Great Moments in Stupidity VII: The Crusades

The Crusades were a series of wars instigated by a Pope (Urban II), fought by nobility and peasants alike, and were ended by a combination of apathy and the Black Death (plague). Within these three events lies enough stupidity to furnish an entire solar system with enough contradictions that not even the Laws of Nature could control the resultant damage.

In order to understand the impact of stupidity on the series of Christian jihads known as The Crusades it will first be necessary to understand the impact of stupidity on the events that would lead to developments in Medieval Europe.

Europe had become a relatively tranquil place following the collapse of Charlemagne's Empire as the previously vassal French states became independent countries with reasonably stable borders; along with the conversions of the Vikings (north) and the Magyars (east) to Christianity. This meant that the warrior class, which had been a vital asset in more unstable times, now had nothing better to than to fight among themselves or to raid (read "rape and pillage") the inhabitants of the territories controlled by neighboring kingdoms. In regards to the latter outlet for the aggressive tendencies of the otherwise unemployed knights and their hangers-on, campaigns against non-Christians in general and Jews in particular were always in vogue, with occasional forays against the Muslim-occupied areas of Spain running a close second in popularity.