Reasons for Hostility to Muslims
The Crusades
- The First Crusade (1095) marked Muslims as religious enemies of Christendom.
- Papal rhetoric (e.g., Pope Urban II’s sermon) framed the Crusades as a holy war against “infidels.”
- The memory of violent clashes in the Levant shaped European perceptions of Muslims for centuries.
- The Crusades also entrenched the idea of a permanent religious divide between Christianity and Islam.
Common Mistake
- Treating the Crusades only as military campaigns, without analyzing their ideological/religious consequences.
- Forgetting that Crusading rhetoric spread anti-Muslim sentiment within Europe, not just in the Holy Land.
- Over-simplifying by portraying all Muslims as uniformly hated, ignoring evidence of tolerance in Spain and Sicily.
Exam technique
- Always link the Crusades back to attitudes in Europe (e.g., how hostility grew in Iberia during the Reconquista).
- Use specific examples of papal or clerical rhetoric to show depth.
- Avoid narrative: focus on causation and consequences of hostility.
Fear of Muslim Power
- Muslim rule in al-Andalus was advanced: Córdoba (10th–11th centuries) was a center of wealth, learning, and military power.
- Christian kingdoms in Iberia feared encirclement or domination by Muslim states.
- Successes of Muslim armies (e.g., Battle of Alarcos, 1195) reinforced fears of Muslim military superiority.
- Muslims controlled valuable trade routes and fertile lands → economic rivalry intensified hostility.
Common Mistake
- Ignoring that Muslims were not just “outsiders” but long-established in Iberia and Sicily.
- Overlooking economic and political motives behind hostility, focusing only on religion.
- Treating Muslim states as static rather than acknowledging their periods of strength and decline.
Exam technique
- Balance religious causes with political and economic ones.
- Avoid Eurocentric phrasing like “backward Muslims” — acknowledge sophistication of Muslim states.
Case study
The 1391 Pogroms in Spain
- By the late 14th century, Spain had one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe, especially in Castile and Aragon.
- Jews held key positions in trade, finance, and administration, but faced growing resentment from both urban poor and Christian elites.
- The Black Death (1347–51) had already triggered massacres against Jews across Europe, strengthening scapegoating traditions.
Causes of the Pogroms
- Religious hostility
- Sermons by Ferrand Martínez, archdeacon of Écija, incited violence, portraying Jews as enemies of Christianity.
- Anti-Jewish preaching emphasized accusations of deicide and heresy.
- Economic resentment
- Jews were often moneylenders → resentment among debtors (including nobles).
- Economic hardship in the 14th century worsened hostility.
- Political instability
- Castile and Aragon were plagued by civil wars, weak monarchies, and noble rivalries.
- Rulers often failed to protect Jewish communities.
Events of 1391
- Riots broke out in Seville in June 1391, spreading rapidly to Córdoba, Toledo, and Barcelona.
- Thousands of Jews were killed and synagogues were destroyed.
- Many Jews were forced to convert to Christianity (conversos), creating a large population of “New Christians.”
Consequences
- Mass conversion
- By 1415, large parts of Spain’s Jewish population had converted, either genuinely or under duress.
- This created tensions over sincerity of faith, leading to later hostility toward conversos.
- Rise of the Inquisition
- Concerns over “crypto-Judaism” (secret practice of Judaism) led to the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition (1478).
- Decline of convivencia
- The pogroms undermined centuries of coexistence in al-Andalus and Christian Spain.
- By 1492, the Alhambra Decree formally expelled Jews from Spain.
- Diaspora
- Survivors fled to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and other parts of Europe, where they contributed to trade and scholarship.
Christian Doctrine and Teaching
- The Church portrayed Islam as heretical, sometimes as a “Christian deviation” or even as devil-inspired.
- Preachers depicted Muslims as a threat to Christian souls and Christendom’s survival.
- Clerical teaching emphasized exclusivity of Christianity: coexistence with Muslims was seen as dangerous.
- Hostility linked to efforts to purify Christian society (e.g., Reconquista framed as a holy struggle).
Common Mistake
- Confusing doctrinal hostility with political reality: while the Church preached intolerance, rulers often tolerated Muslims for pragmatic reasons.
- Over-generalizing Church teaching → not all Christian thinkers condemned Muslims in the same way.
- Ignoring the difference between theory and practice: sermons vs. lived coexistence.
Exam technique
- Highlight contrast between official doctrine (intolerance) and pragmatic tolerance (economic/cultural necessity).
- Don’t confuse Islam with paganism (many medieval Christians didn’t see Muslims as idolaters but as heretics).
- Show nuance: e.g., Thomas Aquinas vs. papal decrees → different levels of hostility.
Self review
- To what extent did the Crusades shape long-term European perceptions of Islam and contribute to the idea of a permanent religious divide between Christianity and Islam?
- How did fear of Muslim political, military, and economic power in al-Andalus and beyond influence Christian kingdoms’ decision to frame conflicts as holy wars?
- In what ways did Church doctrine and papal rhetoric justify and sustain hostility toward Muslims during the Crusades and the Reconquista?
