The Cannibals of Ma'arra
by Saracaen Publications Tuesday October 07, 2003 at 08:09 AM

Crusaders out of fanaticism and their religious fervor lead them to view the Muslims as lower than animals.

crusades.jpg, image/jpeg, 345x475

The Cannibals of Ma’arra

From the very beginning, during the Crusades (1096-1100 A.D.), the Crusaders gained themselves a reputation for their barbaric behavior amongst the Muslim inhabitants of Syria, and much of that reputation would appear to have been founded on the horrific events which occurred at Ma’arra al-Numan. Following the fall of Antioch, the Crusaders raided the surrounding countryside in the lean winter months failing to bring in anything like sufficient supplies to feed their large numbers. They laid siege on the town of Ma’arra al-Numan. As many as 20,000 of its inhabitants are reported to have been massacred, despite assurances that their lives would be spared.
But if such events were common during those times, what happened next was certainly not. The Christian soldiers started to cannibalize Muslim Men, Women and Children. Men and Women were boiled then eaten. Children were barbequed on spits, somewhat like a shish-kabob. In a letter to the Pope one of the Crusader commanders wrote; Radulph of Caen wrote explicitly how: "In Ma'arra our troops boiled pagan adults alive in cooking-pots; they impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled." For centuries afterwards, the image of the Crusaders as fanatical cannibals lived on in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature. Some Arab commentators have even suggested that the behavior of the Crusaders was born not of necessity, but rather out of fanaticism, their religious fervor leading them to view the Muslims as lower than animals. Thus Amin Maalouf, in his book The Crusades through Arab Eyes, points to the words of the Crusader chronicler, Albert of Aix, who wrote: "Not only did our troops not shrink from eating dead Turks and Saracens; they also ate dogs!” What is interesting to note is that if these Christians were really on a “Holy” mission to oust the “heathen” Muslims…then why did they break Christian morals and values to eat Muslim Men, Women, and Children?

www.saracen.us

add your comments