15. During the First Crusade of 1096, Jewish towns in Europe were destroyed
The Crusades were holy wars launched by Christian Europe to take back the Holy Land from Muslim rule. They represent one of the most brutal, racist periods of history, and yet Crusader outfits and ephemera are still popular today: work that one out. Anyway, knights of the First Crusade of 1096 razed Jewish communities to the ground and slaughtered Jewish people indiscriminately. In 1099, Jerusalem itself was under siege, and once it fell, the Jewish inhabitants sought sanctuary in a synagogue. Frankish knights simply set it alight, killing them all, according to the chronicler Ibn al-Qalanisi.
Back in Europe, plenty of people who couldn’t afford a trip to the Holy Land still wanted in on the antisemitic fun. The People’s Crusade of 1096 saw the wholesale massacre of Jewish communities across Europe, most notably in the Rhineland region of Germany. The region’s affluent Jewish community was unprepared for the racist violence inflicted upon them. At Mainz alone, c.1, 000 Jews were slain in the streets. Although Jews were officially targeted for being the enemies of Christianity, many knights were actually in debt to Jewish moneylenders, giving an extra financial fillip to the holy devastation.
