Virginia Postrel, Columnist

Why the Crusades Still Matter

Jay Rubenstein, a history professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, discusses the First Crusade.

February 10, 2015 at 3:40 PM UTC

Virginia Postrel is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a visiting fellow at the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University and author, most recently, of “The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World.”

"Remember that during the Crusades...."
Photographer: Dennis Brack-Pool/Getty Images

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The Crusades have gone from historical background to current controversy, as conservative critics have jumped on U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent prayer-breakfast remarks comparing the brutality of medieval Crusaders with that of contemporary jihadi militants, including Islamic State.

For those interested in understanding how people get caught up in such murderous causes and how religious passions can play out in battle, the First Crusade, which took place from 1095 to 1099, offers a more interesting case study than either Obama or his critics might suggest.