Piracy Between Christian and Muslims
Fritz Charles Howser
Piracy
Take Home Test 1
February 22, 2013
Christian-Muslim Interface
The crusades were a tough time to be in Asia Minor, the Western Europeans were engaging in religious wars. Christianity was being spread using propaganda while engaging in war against the Muslim religion. Typical fighting wasn’t the norm during the Crusades, each side was trying to figure out a way to get a leg up on the competition. When the Christians figured out they could use pirates as an advantage they were more than willing to commission them. Piracy during this time became a big business for the crusades. Pirates were hired as privateers on both the Christian and Muslim sides of the spectrum to fight one another. Both religions were constantly against each other; in an attempt to wipe the other one out. For both religions, it was a matter of making attacks on one another, and justifying the attacks on each other in order to make a statement. Initially individual cities and lords commissioned the Pirates. First it was the Christians who commissioned the pirates as privateers. Doing so, their ultimate goal was to use the pirates as a tactic to invade from the ocean and destroy the Muslim Cities. Under the watchful eye of the crown, the pirates would do as they were told, raiding and looting the cities. In this situation, the pirates could attack the Muslims and catch them off guard, when coming from the sea. This gave the Christians a huge advantage in their conquest of the holy wars.
Piracy evolved and provided the crusades with a “Christian-Muslim Interface.” The goal of the crusades was to spread Christianity through religious wars where Western Europeans would invade countries in Asia Minor. This was a problem because so much fighting and bloodshed that was happening. As piracy was becoming largely popular it was seen as a benefit for the Christians to commission pirates to fight for them. In these situations the Christians didn’t have to utilize their
Piracy
Take Home Test 1
February 22, 2013
Christian-Muslim Interface
The crusades were a tough time to be in Asia Minor, the Western Europeans were engaging in religious wars. Christianity was being spread using propaganda while engaging in war against the Muslim religion. Typical fighting wasn’t the norm during the Crusades, each side was trying to figure out a way to get a leg up on the competition. When the Christians figured out they could use pirates as an advantage they were more than willing to commission them. Piracy during this time became a big business for the crusades. Pirates were hired as privateers on both the Christian and Muslim sides of the spectrum to fight one another. Both religions were constantly against each other; in an attempt to wipe the other one out. For both religions, it was a matter of making attacks on one another, and justifying the attacks on each other in order to make a statement. Initially individual cities and lords commissioned the Pirates. First it was the Christians who commissioned the pirates as privateers. Doing so, their ultimate goal was to use the pirates as a tactic to invade from the ocean and destroy the Muslim Cities. Under the watchful eye of the crown, the pirates would do as they were told, raiding and looting the cities. In this situation, the pirates could attack the Muslims and catch them off guard, when coming from the sea. This gave the Christians a huge advantage in their conquest of the holy wars.
Piracy evolved and provided the crusades with a “Christian-Muslim Interface.” The goal of the crusades was to spread Christianity through religious wars where Western Europeans would invade countries in Asia Minor. This was a problem because so much fighting and bloodshed that was happening. As piracy was becoming largely popular it was seen as a benefit for the Christians to commission pirates to fight for them. In these situations the Christians didn’t have to utilize their
Cited: Robert I Burns S.J., “Piracy as an Islamic Christian Interface in the Thirteenth Century” London. 1980