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Walter Scott, The Talisman, the Crusades, Richard I of England and Saladin: Myths, Legends and History
by Ibn Warraq
Part 2
Part 1

Sir Walter Scott, under the influence of the Scottish historian William Robertson, who had perpetuated the Enlightenment myth of the superiority of Islamic civilization, continued the theme of the vain and avaricious Christian Crusaders in contrast to the chivalrous and honorable Saracens. Jonathan Riley-Smith summarizes Scott’s influence on the entire Romantic movement and their attitude to the Crusades:

Four of Scott’s novels involved crusades and crusaders. Count Robert of Paris [1831] was set in Constantinople at the time of the First Crusade; the other three were set during the Third Crusade. Ivanhoe [1819] and The Betrothed [1825] were concerned with events on the home front, while the plot of The Talisman [1825] was set in Palestine and centered on the friendship between a Scottish knight and Saladin, who appeared in a bewildering array of disguises, including that of a skilled physician who cured King Richard of England. The novels painted a picture of crusaders who were brave and glamorous, but also vainglorious, avaricious, childish, and boorish. Few of them were genuinely moved by religion or the crusade ideal; most had taken the cross out of pride, greed, or ambition. The worst of them were the brothers of the military orders, who may have been courageous and disciplined but were also arrogant, privileged, corrupt, voluptuous, and unprincipled. An additional theme, the cultural superiority of the Muslims, which was only hinted at in the other novels, pervaded The Talisman.[2]

Edward Said, in fact, chose the one novel of the crusades which explicitly extolled the virtues of the Saracens and the superiority of their culture, and not the contrary, as he claimed in Orientalism. I shall come back to The Talisman, once I have gone through the other three novels involving crusades or crusaders.

The Betrothed, and Count Robert of Paris.

Sir Walter Scott wrote four novels that refer in one way or other to the Crusades; the first two were published together in 1825 under the general heading Tales of the Crusaders, The Betrothed, and The Talisman, the other two novels being Ivanhoe [1819] and Count Robert of Paris [1832].

Let us dispose of The Betrothed first. Although parts of it were incorporated into Francesco Maria Piave's libretto for Giuseppe Verdi's 1857 opera, Aroldo, The Betrothed is of little literary interest, and is virtually unreadable; Scott’s biographer Hesketh Pearson wrote, "The Betrothed was clearly composed in a somnolent if not stertorous condition, and would score high marks in a competition to decide which was the dreariest and stupidest book ever produced by a writer of genius." [1] It has very little to do with the Crusades as such: the tale unfolds in the Welsh Marches during the reign of Henry II after 1187. One of the characters in the tale, Sir Hugo de Lacy, the Constable of Chester, disappears on a crusade for three years, but the Crusades play no part in the plot.

Count Robert of Paris [1832] is a far more interesting novel, and though it is set in Constantinople at the time of the First Crusade, it works best as a novel of ideas, since it constantly contrasts the manners, principles, goals and actions of the Frankish knights on their way to the Holy Land with those of the values and goals of the Greco-Roman Classical society of Byzantium. Along the way, Scott is able to discuss religion, politics, and the internecine squabbles and grievances amongst the Europeans and the dangers the latter pose to the stabililty of the Byzantine Empire.

One of Scott’s principal sources for the First Crusade and Byzantium in general, and hence the novel Count Robert of Paris, was Anna Comnena or Komnene’s The Alexiad. One of the foremost authorities on the First Crusade and Byzantium, Peter Frankopan, Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, University of Oxford, wrote, “The Alexiad is perhaps the most famous of all the vast range of Byzantine texts. Written in the mid-twelfth century by a princess, the beautiful and fiercely intelligent Anna Komnene, daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (reigned 1081-1118), it is a stylish and colourful account of the defining period in the formation of modern Europe. The text covers the time of the First Crusade, the establishment of a Turkish state in Asia Minor, the decisive schism of the eastern and western churches, and ultimately, the separation of the east and west Mediterranean”. [2]

[1] Hesketh Pearson. Walter Scott: His Life and Personality, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954, p. 54.
[2] Peter Frankopan. Introduction in Anna Komnene The Alexiad. London: Penguin Books, Revised Edn. 2009, p.ix.

To be continued.

Ibn Warraq is the author of numerous books, including Why the West Is Best and Why I Am Not A Muslim.

Well, now that we know that some genius put Bible quotes on gun sights, the whole misbegotten enterprise in Afghanistan is revealed as a Crusade after all -- isn't it?

Sure -- if you already believed it was a Crusade.

