Domhnall

Someone needs to tell the Islamophobes: Europe was made Christian at the point of the sword and the most important targets and lasting conquests of the centuries of Crusades were not the Muslims but the people of Europe.

This history looks at the enforced Christianisation of the northern lands around the Baltic, the long and fierce defence of the pagans against encroachment and the Christian commitment to endless warfare, characterized above all by the fanatical orders of crusading monks, for whom campaigning was never merely seasonal and never for limited objectives, but a total and uncompromising commitment to complete and final victory. Yet for the secular rulers in these lands, religion was always secondary to the material goals of plunder and tribute, conquest and the control of land. The choice between Christianity and paganism was largely a strategic one and ultimately, the Christians had the greater resources - and the more ferocious commitment to endless warfare.

Place this history alongside accounts of Charlamagne's brutal "conversion" of the Saxons, the Albigensian Crusade to "convert" the Cathars (or "kill them all"), the Normans in Southern Italy and Sicily and the Spanish "Reconquista" to get a more complete picture of the way Europe was reduced to (Roman) Christianity by fire and sword.

“Christianity had not pacified these peoples. They were still dominated by fighters, brought up to kill and be killed, whether they lived as princes, landowners or swordsmen; and between the fighting classes and the rest there was a barrier of birth, breeding and outlook reinforced by heroic tradition and law. ...foreigners found it brutal and unchristian.” [p.69]

“When the Saxons demanded to be let loose on the Slavs, they did so for good old-fashioned reasons, either to get submission and tribute, or to seize more land; for the Danes it was an opportunity for revenge and retaliation against the pirates and slavers, and for the Poles a chance of intimidating the Prussians. The fact that knes Nyklot and his people were heathen was a secondary consideration; ... ” [ P.112].

“Both rulers were religious enough. Henry went on an arduous pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1172-3 and Valdemar donated half of his patrimonial lands to Danish churches. But neither could afford the luxury of religious wars. They fought to increase their wealth and prestige and did so by fighting each other, if necessary, the heathen Slavs at other times, and the Christian Slavs also.” [p 129].