Keith Tyler

Medieval Europe

Crusades paper

11/23/98

[Two figures in robes stand on the stage. One figure wears a flowing white robe with a red cross. The other wears a modest robe in medium gray. The gray one watches the other from center left as the other talks from front center.]

CROSS: Glory be to God. That in our age a great army of the faithful should have risen, and with His divine guidance, shall have traveled to the distant land of our Savior and drive the infidel from the Holy Land.

GRAY [approaching him]: You really believe all of that, don't you?

CROSS: Shouldn't I? That is what happened.

GRAY: It's not all that happened.

CROSS: It is all that is important. The Christians of the West marched to the East, saved our brothers in Byzantium, and made Jerusalem safe for all Christians.

GRAY: Let's go back to how it all started.

CROSS: Our fellow Christians in Byzantium were being attacked by the Turks. Their emperor Alexius called to us for help. As Christians everywhere have a duty to defend each other from persecution, we sought to remove the Muslim threat to our beliefs, from Constantinople to Jerusalem, for the sake of all Christendom.

GRAY: But that isn't what Alexius wanted. He simply wanted us to supply him with troops to help him against the Turks. We went with our own interests in mind. Tell me about the people who went on this quest.

CROSS: They were Christians from all walks of life, from all the nations of the West. Peasants and nobles alike. Even clergy went on the journey to fight the enemy.

GRAY: Not all at once. Mostly peasants went on the first trek, and they found a quick death in Byzantium. After their failure did the rest of the nobles arrive.

CROSS: Yet they showed the strength of their faith on the road to Constantinople, even in the face of the cruel enemy.

GRAY: Now tell me, who was the enemy?

CROSS: Those who seek to desecrate the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ and the land where he lies.

GRAY: Does this include the Jews?

CROSS: The Jewish persecuted Jesus and sent him to his death, but they can still find forgiveness by accepting Him. The Muslims, on the other hand, have forsaken the Lord and pay homage to a false Messiah. The Muslims are the enemy we seek.

GRAY: You may say that, but they were not the only target your armies struck. Some of the battalions sought to persecute the Jewish on the way as well, and many were slaughtered.

CROSS: These are isolated incidents.

GRAY: Tell me, what were these armies to do once they reached Jerusalem?

CROSS: As I said, to free the Holy Land from the hands of the Muslims.

GRAY: And what did they do?

CROSS: They indeed took the land from the enemy and protected it in the name of God.

GRAY: You mean they set up kingdoms for themselves.

CROSS: As agents of the Lord's will, and vassals to his service, they administered the land as fiefs from God.

GRAY: In the meantime they collected wealth for themselves, and pillaged whole cities in Palestine.

CROSS: Yes, they destroyed the unholy houses of the enemy. They smote the sinners from the earth, as God wished.

GRAY: Who made it their place to carry out God's vengeance?

CROSS: They were absolved of their sins for taking part in the holy crusade.

GRAY: And guaranteed a place in Heaven.

CROSS: Yes, for they follow the path of the Savior, and they will sit at his table in Heaven.

GRAY: So did these warriors join the crusade in order to serve God, or in order to gain an easy trip to Heaven?

CROSS: All were servants to God.

GRAY: It looks like your crusaders took to battle not for the glory of God, but for their own greed and pride.

CROSS: These are minor vices compared with the sins of the evil Turks.

GRAY: What about the vices of the Venetians? While the rest of Europe was supposed to be united in the struggle against Islam, the Venetians were fighting with the other kingdoms to corner the market on the crusade.

CROSS: The Venetians were instrumental in the crusades. They provided knights and ships, and transported many things which our people in Jerusalem needed.

GRAY: And they transported stolen treasure and other plunder on the way back.

CROSS: In their services to the cause, they cleared the Mediterranean of pirate ships.

GRAY: As well as those of other Europeans.

CROSS: And of the Muslims from the south.

GRAY: In the end, there is a nice idea, of a warring Europe united against a common enemy in the defense of Christendom around the world. But the truth is that the Crusades involved a lot of plunder, politics, and vice. People went in search of a free ride into Heaven, and meanwhile many received treasure, land, and power.

CROSS: One may define truth in any number of ways.

GRAY: How then do you define truth?

[CROSS Pulls a book from under his robe. The book is large and is black with the word "Bible" on it in gold.]

CROSS [holding up his book]: This is where a Christian may find truth in our world.

GRAY: You tell me that you speak the undeniable truth. But the Jews and Muslims have their own version of you.

[GRAY gestures to center stage. Between GRAY and CROSS are two figures, dressed in robes similar to CROSS. Instead of a cross, one wears a six-pointed star, the other a crescent and small star.]

CROSS: Which of us is the truth?

GRAY: None of you are, actually. All three of you have your own sources of truth.

[STAR and CRESCENT produce books from under their robes similar to CROSS's. STAR's book is marked "Torah" and CRESCENT's book is marked "Koran."]

GRAY: As do I. [Produces a book marked "History" as all characters read. Curtain.]