "right of reformation" i.e. the right to determine their subjects' religion and the
subjects received the "right" to emigrate if dissatisfied with their rulers choice. Cardinal
Richelieu had died in 1642 but his apt pupil, Cardinal Mazarin was duly satisfied with
the terms.
The Holy Roman Empire which had been established by Charlemagne in 800 was so
weakened that for the next 150 years it stood on the constant brink of collapse until that
actually happened in 1806. The last Emperor was Francis II of Austria about who's
Empire the Voltaire said, "it is neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire." With impending
doom on the horizon in the form of Napoleon, Francis resigned his title as Emperor.
Cardinal Richelieu thus not only empowered himself, he strengthened the rulership
of the French monarchy which set the groundwork for France's to establish its greatest
strength and most powerful king, Louis XIV, the "Sun King". This gave France the
strength and stamina to survive the French Revolution and give birth to a Napoleon who
could conquer an Empire of his own.
In those days if one was not born into a royal family his only way to rise to power was
through the military (rare), the merchant class and wealth (rarer), or to rise through the
ranks of the church as Richelieu had done (rarest).
Armand Jean Du Plessis Richelieu was born in 1585 and made Bishop of Lucon in
1607. Marie de Medices the regent and queen mother was so impressed by his ability and
shrewdness she made him secretary of state in 1616.
As a reward for his services in reconciling the queen mother and the young king Louis
XIII he was made Cardinal in 1622. Two years later he was Prime Minister.
Prior to this the French "Wars of Religion" (1562-1598) had been waged between the
Protestant Huguenots and the incumbent Catholics. In the "Edict of Nantes" the
Huguenots had won their "state within a state." However Richelieu viciously waged an
all-out offensive against them and besieged and captured La Rochelle their principal
stronghold in 1628 in spite of Protestant aide and support to the Huguenots from
England and other Protestant sympathizers. The resultant "Peace of Alais" withdrew all
their political gains and privileges. In addition to this he persecuted them without
compromise at every opportunity.
In 1630 the king's mother and brother, Gaston d'Orleans attempted to overthrow
Richelieu but he crushed the rebellion and had the queen mother exiled to Compiegne.
This occurred on the famous "Day of Dupes" November 10th, 1630, from which the
modern term "to dupe" or "turn the tables" comes. He sentenced the Duc de
Montmorency to death in 1633 insisting that rebellion against the crown should be
mercilessly punished no matter how high the culprit's rank.
Richelieu emerged politically all-powerful and nothing could stop him from
throwing France into the Thirty years war with all France's might and resources, even if
it meant economic disaster and the loss of most of France's remaining male population,
those who had survived the Wars of Religion.
At every step in his career Richelieu used all his power to gain more power for himself
at the expense of all those who stood in his way. His goal at each level was always the
same: to increase his power. No sooner had he ascended a step on the political ladder did
he set his sights on the next step and ruthlessly achieve it.
If there is one man who sums up the concept of "Unholy War" it is Cardinal Richelieu.
While persecuting the Huguenots he claimed to be defending the church against heretics.
If the Protestants were heretics it didn't seem to bother him when he fought alongside
them against the Catholics in the Thirty Years War. Here was a Catholic Cardinal, and
official administrator and representative of the church and the Catholic religion, fighting
a bloody war against the German Catholics to the rescue of the German, Swiss, and
Scandinavian Protestants! And winning! A man who had organized and carried out the
wholesale slaughter of the French Protestants only a few years before! It boggles the
mind.
A man who rose tooth and claw to power only to use that power in the most
destructive way possible, to persecute his co-nationals because of their religious beliefs
and to wage war against his political rivals.
When he gained power to imprison, he imprisoned his rivals and rose to greater
power making him the most powerful man in the French clergy. When he gained power
to execute, he executed his opponents and rose to higher political office making him the
most powerful man in France. When he gained power to wage war, he waged war,
crushing his enemies to make him the most powerful man in Europe. Had he not suffered
from a weak constitution and ill health and not died at the young age of 57, who knows
what trouble he might have caused.
