RPC - Western Civ - Common Misconceptions About the Crusades

Greetings, my friends! Welcome back to my old blog--Saint George Academy! Or simply welcome, if you are new.

Yes, I'm back. But, as it should be, I will be posting a school writing assignment. This one is for the Ron Paul Curriculum, and the Western Civilization class in particular. I'm going to be posting another of these, hopefully tomorrow.

I won't generally put a little introduction like this in front of all my school writing assignments. I just decided to do it for this one, my first post back on Saint George Academy with Grace. I hope you enjoy, or better yet, learn from this little historical work of mine!

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            The Crusades, taking place in the late 1090s to early 1290s, were the efforts of Western Christians, working with Eastern Christians, to win back the Holy Land, and especially Jerusalem. This much is fairly common knowledge. But beyond this, there are a lot of misconceptions about the Crusades. In this writing assignment, I will play the historian. And historians have an obligation to tell the truth about what they teach.

I will bring up several misconceptions about the Crusades, and address why they are incorrect.

#1 – The Crusades were simply unprovoked aggression on the part of the Crusaders.

A simple look at history proves otherwise. The Muslims (the Crusaders’ opposition) had taken over two-thirds of the Christian world by the time of the Crusades. Asia Minor—including the important cities of Antioch, Ephesus, and Nicaea—the Middle East, North Africa, and most of Spain had been conquered by the Muslim armies. They had made attempts to conquer France, but were driven back by Charles Martel (an ancestor of my family!).

            There was particularly a lot of conflict between the Muslims and Byzantium, also known as Turkey. Things only got worse for them as the Seljuk Turks entered the scene, and became rulers of Islam. At that point, even the uneasy peace that had existed was gone. Christian pilgrimages became very dangerous. Eventually, the Byzantine emperor had to send pleas for help back West, as the Muslims threatened Constantinople (currently Istanbul). Rather than unprovoked aggression, it was an act of self-defense.

#2 – The Crusaders were fixated on wealth.

            This is a very silly idea. The Crusades were immensely expensive, and were actually a source of financial ruin for many. People had to sell off or mortgage their lands to raise the money needed. According to recent research, many crusaders were already wealthy landowners, and the Crusades were only going to eat away at that fortune.
            A popular theory along these lines is the “Second Sons” theory. Fathers would leave all their lands to their firstborn son as inheritance. The younger sons, who didn’t get any lands, went off on crusades in order to gain lands. However, there is no evidence for this theory. As a matter of fact, it was the “first sons”, the sons that inherited lands, who answered the calls to crusade.

#3 – The Crusaders wanted to convert the Muslims by force in the Crusades.

            This idea is probably just the product of anti-Christian bias. Muslims living in Crusader states were never forced to give up their religion. In fact, Muslims always outnumbered Catholics in the Crusader State of Jerusalem. The truth of the matter is, almost everybody who went on the Crusades really did go for the reasons they gave—to do penance for their sins and to help their Christian brethren.

#4 – There was even a “Children’s Crusade”.

This is not true. There was no army of children, no crusade started by little kids. There was just a variety of uprisings and processions. One such uprising centred around a young man from Cologne named Nicholas, around 1212. Since the rich and powerful had apparently failed to take back Jerusalem, he started a mass movement, his own crusade with the peasants of the Western world. He got a lot of people behind him. Unfortunately, his movement came to an end when they came to the sea. He believed it would open before him, showing the way to the Holy Land. It didn’t. After that, most of the people went home, though some went to Rome.

#5 – The Crusades led to festering resentment among Muslims, which in turn led to 20^th- and 21^st- century terrorism.

To be honest, if you asked a Muslim in the 17^th century about the Crusades, he would have no clue what you were talking about. The Crusades were minor episode—blips—and hardly worth mentioning, from the Muslim perspective. The first Muslim mention of the Crusades in a scholarly work was in 1899, eight hundred years after the First Crusade. Trust me, the Crusades weren’t even on their radar. Not until we modern Westerners started making a big deal about them, anyway.

So there you have it. The Crusades were started and fought for the exact reasons that they said: to aid their Christian brethren in the East, and to retake the Holy Land. And, as they said in their Crusade's battle cry--and ours--"Deus Vult! God wills it!"

