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Christian attitudes towards Muslims in the crusading period The first crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099 and slaughtered systematically the Muslim inhabitants, but they knew next to nothing about their religion. With the crusade, however, began the systematic study of Islam, which created a set of basic attitudes that still exists. The Muslims were depicted as violent, simple minded and obsessed by sex, suppressing women, and always ready to attack Christian land. Theologically they were soon classified as heretics with a perverse understanding of the truth, led astray by the arch-heretic Muhammad or ultimately by the devil. The systematic and scholarly study of Muslim texts and the translation of the Quran into Latin (from 1143) only seemed to confirm this attitude. Why did the serious study of Islam begin around 1100 and not earlier? Why did serious study or even long co-existence between Christians and Muslims not change attitudes? What function did the creation of Islam as the prime 'other' have for creating European Christian identity? And why were the Muslims believed to be so dangerous?