Islamic jihadists have always been intent upon characterizing their opponents as Crusaders (or Zionists, or both, as in the indelible honorific Al-Qaeda's Adam Gadahn once bestowed upon me: "Zionist Crusader"). Shortly before the beginning of the Iraq war, on November 8, 2002, Sheikh Bakr Abed Al-Razzaq Al-Samaraai preached in Baghdad's Mother of All Battles mosque about "this difficult hour in which the Islamic nation [is] experiencing, an hour in which it faces the challenge of [forces] of disbelief of infidels, Jews, crusaders, Americans and Britons."

Similarly, when Islamic jihadists bombed the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in December 2004, they explained that the attack was part of larger plan to strike back at "Crusaders:" "This operation comes as part of several operations that are organized and planned by al Qaeda as part of the battle against the crusaders and the Jews, as well as part of the plan to force the unbelievers to leave the Arabian Peninsula." They said that jihad warriors "managed to enter one of the crusaders' big castles in the Arabian Peninsula and managed to enter the American consulate in Jeddah, in which they control and run the country."

And now come the gun sights. But a few Bible verses on gun sights doth not a Crusader make. Did American troops in Iraq or Afghanistan impose Christianity on the populace? They did not. (Neither did the real Crusaders, for that matter, but never mind that for now.) Did they even allow proselytizing? They did not. Did the Americans allow for the establishment of Sharia provisions in the Iraqi and Afghan Constitutions that relegated local non-Muslims to second-class status in both countries? Yes, they did.

The whole controversy over these Bible verses is a contrived exercise in moral equivalence, designed once again to distract attention away from the manifest reality that there is a worldwide religious group that is waging war against unbelievers in the name of religion. And the religion in question is not Christianity.

"Bible gun sights 'inappropriate,'" by David Charter for Al Jazeera, January 21 (thanks to David):

Coded Bible references on gun sights used by a number of armies, including the US, have been called "inappropriate".

New Zealand said on Thursday that its military would remove the citations from the sights, which were made in the US, as the messages were unsuitable given its involvement in operations in Muslim countries.

"The inscriptions ... put us in a difficult situation," Kristian Dunne, the New Zealand defence force spokesman, said.

"We were unaware of it and we're unhappy that the manufacturer didn't give us any indication that these were on there."

New Zealand has instructed the defence contractor Trijicon, which is based in Wixon in Michigan, to remove the citations from their future orders of the weapon sights.

Dunne said that New Zealand has 260 such sights, first bought in 2004, which will continue to be used once the codes are removed as they are the best quality available.

US contracts

The US Marine Corps was said by ABC News, which broke the news of the inscriptions, to have a $660 million contract over multiple years with Trijicon for them to make 800,000 units of the product. Trijicon has other contracts to supply the US amy with the sights.

"We all know of the religious tensions around this issue and it's unwise to do anything that could be seen to raise tensions in an unnecessary way"

"If determined to be true, this is clearly inappropriate and we are looking into possible remedies," Commander Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman, told the AFP news agency.

The sights are used on weapons used during the training of Afghan and Iraqi soldiers under contracts with the US army and Marine Corps.

The US-based Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) called on Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, to immediately withdraw the equipment from combat.

"Having Biblical references on military equipment violates the basic ideals and values our country was founded upon," Haris Tarin, MPAC Washington director, said in a statement.

"Worse still, it provides propaganda ammo to extremists who claim there is a 'Crusader war against Islam' by the United States."...

"He responded to God’s call and was seeking his paradise and wanted glory for his religion." From Arab News, with thanks to Eschwapp:

RIYADH/JEDDAH, 24 June 2005 — A statement posted on the Internet by the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, said yesterday that Abdullah Al-Rashoud, one of the most wanted men on a Saudi list of 26 terrorists, had been killed in US airstrikes on the Iraqi town of Qaim near the Syrian border....

Abdullah Muhammad Rashid Al-Rashoud, 37, had been No. 24 on the list of the 26 most wanted terror leaders put out by the Kingdom two years ago and was one of only three militants on the list still at large.

The web posting, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, said he slipped into Iraq in April. “He entered Iraq a month and a half ago as an immigrant crossing the border to Al-Fayafi and Al-Qaffar to Al-Qaim to participate in the battles there. He responded to God’s call and was seeking his paradise and wanted glory for his religion,” the statement said. It did not mention the date he was killed but said that it was due to the aerial bombings of the city.

“When the Crusaders could not enter the area, the only thing they could do was bombard the Mujahedeen with warplanes,” it said. “Our sheikh (Al-Rashoud) got what he wished” — martyrdom....

Al-Rashoud was one of the religious leaders of the terrorists in the Kingdom. He issued statements through the Internet calling for young men to join him and his fellow terrorists in fighting jihad.