Time Traveller's Daughter--An Announcement

Yes, I know. I missed yet another Mid-Week Music post. But I have an announcement to make, and the following will hopefully count as a funny picture.

Brian Regan, a famous comedian, once said something in one of his bits. (Amazing, I know.) We at our house repeat it at every possible opportunity. I found it rather fitting for the situation I am announcing. Thus, here it is.

Yes. Something's changed!

That something, in this case, is this blog. I must inform you that from this point on, Saint George Academy with Grace will be just that. This blog will become my school blog, while I continue writing all my other posts (including Mid-Week Music) on a new blog.

Don't worry, though: all the posts I've done here already will still be here. I haven't yet decided if I will put copies of these posts on that blog, or if I will just be starting with brand new posts. If I do end up starting with new posts, I will refer back to this blog.

So, here is the link to my blog. I may edit it to go to my first post instead of just the homepage. As it is, there's a test post by my mom up. And my new blog is called...

Time Traveller's Daughter!
https://time-travelers-daughter.blogspot.com/

Isn't that a neat title? I'm definitely excited!

So, I suppose this will be the last post on this blog for a while. For all continuing posts from me (except school ones), click on that link above. Hopefully, I'll see you there, not too far in the future! Goodbye...

Wanted: Angry Drill Sergeant

No, I did not fall off of the face of the planet, get sucked through a wormhole, or accidentally time travel. I simply got sick. Okay, the cold has just been in the past couple of days, but before that, it was Chronic Procrastinitis. Been going on for a while now, honestly. And it needs to end.

In short, I need a drill sergeant who will yell at me to get my work done on time (and, sometimes, at all). Do any of you know of one I could borrow? Brother Drill Sergeant Combs Sir is otherwise occupied. He's the best at it. I could settle for Principal Strickland if no one angrier is available. Leave any recommendations in the comments below!

I'm very sorry, all of you. It's almost two weeks into the New Year and I've done nothing. There's no excuse for laziness. Things will be back to normal in a very short time. I apologize. Mid-Week Music will be back this very Wednesday, no question.

As per usual, I will give you a picture with my in-between post.

A reflection of some of my watching habits during illness. A very cool combination of them. And why not?

Again, please let me know if you can find a good drill sergeant, and I apologize for my laziness.

Mid-Week Music #19 - Sleep Sound in Jesus

So... wow. It was even longer than I'd expected before I was able to get back to this. Things will hopefully get back to a normal schedule now. I'm really sorry about all this. But someone decided to show up late.

Ah, of course not. Only after four days of waiting in the one little hospital room.

In case any of you have not guessed, the reason why I have been so busy, why I put that picture up just now, is because of my now week-old baby brother, Ransom! (Well, he's a week old at the time of my writing this, which is sometime between Thursday and Friday). Two weeks ago was when we were all preparing for Mommy to go to the hospital, which was why I posted that I was so busy. He came on Thursday, at 11:01, I think.

I am not sure if I will post pictures yet. Not in this post (unless I edit them in later). But he's such a sweet little baby, and I love holding him--when I get a turn, that is. In a house with five other people who love holding him, not including Mommy and Daddy... well, you can guess how that is! But I love all of them, especially little Ransom. As Thanksgiving is coming (or here), I know we're all very thankful for him.

This week's MWM is a lullaby--the first song on an entire album of them--by Michael Card. I'm not sure why I decided on this one, but since it was the first, I suppose it makes sense. I wonder if someday, when little Ransom is older, he sees this little post. In such a case, hi! Hope things are going well in the future! You've probably listened to this many times as you've grown up. So here is a lullaby for you, baby brother: Sleep Sound in Jesus.

Sleep sound in Jesus, my baby, my dear
Angels are watching, they keep you so near
Though for His sake you'll be safe through the night
Sleep sound in Jesus, I'll turn off the light

Sleep sound in Jesus, sweet heart of my heart

The dark of the night will not keep us apart

I lay you down in your bed for the night

He holds you gently till morning is night

Sleep sound in Jesus, the angels are near

They're keeping watch, so there's nothing to fear

Against any foe they are ready to fight

So sleep sound in Jesus, I'll turn off the light

Sleep sound in Jesus, my baby, my dear

Angels are watching, they keep you so near

Though for His sake you'll be safe through the night

Sleep sound in Jesus, I'll turn off the light

An Apology (and a Laugh or Two)

I must apologize to you, dear readers.

