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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?