Encountering Islam on the First Crusade

There has been an increasing interest in the history of the Crusades which is indeed admirable. The bitter legacy of hostility between Muslims and Christians is still lingering in the minds and works of many westerners. Often a frontier history of the Crusades is discussed but not always. Writing away from the trend, the present book attempts to explore Christendom’s perception of Muslims and its attitude and reaction towards them on the eve of the First Crusade. Morton acknowledges that the Muslim world had proved an existential threat to Christendom but it was one among many threats without any special significance (p. 41). He attempts to prove that Islam was not designated as a wholesale evil and the only enemy of Christendom. Succinctly, he maintains that both the pre- and post-Crusade eras show that Islam/Muslims did not raise any special curiosity within Christendom. Chapter two, entitled ‘The Launch of the First Crusade’, investigates the Crusaders’ attitude towards Muslims during the First Crusade. Morton first discusses the historical context of what prompted Christendom to call for the Crusade. Morton rejects the notion of the inherent hostility of Christendom towards Muslims....