Western Civilization Primary Source #3

In AD 1096, a group of crusaders on their way to Jerusalem killed many Jews along the way. They attacked Mainz on May 27, 1096. The Jew’s attempt at holding off the crusaders did not last long because they were weak from fasting and greatly outnumbered. The crusaders led by Emico eventually overtake the Jews led by Rabbi Kalonymus ben Meshullam. The Jews, seeing that death was inevitable, panicked and killed each other and themselves as sacrifices to God. Thus the Jews at Mainz were slaughtered because of the crusaders.
Solomon bar Samson’s account of the Crusader’s attack on Mainz in AD 1096 is for the most part believable. The names of the leaders, the locations, and the dates are believable because theses are facts that are affirmable by other sources. Such things would be well known at that time and his contemporaries would bring any inaccuracy to the attention of the historian. The more detailed the account becomes, however, the less reliable the source becomes. Solomon’s religious bias does cast doubt on his reliability. His name reveals his Jewish ancestry and phrases such as “our brilliant master, Isaac ben Moses.” References such as “the sins of the Jews” do however leave some ambiguity as to where his bias lies. Such bold claims also hurt his reliability because they are conjecture rather than verifiable facts.
Since the crusaders were on their way to fight a holy war to recapture Jerusalem , why did they take on other enemies in the process? In wartime one should try to make as many friends as possible, not enemies. By attacking the Jews, the crusaders no doubt lost valuable time, resources, and lives. The crusaders were looking for a fight. Some in this volunteer army had spent their lives training for battle that had yet to come. Large groups of people have a tendency to be uncontrollable and unruly. Giving a large group of uneducated, undisciplined people weapons and a religious mandate to kill is a recipe for disaster, whether it be their own or that of their enemies. Christians and Jews have always had an uneasy relationship and as they passed Jewish cities with their large army, surely some of them realized the distinct advantage in numbers they had over the Jews. Their large numbers gave them confidence and some probably viewed these as practice battles while others as divine retribution. They were, after all, carrying out God’s will by killing the Muslims so why not kill the people that killed Christ.