From MEMRI:

On Friday June 17, 2005, Al-Jazeera TV released a tape of an address by Al-Qa'ida deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The following are excerpts from the speech by Al-Zawahiri aired by Al-Jazeera:

Al-Zawahiri: "True reform is based on three principles:

"The first principle is the rule of Shari'a[Islamic law], because Shari'a, which was given by God, protects the believers' interests, freedom, honor, and pride, and protects what is sacred to them. The Islamic nation will not accept any other law, after it has suffered from the anti-Islamic trends forcefully imposed on it.

"The second principle of reform is the freedom of the lands of Islam. No reform is conceivable while our countries are occupied by the Crusader forces, which are spread throughout our countries. No reform is conceivable while the Crusader forces are stationed in our countries [where they] enjoy support, supplies, and storage facilities, and go forth from our countries to attack our brothers and sisters in other Islamic countries. No reform is conceivable while our governments are controlled by the American embassies, which stick their noses into all our affairs.

"The third principle of reform is the Muslim nation's freedom to run its own affairs. This [principle of] reform will only be realized in two ways. First, freedom of the independent religious judicial system, the implementation of its rulings, and the guaranteeing of its honor, authority, and strength. Second, the freedom and the right of the Islamic nation to implement the principle of 'promoting virtue and preventing vice.'

"I would also like to stress that the expulsion of the invading Crusader and Jews from the lands of Islam will not be accomplished merely through demonstrations and hoarse throats in the streets. Reform and expelling the invaders from the lands of Islam will only be accomplished by fighting for the sake of Allah.

"Allah said: 'Fight them until all strife ceases and religion is professed for the pleasure of Allah alone.' He also said: 'Fight them, and Allah will punish them at your hands and will humiliate them, and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers.'

"I salute my brothers, the lions of Islam, who are on the holy front of Islam around Jerusalem. I call upon them in the name of Allah not to abandon their Jihad, not to throw down their weapons, not to believe the counsel of the collaborators, not to forget the lessons of history, not to trust the secularists who have sold Palestine cheaply, and not to be drawn into the secular game of elections in accordance with a secular constitution."...

From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

HINESBURG, Vt. -- The Crusaders of Champlain Valley Union High are now history.

The School Board in the Vermont community is selecting a new nickname and mascot for the school.

The Islamic world has criticized the Crusades.

Yes, and I have criticized Islamic jihads, but I don't see that compelling any jihad terrorists to pack it in. This is just part of the larger campaign to make the West ashamed of its own culture and history -- the easier to subvert it. The West has nothing to apologize for in the Crusades, as I explain in my forthcoming book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).

And closer to home, some people object to a knight bearing a crucifix as the symbol for a public school.

The image makeover will be implemented in time for the next school year.

Redhawks, Bobcats and Red Wolves are all in the running for Union High's new nickname.

I, Freakin Batman, have a suggestion: Cringin' Dhimmis. The Champlain Valley Union High Cringin' Dhimmis. How about it, School Board members? The mascot could be a little guy with a wide yellow belt and no shoes, head down, obsequious grin on his face. What do you think?

Osama bin Laden meets Jack Chick: the Vatican got the US to stage 9/11 in order to control the world! A beyond-parody article from MEMRI, with thanks to all who sent this in:

The following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian historian Professor Zaynab Abd Al-Aziz, which aired on Saudi Iqra TV [1] on May 26, 2005. [To view this clip from MEMRI TV visit http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=708]

Abd Al-Aziz: "The decision to impose one religion over the entire world was made in the Second Vatican Council in 1965."

Host: "Huh?"

Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. A long time ago."

Host: "They decided to Christianize the world?"

Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. The decisions of the 1965 Vatican Council included, first of all, absolving the Jews of the blood of Christ. This decision is well known and was the basis for the recognition of the occupying Zionist entity - Israel. The second decision was to eradicate the left in the eighties. I believe we've all witnessed this. The third decision was to eradicate Islam, so that the world would be Christianized by the third millennium."

Host: "Why is America hostile to Islam, although we never had and never will have the same conflict with them we had with Europe?"

Abd Al-Aziz: "Well, do you remember what we just said about the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and about Christianizing the world? It was agreed upon and pre-arranged. John Paul II prepared a five-year plan, on the eve of the third millennium, Christianize the world. His address in 1995 was based on the assumption that by the year 2000, the entire world would be Christianized. Since the plan was not accomplished, the World Council of Churches assigned this mission to the US in January 2001, since the US is the world's unrivaled military power. They named the decade between 2001-2010 "the age of eradicating evil" – "evil" referring to Islam and Muslims.

