Rick Santorum probably has no idea who Saladin and King Richard I of England were, or that they once went head to head in battle. For a while Richard the Lion-Hearted had the edge and he made a deal with Saladin to spare the lives of 2,700 residents of Acre. When Saladin couldn’t keep his end of the deal, those prisoners were put to death. Here’s an eyewitness account:
…The Franks, on reaching the middle of the plain that stretches between this hill and that of Keisan, close to which place the sultan’s advanced guard had drawn back, ordered all the Musulman whose martyrdom God had decreed for this day, to be brought before him. They numbered more than three thousand and were all bound with ropes.
The Franks then flung themselves upon them all at once and massacred them with sword and lance in cold blood. Our advanced guard had already told the Sultan of the enemy’s movements and he sent it some reinforcements, but only after the massacre.
The Musulmans, seeing what was being done to the prisoners, rushed against the Franks and in the combat, which lasted till nightfall, several were slain and wounded on either side. On the morrow morning our people gathered at the spot and found the Musulmans stretched out upon the ground as martyrs for the faith. They even recognised some of the dead, and the sight was a great affliction to them. The enemy had only spared the prisoners of note and such as were strong enough to work.
Here’s Ricky Santorum’s version of history:
“The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical,” Santorum said in Spartanburg on Tuesday. “And that is what the perception is by the American left who hates Christendom.”
He added, “They hate Western civilization at the core. That’s the problem.”
Now, I am not saying that there wasn’t aggression on all sides, but it’s absurd to say that the Crusades didn’t involve Christian aggression against Islam.