The Crusades initially organized by Pope Urban was primarily a political move to reinstate a Western and Roman empire over the current dominant Byzantine Empire. When the Byzantines were suffering defeat after defeat to Seljuk Turks Pope Urban decided to involve what was then a rather immature Western kingdoms into reestablishing Christendom over the Levant.
That the First Crusade involved slaughter of Christians by Christians speaks against a so called Biblical notion of support for the Crusades. The support came from an ecclesiastical notion of granting religious privileges that has no known Christian precedent. While pitting Muslim v. Christian is the overarching narrative there is another narrative in which Western kingdoms in the wake of the Roman Empire were exercising their authority within these politics while the remainder of the Empire, known as the Byzantines, fell to an encroaching cultural and religious phenomenon.
That the First Crusade involved slaughter of Christians by Christians speaks against a so called Biblical notion of support for the Crusades. The support came from an ecclesiastical notion of granting religious privileges that has no known Christian precedent. While pitting Muslim v. Christian is the overarching narrative there is another narrative in which Western kingdoms in the wake of the Roman Empire were exercising their authority within these politics while the remainder of the Empire, known as the Byzantines, fell to an encroaching cultural and religious phenomenon.
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