There are many misconceptions regarding the crusades that exist in the mind of the average person. One of them is that the crusades were an unprovoked attack on the Muslims. This is about the opposite of the reality. At the time Muslims had taken over much of Saudi Arabia and had conquered North Africa and Spain and were a constant threat to the Byzantine empire and the rest of Europe. The next one is that the crusaders went on crusade for money. This is ridiculous since most of the crusaders were already wealthy but to go on crusade they would have to get mortgages or go bankrupt because of the enormous expense of going on crusade. One is that modern terrorism is the result of the crusades. The reality is that the crusades were so disastrous and unsuccessful that most Muslims didn’t even remember the crusades. The first Muslim to even mention the crusades in a book wasn’t until 1899. Another one is that the crusaders massacred in Jerusalem until the streets fan ankle deep in blood. This one is partially true since when the crusaders took over Jerusalem in the first crusade there was a big massacre. But this was because Jerusalem had resisted takeover of their city until the end and in medieval warfare it was common to put a city to the sword if they resisted takeover.
