Vatican reconsiders the Crusades

It appears now that the Vatican is willing to take a more positive stance towards the Crusades than in the recent past. This is certainly good news.

One area being contended is the notion that the Crusades were an unprovoked war of Christian aggression against Islam. Not true: Much of the area where the Crusades took place were originally under the rule of the (Christian) Byzantine Empire, until the Islamic armies conquered them in the 7th century A.D.

In fact in recent years, many commonly held myths about the Crusades have been exploded by historians. Rather than being motivated primarily by greed, historians now claim that most Crusaders fought out of a genuine religious zeal. Not only that, but most Crusaders came from more common social backgrounds(tradesmen, peasants, etc.) as opposed to purely coming from the nobility. The line between Richard the Lionheart and Peter the Hermit(who lead "the People's Crusade") was more blurry than originally believed.

Not only that, Jay Williams in his recent book The Way of the Crusades has even given light to major cultural achievements that were made both in Europe and the Islamic world as a result of the Crusades.

So the tide is turning against those who wish to bash the historical practices of our ancestors. Catholics, let us follow the lead of the Vatican in defending and vindicating our faith and heritage!