Richard Long (The Crusades - How Islam Won)

Richard Long and his wife Jan, who is President Elect of Ledbury Rotary Club, joined us on January 10th 2018.  Richard came with an extremely good pedigree, having been Head Boy at the same school as our own Mike Till.
 
Those of us who were not at a school that was good enough to offer this subject at GCE or A Level, were at somewhat of a disadvantage from the outset. Thankfully, Richard limited himself to the eight Crusades, which started in 1095. The first Crusade was initiated when the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus requested help in reconquering the lost territory of Asia Minor from the Seljuk Turks.  Pope Urban ll, at the Council of Clermont in Southern France in November 1095, called on Western Christianity to join an armed “Pilgrimage” in order to assist the Byzantines to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control.

The Crusades were a series of holy wars called by the Popes and directed against the perceived enemies of Christendom. Crusaders took vows and in return were granted “indulgencies”.  The Papacy absolved crusaders of their sins for their participation in, what was termed, sacred activity.
 
From the first through to the eighth crusade, it was a familiar and repetitive story of death and destruction in the name of ideology or religion.  Do I hear similar calls to arms today? I can see only one outcome to this and any future struggles. Namely, more death and destruction, if only because of the munitions available today. It will be worse with greater loss of life and greater damage to infrastructure.  What is happening to our world and civilisation as we know it?  What will those of us who live long enough or our grandchildren have to live through and suffer in the next twenty five or fifty years?
 
Thank you to Richard for a talk packed with facts and figures.

John Barnes