With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Christians and Muslims are distorting crusades, says historian

Comparisons between modern Muslim-Christian tensions and the crusades of 1099 are a 'distortion', announces Tom Asbridge at the Hay festival.

Christian and Muslim attempts to draw parallels between the tensions of today and the crusades of almost 1,000 years ago are a distortion and manipulation of history, according to historian Tom Asbridge.

Speaking at the Guardian Hay festival today, Asbridge, author of two books on the crusades, argued that the modern belief that the Christian and Muslim worlds have been "inevitably predicated towards conflict" since the crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099 is not based on historical realities.
Read entire article at Guardian