| 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 siegingCrusaders in mid-July, 1099, following theSiege of Jerusalem during theFirst Crusade. Contemporaneous and eyewitness sources suggest the massacre was 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]Christopher Tyerman characterizes the event as a "juxtaposition of extreme violence and anguished faith," andJay Rubenstein cites an eyewitness who described it as "more of a slaughter than a fight."[6][7] Some historians assert that the severity of the massacre was exaggerated by later medieval sources.[8][9]
One main inspiration for the Crusades was thepreaching ofapocalypticism by figures such asPeter the Hermit and his followers (namely,Volkmar andEmicho), rousing knights, commoners, and nobles to march to Jerusalem.[7] The preaching of Pope Urban II also used thecrucifixion narrative as a motivator, alluding to the guilt of Jewish people who, at the time, were seen as unbelieving adversaries by many Christians of France and Germany.[10] This animosity motivated theRhineland massacres by Emicho and the slaughters inPrague by Volkmar, establishing the People's Crusade as a violent movement as the armies often pillaged their way through Europe.[11]
After suffering defeats by theKingdom of Hungary andSeljuk Turks, the survivors of the People's Crusade merged with the Prince's Crusade, joining the ranks for extreme endeavors such as theSiege of Antioch andSiege of Ma'arra, where the Christian forces became so starved they resorted to the cannibalism of fallen enemies.[12][13] When the Crusaders finally arrived at Jerusalem, they were filled with zeal, leading barefoot processions around the city walls before laying siege, finally breaking through and panicking the Fatimid defenses.[14][7]
Tyerman describes the slaughter following the siege as a "sustained massacre in the hysteria of success, followed three days' later by more cold-blooded mass killing."[15] 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."[16]Robert the Monk recorded how the blood flowed so forcefully and deeply that it carried the severed limbs and heads down the avenues of the city, resulting in messes of body parts scrambled and unidentifiable.[7]
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,"[17] but mentions survivors:
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.[18]
Crusaders brutalized the bodies of dead Muslims, slicing them open and "eviscerating them from the head to the kidneys and cutting them lengthwise from left to right," and many were decapitated, hit with arrows, and burned alive in the ensuing pyromania.[7] 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."[19] According to Ibn Muyassar, the Crusaders burned copies of theQuran and, according to al-Athir, they executed a large group ofimams, scholars, ascetics, and other holy men.[20]
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.[21]Albert of Aachen, compiling eyewitness accounts of Crusaders who returned to Europe, mentions a second round of massacre.[22]
Despite the Crusading efforts beginning with themassacres of the Jewish inhabitants of the Rhineland,[23] some Crusaders defended Jewish civilians.[24] Within themedieval Islamic world, Jewish people were considered 'People of the Book' and treated with tolerance and protection under the covenant (dhimma), and according to Muslim sources they suffered in the massacre alongside the Muslim denizens.[20] 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".[25] According toIbn al-Qalanisi, "The Jews assembled in their synagogue, and the Franks burned it over their heads."[26] Crusaders reportedly lifted their shields and encircled the burning building while singing "Christ We Adore Thee!"[27]
However, a Jewish communication (written just two weeks after the siege)[28] confirms the burning of the synagogue without mentioning any people inside during the destruction.[29][28] Specifically, aCairo Geniza letter refers to Jewish citizens fleeing the Fatimid governor.[30]
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.[31][32] 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.[33]
After the slaughtering and plundering, the Crusaders took the time to worship at their newly conquered holy places.Godfrey of Bouillon led a barefoot procession around Jerusalem's walls, entering the city through theMount of Olives and marching into theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre, where they prayed and Godfrey wept in thanksgiving.[7] Meanwhile, Raymond and Tancred began taking hostages among the survivors and Crusaders sliced the bellies of killed Muslims in hopes of finding gold swallowed during the massacre.[7] Despite Tancred's efforts to safeguard his Muslim prisoners, a mob of Crusaders slaughtered them all. By the third day of the conquest, the massacre continued into his final stage as, as recorded byAlbert of Aix:[34]
"[Crusaders] were beheading orstriking down with stones girls, women, noble ladies, even pregnant women, and very young children [...] some were wound about the Christians' feet, begging them with piteous weeping and wailing for their lives and safety [...] But they were making these signals for pity and mercy in vain. The Christians gave over their whole hearts to the slaughter, so that not a suckling little male child or female, not even an infant of one year would escape alive the hand of the murderer.[34]
Crusaders tasked the survivors with getting rid of the bodies, piling the dead in heaps outside the gates, which remained outside the city even six months later duringChristmastime,[7] as remarked upon by Fulcher of Chartes when he made holiday pilgrimage fromEdessa to Jerusalem:
"Oh, how great was the stench at that time, both inside and outside the city walls, because of the Saracen corpses, still rotting there, killed when our comrades captured the city! It was so bad that we had to stop up our noses and mouths."[18]
Raymond of Aguilers perceived the event as having immense historical and theological significance, both as a triumph ofChristendom over the "pagans", and as a step towards theApocalypse andSecond Coming.[18] Islamic historianCarole Hillenbrand writes that the Muslim sources understood the significance of the massacre and, in summarizing said sources, she writes, "there is no recognition of motivation [...] the conquest of the city is a disasterous event recorded with great sadness but without reflection; it is an event to be suffered and from which lessons are to be learned.[20]
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....