Some of you may have noticed that there is no Mid-Week Music post this week. That is not just a mistake or glitch. We have been extremely busy for the past... well, several weeks, I suppose. And all that is coming to a head this week. I haven't even had time to think of a song to put up here. I'm very sorry, especially since I said there would be one every week, no matter what.

But never fear. There will be a MWM post next week for certain. The cause for all this busyness will be explained then. While we wait for Wednesday, I will give you a picture. Hopefully, it will make you laugh long enough for me to get back on track. I know I laughed for several minutes when I first saw it.

Oh my word, I'm laughing at it right now. It's hilarious. Please do comment if you laughed at it too!Anyway, busyness is calling my name, so I will go now. Actually, my mother is now calling my name, so... bye! Mid-Week Music will return next Wednesday!

The Second Anniversary of the Future

Well, by now, you've probably figured out that this is the special post that I told you about earlier in the week. And in that special post, I said that it was an anniversary. Well, today is the second anniversary of the future. By which, I mean...



BACK TO THE FUTURE!

That's right: today is the second anniversary of the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown travelled to the future. In fact, I scheduled this post to come out at the exact time--4:29 PM--that they arrived. Put quite briefly, I am a very big fan of this trilogy. They're some of the few movies that make me get all excited every time I watch them, and probably the only series that makes me get that way over every single movie in it. That is what this post is going to be about.

Now, I've got to tell you: before I watched Back to the Future, I liked time travel. I really did. But after I watched it... I loved time travel. The first time I watched it was the night before we went to a certain Renaissance Faire somewhere in our state. The Renaissance Faire had a theme: it was Time Traveller's Weekend. And at that Renaissance Faire, they had the DeLorean. It played music from the movies and everything. I was very, very excited!



Well, enough background: now on to the movies themselves. Now, I won't go into every little detail that make those movies great in this post. I do need something for later Back to the Future posts, and I'll go into the specifics in those. But for now, I'm going to tell you, in general terms, a few things I like about the Back to the Future trilogy.

First, it's time travel. I've said already that I liked time travel anyway, and, having watched these movies, I now love it. You could see some of your favorite times in the past, or discover how things will look after your time, far in the future. There are so many possibilities, but I think my favorite parts would be when I could meet people--from heroes in days past to distant grandchildren, and yes, even my parents and grandparents when they were my age.

Back to the Future is a wonderful example. Not only is it a Time Travel Story, but it's also a Time Paradox Story as well. Those are always fun, if sometimes a bit brain-breaking. The logic of the thing generally holds up well enough (except for one slight discrepancy in the third one, but it really isn't that big a deal), and it also doesn't break my brain when I think about it. Usually. But I haven't thought about it hard in a while, so I may have to get back to you on that.

Second, the characters are so memorable. Marty is almost a master of ceremonies, taking us--the -audience--through these many adventures, characters, and good times (and even some bad ones). Doc Brown is very funny, Great-Scotting every-which-way, and being hilariously expressive about everything. Biff, the constant villain, is a wonderful source of comedy as well. He always messes up his puns, and he too is incredibly expressive. And there are multiple versions of him too, all played by the same man, so for every version to be funny is pretty good on the film-makers. The rest of the characters are interesting too: a few of my favorites are Clara Clayton and George McFly. They all just sort of... click, I suppose. They work well together.

And this is an important part of the story to me. The story partly hinges on this point, on whether or not you have great characters. That's why I try to bring to life great characters in my writing, characters who are real but can take people by the hand and lead them into any fancied world I invent. And I don't mean realistic, which has now come to mean dark and depressing, humourless and perpetually hopeless. No, characters must be real to the readers. Or watchers, or listeners. And the characters in Back to the Future do that, for me anyway. I don't think about the acting: I think about the characters themselves. They're real to me.

