70,000 murdered - for the glory of God ...!


After a six-week siege, Jerusalem falls on 15. July 1099 into the hands of the Knights of the First Crusade under the leadership of Godefrey de Bouillon and Raimond de Toulouse...:



The crusaders "celebrate" the conquest of the city by killing 70,000 residents the same day!





The Christian knights and pilgrims set out in 1096 and arrived in Jerusalem in June 1099...:



The supply was poor, the climate oppressive, the first attacks failed due to the fortification of the city...:



It was also announced that an relief army from Egypt was on the move.

With a last effort, the crusaders - around 1,300 knights and 12,000 men and numerous pilgrims - can build several siege towers from wood they have brought in...:









After a procession around the city, the assault is being prepared for the night of July 14th.

On the evening of the 14th, a tower has overcome the outer trenches. At midday on July 15, the Christians take a section of the north wall, shortly afterwards the Dome of the Rock falls...:




Iftikhar ad Dawla...



... who defends the city on behalf of the Egyptian Fatimids, offers his withdrawal against ransom. This is allowed.

The Crusaders, after so much suffering and deprivation, completely out of their senses, race like madmen through streets, houses and mosques, wrote an eyewitness...:



“All the enemies they could find struck them with the sharpness of their swords, regardless of age or rank, and there were so many slain and bunched heads everywhere that there was no other way or passage than about dead bodies. "

Ad maiorem dei gloriam ...!

The massacre is followed by a thank-you service in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.



After Raimond...





... rejected the royal crown, Godefrey took over the Holy Land as "Princeps"...:





Because Jesus had worn a crown of thorns, his Christian followers should not wear a crown, it says.

Another great, but awful, story. History is a violent place.