This then is the embodiment of the concept of "Unholy War". To wage a so-called
"Holy War", hiding behind G-d and religion for one's own personal gain, be it an
individual or a country. This is a desecration of G-d's name. Using G-d, the One who said
"Love your neighbor as yourself", as an excuse to kill and shed the blood of innocent
victims. This turns people away from religion in general and from G-d in particular.
Ask Richelieu how he can persecute the Huguenots. He says, "I'm defending the
Church." Ask him how he can wage war against the German Catholics. He says, "I'm
defending the Crown".
He's not defending anybody. He's attacking. He's under no threat. He's a bloodthirsty
murderer. And his robes are the perfect disguise. He's the Spanish Inquisition, the
Crusades, the Grand Mufti, and the Druid Priests rolled into one. The same people who
brought you human sacrifice are back and bigger than before. And don't dare criticize
them. Its heresy, punishable by death.
This in stark contrast of the Jewish view of Peace and War. Peace is the ambition of
the Jewish people, world peace their aim, peace between family and friends, nation and
nation their goal. This is reflected not only by their actions, promoting peace and
preaching peace, but is also found in their writings throughout history. Consider the
following:
"When two men argue, the one who yields first displays the nobler nature." -Talmud
(Kidushin 71b).
"All the Torah's ways are pleasantness, and all its paths are peace." - Proverbs 3:17
"Peace is priceless, for G-d's name is Shalom." - Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 11:18).
"The counselors of peace have joy." -Proverbs 12:20
" If one seeks everlasting peace, truth must proceed it, as it says, 'Therefore love truth
and peace.' " - Zechariah 8:19
"The greatest blessing is that of peace, for all other blessings are included in it."
-Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9).
Perhaps King David said it best:
"Seek peace and pursue it." - Psalms 34:15
What is the Jewish concept of war? Besides the obvious need to defend one's life if it
is threatened, there is a concept of "Holy War." But it does not include the spilling of
blood in the name of G-d. It includes the war that one wages on one's self. The inner
battle between good and evil. The conquest of man's positive creative side, against his
own destructive or lazy side. It is the battle we wage each moment when we are faced
with a decision. Do we take the easy way out or do we strive to improve ourselves and the
world around us? When we have the urge to take something that does not belong to us, to
speak gossip, or to raise a hand against the weaker. The battle within rages and if we
desist we win. If we feel lazy or apathetic, the battle is on to go that extra mile, to give a
bit more charity, to study an extra chapter of Talmud, to help a neighbor in distress.
Because the way to change the world is to change one's self. To set an example. This
is the "Holy War". To improve oneself. As it says in our holy Talmud, (Pirkei Avoth 4:1)-
" Rabbi Ben Zoma said, 'Who is mighty? The one who conquers his own passions, as
King Solomon said, (Proverbs 16:31) 'He who rules his spirit is stronger than the
conqueror of a city.'
Our goal is not to conquer others. It is to improve ourselves. This is the "Holy War".
The war in which everyone wins.
Bibliography
"History of theMarranoes"Cecil Roth(Jewish Publication Society,New York,1932)
"The Crusades" Jonathan Riley-Smith (Yale University Press, New Haven , 1987)
"The Rishonim" Rabbi Shmuel Teich (Mesorah Publications, New York 1982)
"A History of the Jews in Christian Spain" Yitzhak Baer (Philadelphia, 1966)
"The New Cambridge Modern History, Vol. II :The Reformation 1525-1559"
(Cambridge 1959)
"HaMoreh L'Doros" Meir Oryan (Mosad HaRav Kook, Jerusalem 1969)
"Living World of History" (Living World Publications, London 1964)
"Herald of Destiny" Berel Wein (Shaar Press, New York, 1993)
"Gustavus Adolfus" Michael Roberts (New York 1953-1959)
"The Spanish Inquisition" Cecil Roth (New York, 1964)
"The Diaspora Story" Joan Comay (Steimatzky Limited 1988)
Beth Hatefutsoth-The Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora