| Massacre of Jerusalem | |
|---|---|
| Part ofFirst Crusade | |
 Massacre of Jerusalem from theHistoria Ierosolimitana,William of Tyre,c. 14th century | |
| Location | Jerusalem |
| Date | July 15, 1099 |
| Victims | Muslims andPalestinian Jews |
| Perpetrators | Crusaders |
| Motive | Religious violence Antisemitism |
TheMassacre of Jerusalem was a mass slaughter of thousands ofMuslims andPalestinian Jews by the siegingChristian Crusaders in mid-July, 1099, following theSiege of Jerusalem during theFirst Crusade. Contemporaneous and eyewitness sources suggest the massacre was savage and widespread, occurring alongside the conversion of Muslim sites on theTemple Mount, including theal-Aqsa Mosque andDome of the Rock, into Christian holy places.[1][2] Historians and eyewitness crusader accounts emphasize that the massacre was especially brutal, even by the standards ofancient andmedieval warfare,[3][4][5]withChristopher Tyerman characterizing the event as a "juxtaposition of extreme violence and anguished faith."[6] However, some historians assert that the severity of the massacre was exaggerated by later medieval sources.[7][8]
As the Crusaders stormed the city, Muslim inhabitants hid in theal-Aqsa Mosque and/orDome of the Rock of theTemple Mount. TheGesta Francorum writes that "... the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles..." and eyewitnessRaymond of Aguilers wrote about how "the porch ofSolomon men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins." Despite this, some accounts mention that Muslim and Jewish inhabitants had brief chances to flee the city.[9]
Fulcher of Chartres, chronicling the Crusade in his eyewitnessGesta Francorum Iherusalem Peregrinantium, recorded that the death toll in the temple alone reached 10,000 and that "none of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared,"[10] but mentions that some were spared:
When the pagans had been overcome, our men seized great numbers, both men and women, either killing them or keeping them captive, as they wished. [...] [Our leaders] also ordered all theSaracen dead to be cast outside because of the great stench, since the whole city was filled with their corpses; and so the living Saracens dragged the dead before the exits of the gates and arranged them in heaps, as if they were houses. No one ever saw or heard of such slaughter of pagan people, for funeral pyres were formed from them like pyramids, and no one knows their number except God alone. But Raymond caused the Emir and the others who were with him to be conducted toAscalon, whole and unhurt.[11]
HistorianIbn al-Athir records that after Jerusalem was sieged and pillaged, "a band of Muslims barricaded themselves into the Oratory of David (Mihrab Dawud) and fought on for several days. They were granted their lives in return for surrendering. The Franks honored their word and the group left by night for Ascalon."[12] DespiteTancred offering protection to the Muslims of the Temple area, the fellow crusaders overrode such security and slaughtered them, thereafter claiming the Muslim holy places of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa mosque as important Christian sites and renaming themTemplum Domini andTemplum Salomonis, respectively.[13]Albert of Aachen, compiling eyewitness accounts of Crusaders who returned to Europe, mentions a second round of massacre, although this is not corroborated by other sources.[14]
Despite the Crusading efforts beginning with theslaughter of Jewish inhabitants in the Rhineland (Gzerot Tatnó;Hebrew: גזרות תתנ"ו, "Edicts of 4856")[15] , some Christian Crusaders defended Jewish civilians.[16]However, Jewish Jerusalemites defended their city from the sieging Christians, fighting side-by-side with Muslim soldiers until the Crusaders breached the walls and the Jewish civilians fled into a synagogue to "prepare for death".[17] According toIbn al-Qalanisi, "The Jews assembled in their synagogue, and the Franks burned it over their heads."[18] Crusaders reportedly lifted their shields and encircled the burning building while singing "Christ We Adore Thee!"[19]
However, a Jewish communication (written just two weeks after the siege)[20] confirms the burning of the synagogue without mentioning any people inside during the destruction.[21][20] ACairo Geniza letter refers to Jewish citizens fleeing the Fatimid governor.[22]
According to the anonymousSyriac Chronicle,Fatimid governorIftikhar al-Dawla expelled many of the Christians from Jerusalem before the Crusaders arrived. Eyewitness accounts do not mention the slaughter ofEastern Christians in the city.[23][24] TheGesta Francorum corroborates this claim by mentioning how, over two weeks following the massacre,Peter the Hermit encouraged all "Greek and Latin priests and clerics" to make thanksgiving at theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre, suggesting the survival of Eastern Christian clergy.[25]
But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are ordinarily chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth, it will exceed your powers of belief. So let it suffice to say this much, at least, that in the Temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. [quoting eyewitness Raymond d'Aguiliers]
One of our knights, named Lethold, clambered up the wall of the city, and no sooner had he ascended than the defenders fled from the walls and through the city. Our men followed, killing and slaying even to the Temple of Solomon, where the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles....