On ABC National Radio this morning I heard reference to the Crusaders capturing and entering Jerasulem in July 1099 - and killing all 40,000 inhabitants there within the first 2 days.
Curious, I've just run a Google search which gives several references. A couple of extracts follow :-
..... Only a remnant finally arrived in Jerusalem. Within three years from the time of their starting, they had entered the Holy City and murdered in cold blood almost all of its civilian inhabitants. For thirty nine days the city was besieged until it finally fell by assault on July 15, 1099. The goal of the Crusade had been achieved. The Cross replace the crescent on the Dome of the Rock. The crusaders entry into the Holy City was an orgy of killing and looting. In August a more regular army followed. Even this army was ill organized under its several leaders, undisciplined footmen immensely outnumbered the knights on horseback. The great prize had been won at the cost of a terrible blemish that served to poison relations between Christians and Moslems for years and contributed to the Moslem fanaticism that resulted in the expulsion of the Christians from the East. When Jerusalem fell the Crusaders indulged in a wholesale slaughter of the Moslem and the Jews who were inside, over the heaps of bodies they made way to the holy shrines. The slaughter was terrible; the blood of the conquered ran down the streets, until men splashed in blood as they rode. .. feet colored to our ankles with the blood of the slain. None of them were left alive, not women or children. A letter to Paschal II from Godfrey described that in Solomon's Porch and in his temple the men rode in the blood of the Saracens up to the knees of their horses, 10,000 Turks killed. The followers of the cross were guilty of massacre, robbery and any maniacal perversion thought of. Children's brains were dashed out against the stones, or their living bodies were whirled in demoniacal sport from the walls. Women were outraged prior to being murdered. ....
and
.... The Fall of Jerusalem The assault began night of 13-14 July, 1099. The attack came from several quarters, although they really didn't have an army numerous enough for this type of attack. Even so, their eagerness carried the day. Around noon on the 15th, Godfrey of Bouillon carried the wall at one point and the crusaders were inside. Not long after, Raymond of Toulouse likewise broke in. What ensued was an orgy of slaughter. The crusaders killed all they met, regardless of age, sex or religion. The killing went on all that night and through the next day and into the next night. Order was not restored until the 16th of July. When the killing was over, all Muslims and Jews had either been killed or driven out. The crusaders had liberated Jerusalem, but the streets ran with blood and their prize was very nearly a corpse.
The Muslims would never forget the sack of Jerusalem, a city as sacred to their religion as to the Christians (Jerusalem is where Mohammed ascended to Heaven). This was the crowning event in a string of incidents that convinced the Arabs that these Franks were ferocious barbarians. Any Arab leader seeking to rally his people against the Christians had only to remind them of Jerusalem. .....