"The Crusader war is ongoing, because it has been a religious war since the dawn of Islam. Later, colonialism, missionaries, and Christianization were introduced. The Crusader war is ongoing. The Inquisition courts exist to this day. As I told you, the pope who was appointed a few days ago, headed the Inquisition Court, which is now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

And they call Zaynab Abd Al-Aziz a "historian." Note the projection: it is the jihad that is ongoing, while a Crusade is inconceivable today -- but that doesn't stop these fevered paranoid fantasies.

"When in January 2001, the World Council of Churches delegated this mission to the US - what did the US do? It fabricated the show of… is it September 9 or 11?"

Host: "11. Please explain this to me."

Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes, of course…"

Host: "You mean to say that the World Council of Churches delegated the mission of Christianizing of the world to the US."

Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. And how could the US win legitimacy for this without anyone saying that they are perpetrating massacres and waging a Crusader war? It fabricated the 9/11 show. I call it a fabrication because much has been written on this. We are also to blame. Why do we accept a single perspective? Countless books were written, some of which were even translated into Arabic, like Thierry Meyssan's 9/11 – The Appalling Fraud [2] and Pentagate. "Pentagate" like Watergate… He brings documents to prove that the method used in destroying the three (sic) towers was "controlled demolition.

Thanks, Professor, but I'm due back on the planet Earth now.

From the New Duranty Times, with thanks to Jerry Gordon:

SIR RIDLEY SCOTT'S new blockbuster, "Kingdom of Heaven," could hardly be more topical. It shows Muslims resisting Christian invaders, battles raging in wind-whipped deserts, ancient cities under siege and civilians cowering. It even shows prisoners decapitated for their beliefs.

O.K., so all this screen mayhem is meant to be happening more than eight centuries ago, but doesn't it sound like recent news from Iraq?

Well, the movie is not meant to show that Christians and Muslims have been at one another's throats for centuries. Rather, by dwelling on the extended, turbulent holy war known as the Crusades, Sir Ridley said he hoped to demonstrate that Christians, Muslims and Jews could live together in harmony - if only fanaticism were kept at bay.

To that end, for all the furious battle scenes in "Kingdom of Heaven," which opens nationwide on May 6, Mr. Scott and his screenwriter, William Monahan, have tried to be balanced. Muslims are portrayed as bent on coexistence until Christian extremists ruin everything. And even when the Christians are defeated, the Muslims give them safe conduct to return to Europe.

If this is accurate about the film, I can't imagine why The Scholar of the House is so upset about this movie. But as an accurate portrayal of history, this is laughable -- as I will show in my forthcoming book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades (Regnery).

"It's actually about doing the right thing," said Sir Ridley, 67, a Briton whose screen combat experience also includes directing "1492: Conquest of Paradise," "Black Hawk Down" and "Gladiator." "I know that sounds incredibly simplistic. It's about temptation and avoiding temptation. It's about ethics. It's about going to war over passion and idealism. Idealism is great if it's balanced and humanitarian."

If so, the Crusaders got a few things wrong. From 638, when Muslims first occupied Jerusalem, both Christians and Jews were permitted to visit their holy sites. Then, in 1095, responding to an appeal from the Byzantine Christian Church in Constantinople, Pope Urban II organized the First Crusade to liberate Jerusalem. Four years later, those crusaders seized the city, massacring almost all its inhabitants in a bloodbath invoked to this day.

Seven more crusades were waged, bringing European monarchs, lords, knights and their armies of devout followers to fight - and settle - in an area stretching between what is today Syria and Egypt. The Muslims responded with their own sporadic jihads until finally, by 1291, the Christians had been driven out.

It's hard not to wonder, is this really a good time to show warring Christians and Muslims as entertainment?

No mention here, of course, of 450 years of Muslim invasions and conquests of Christian lands that preceded the Crusades -- or of sacks of cities by Muslims that equalled the brutality of the Crusaders' sack of Jerusalem. One atrocity does not justify another, but what the Crusaders did in Jerusalem was common practice for armies in those days.

Muhammad's Army is at the ready in Sudan: the tiny minority of extremists alerts worshippers at the central mosque in Khartoum. From CNN, :

Meanwhile a group calling itself Mohammed's army called on Muslims to prepare to fight Western forces sent on any mission to western Sudan....

In its warning of action against western forces, the previously unknown group said in a statement obtained by Reuters: "We have seen and heard of the American and British interference in Darfur and there is no doubt that this is a crusader war that bears no relation to the citizens of Darfur."

"We call upon you to speedily head towards Darfur and dig deep into the ground mass graves prepared for the crusader army," it added.

Witness said young Sudanese men were handing out the statements to worshippers at the central mosque in the capital, Khartoum.