The similarities of 10th and 14th century Europe and 21st Century America

Per red's request.

My contention is there is virtually no similarity between late middle ages Europe, particularly the 10th and 14th centuries and modern America. They are radically different on every level.

 

That they are radically different on every level.

 

The one similarity would be the black death. Obama and the Plague. hahaha, just kidding.

 

He stated in the other thread that the Spanish Inquisition was needed to stop the spread of radical islam. Now there is something that sounds familiar, that actually sounds like something someone out of the last administration would have given as an excuse to invade some small podunk country.

 

No G. Not what this thread was about.

Now if you want to discuss the inquisition we can, but as I stated you don't know enough about it to really discuss it. Read a few scholarly works and then let's discuss.

 

:wave:

 

I did not know what you were challenging. I apologize for my misunderstanding.

Do you understand the climate that led to the Crusades being launched? Muslims were the agressors. For three hundred years they had been conquering Christian regions, killing Christians and Jews, destoying trade routes, confiscating property, and demanding tributes. After the Byzantine army was destoyed at Manzikert the Byzantine Emperor begged the Pope and the nations of Christendom for help.

The purpose of the Crusades were not to attack Muslim lands, but to liberate and defend oppressed Christians. It was a purely defensive war.

The reasons behind the inquisiton were far more multi-faceted than to stamp out heresy. And to say heresy was not a civil crime is to not understand the conditions of Spain at the time. Moorish and Jewish converts were acting as a fifth column to undermine the authroity of the Spanish monarchy. There was legitimate fear of a Moorish reconquest of Spain.

You also have to understand that ecclesiastical courts were, at the time, considered to be much milder than the state courts. It was common for those being tried to blaspheme, so their cases would be transferred to the jurisdiction of the inquisition.

You have told me before that you have never read a scholarly work on the Inquisition. From your posts I know most of your knowledge is based on the black legend, and not on fact. If read a work by a secular, professional historian, and have the same opinions of the inquisition as you do now, I would be utterly shocked.

Now note, that I am not saying the inquisitions were entirely good. There were certainly some extremities. I'm not even saying there were not elements of persecution. I'm saying they were far less severe than commonly believed, and even mild by any standard of the time.​