ABSTRACT
The calling of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095 illustrates for many the fundamental attitude that medieval Christians held toward the members of the other Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Islam. Indeed, the Crusades dramatically reveal the adversarial relationship that characterized much of Western Christendom’s relationship with Muslims and Jews. Clearly, the Crusades were aimed at rescuing the Holy Lands from what Westerners thought were pagans and infi dels. The image of Muslims as idolaters and heretics was increasingly developed in medieval Europe from this time forward, as was the image of Muhammad (570-632) as a drunken and lascivious blasphemer. The fi rst and later crusades also contributed toward violence against the Jews, most notably the pogroms of Mainz, Cologne, and Speyer in 1096. The image of the Jew also suffered as a stereotypical portrait of a greedy, lustful, and diabolical Jew began to emerge after the year 1000. Indeed, a persecuting mentality emerged in European society beginning in the eleventh century, as the stereotypes of Muslims and Jews demonstrate; 1 at the same time, however, a more open and tolerant view of Muslims and Jews developed alongside the negative stereotypes.