This is one reason why I hope that they never remake or reboot Back to the Future, because at the current rate of reboots, they will screw up colossally, especially with the characters. But I get the feeling that it will not happen anytime soon, so that's a relief.

Along with those two reasons, the whole thing's just so well done. It's well-written, and the funny lines just keep coming, one after another after another. It's well-acted, on all counts, and well-directed, and well-cast. The special effects look particularly great for that day and age, and the music--well, let's just say it's been played a lot through the past few days, and is also going to be played a lot in the very near future. You may have actually heard one of the songs recently on this blog.

Not only that, but the action in this thing has me practically hopping up and down on the edge of my seat, despite knowing what's going to happen. It's exciting, and there are so many moments worthy of a fist pump and a yelled-out "Yes!!" My family actually says every time we watch it "No, we can't watch it anymore, it makes Grace too happy." But we always watch them again anyway. Whatever else they may be, the Back to the Future movies are some of the most fun movies of all time.

I think there's a term some people use, where people just love some movie or TV show to death, and never get tired of it. What is it... fangirl? Yeah, that's the word for it. I'm a fangirl of Back to the Future. If I'm a fangirl of anything, it'd probably be Back to the Future. I know there are flaws and shortcomings, as there are in every movie. And I'll willingly acknowledge those, and point them out. But because I can pick them out and say they're wrong without messing up the movie, I'd say it's absolutely worth it.

In short, fast-paced action and quick-witted characters are revved all the way up to 88 in this epic classic. Little wonder that this movie is one for the ages.

This clip is about how I feel every time I watch a Back to the Future movie.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that watching this movie had partially inspired a certain script I've been working on. It isn't really the main project I'm working on (or the main one I should be working on), but, you know, I've been working on it. It's currently called There and Back in Time. Funny, considering the picture that was included in that earlier post. But no, it's not a time-travel story having to do with Middle Earth. That one will come even later on.

You see, this one has a main character named Ben. He accidentally time-travels from his time (early 18th century/1700s) to this one (early 21st century, for those who don't know to which time they have jumped). He makes friends with a few different people, not least among them a girl called Glory. He furthermore makes enemies with a familiar-looking fellow named Jack Tanyer. So he has to figure out not only how to navigate this odd new world, but also how to get back home.

Now, the script's not done, and it may be some time before it's recorded and ready for listening. I'm pretty busy with other things, and those keep getting interrupted anyway. So don't be surprised if it's more than months before I say I have made an end. However, I have been working on it, and several of the details are influenced by the Back to the Future trilogy. A character here, a scene there, a few odd references dotted around, and probably more, too. What did you expect?

Well, that about wraps it up for this post. But I would also like to say that I am going to begin a tradition for this day. From now on, October 21 is Time Travel Day. The week preceding could also be considered Time Travel Week, but I won't make that official. The Mid-Week Music for that week will have something to do with either Back to the Future or time travel of another kind. And on every October 21, I will do a post having to do with the Back to the Future trilogy.

But as I said, that's about it for now. I have some things I need to do that are waiting impatiently. Great Scott, it's later than I thought. Perfect. Sorry, gotta go now. Don't want to be late again! *So take me away/I don't mi-i-i-ind/But you better promise me/I'll be back in time!*

Special Post Announcement

There is an anniversary coming up in four days. It's the second anniversary of a certain occurrence. And no, it's not a birthday. Not that I know of, anyway. But it's an exciting day for me, so I am going to be putting up a special post to commemorate it.

This particular occurrence partly inspired a certain script that I've been working on recently. I won't say the title--yet--but I think I might on Saturday. Yes, it actually has a title. I should probably be working on Hanesion House (see WRITING PROJECTS), but I have gotten a lot done on this script in the time I've been working on it just recently.

Now, I'm thinking that in all these little inbetween posts, I will post a fun picture. That is now a tradition. So, here is a picture that has (something) to do with last week's Mid-Week Music. And it is very funny.



See? Very funny. I can just imagine the possibilities. "This is heavy, Gandalf!"

Anyway, I suppose that's about all for this post. Keep a weather-eye on this space, because I think there's a thunder-storm brewing. Or quite possibly lightning. Well, here's hoping I will see you back again in the very near future. Bye!