ISISchristian

Media on Christian Crusades and ISIS’s control 1
ISIS's Uprising versus the Christians' Crusades: How the media persuades the public and
my experience with that
Manuel Mendez
College of New Rochelle

Abstract
On 2011, the last of the US military finally left Iraq, and officially ended the campaign on
Operation Iraqi Freedom. I witnessed this from my television screen back at state side with
optimism that there will finally be peace in the Middle East. But, my optimism quickly ended
when Iraq was left vulnerable when ISIS organized themselves within 12 months, and started
taking control half of Syria and Iraq. The media played a key role to this report in both different
perspectives. As I witnessed from the west, ISIS were portrayed as barbaric monsters with regard
for human life to murder under the name of Allah (God) while ISIS used their methods; recorded
themselves; and claimed to be justified to influence more Muslims to join their cause. In their
videos, ISIS claimed that Islam is the true and only religion. Obviously, their claims sparked
outcry from other religions, mainly Christianity, believing Islam was more barbaric.
With the media coverage and the events occurring in Syria and Iraq, I noticed a similarity
what ISIS is demonstrating; the Christian Crusades. Despite what Christians would say to defend
themselves, they were not that different almost 900 years ago. Media is also influencing hatred
and sympathy for the ISIS’s cause simultaneously almost as the same as the crusaders done in
The Holy Land. Are the audiences completely unaware of this, or are they letting themselves
become influenced from media to both Western and Middle Eastern cultures? This I compiled is
the comparison of ISIS’s and Christian Crusaders’ actions in the name of their God, and how the
media glorified and denigrated at the same time.

History repeats itself
Approximately a few months ago, I was viewing the news coverage on ISIS
stating they were planning to seize control on Kurdistan. I noticed the tone of the reporters that
they were extremely upset, and influencing the audience that there must be some form of action
should be address to the Commander and Chief before more innocent lives are murdered. I had
some few conversations with my classmates and friends stating that they have never seen or
heard of these inhuman acts the ISIS were performing. Some of my friends were led to believe
that Islam was a barbaric religion. I became skeptical of his statement, because I had my share of
experience with the Muslim people. I was in the US Army, and though I was only shipped to
Afghanistan, and I had my experience socializing with the Iraqis for training. Note, that not all
Middle Eastern people are all alike, even though they share the same religion, but their culture,
ideals, and languages are not the same. I had training to understand their culture and religion so I
do not travel to foreign soil with an ethnocentric mentality. I explained that to my friend, and
also explained that the Iraqis were all not evil; just compassionate about their beliefs and most of
them are friendly.
I also explained to him that other religions were at some point chaotic and barbaric, but I
had to some research to further prove my point. It is when I discovered the history of the
Christian Crusades. They journeyed to the Middle East to claim The Holy Land solely to the
Christians from Muslim control. Even though it is both different religions, their actions from
both Christians and ISIS were frightening similar in their beliefs. At first, we were believed that
the Christians were not in the wrong, and were glorified from what they have done from the
books, letters, portraits, and artwork. Those were the old fashioned instruments of media during
that era before we had World Wide Web and devices. I came with an epiphany that I am

witnessing an almost 900 year old history repeating itself in this 21st century, and how they use
the media in their times to influence or scare their target audiences.
A brief history of the Christian Crusades
Based from the website “Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: The Crusades (1095-
1291),” the crusades first began under the influence of Pope Urban II at Clermont-Ferrand for the
Christians to claim the Holy Land in 1095. This was lead to Urban’s believe that Christianity is
the true religion, and the Holy Land must be ruled by Christians. Their goal was to claim
Jerusalem, because they considered it is the location where Jesus Christ was buried. On their
journey from Europe toward the Middle East, the Christians encountered many resistances from
the Muslims and other bandits for which they had to fight off known as the Crusades (“The
Crusades”, 2014). The Monks began to defend themselves, but wanted to be free from sin which
was granted from the Pope himself came to known as knights or crusaders. There were 3 major
brotherhoods established to protect the pilgrimage and the Holy Land.
In Helen Nicholson’s article “Saints or Sinners? The Knights Templar in Medieval
Europe” and another article “Knights Templar, in Medieval History,” the first military order was
created from The Order of Temple known as the Knights Templar. Before the Knights Templar,
they were just monks underwent military training to solely protect the Pilgrims and the Emperor
of Jerusalem. The emperor of Jerusalem was impressed enough to offer the knights a palace
which they name it The Temple of Solomon (Nicholson, 1994). Knights Templar distinguished
themselves with a red cross with a white background on their robes. (“Knights Templar,” 2013).
In “Knights Hospitallers” and Nicholson’s article, another brotherhood was created by
the Hospital by recruiting mercenaries in the 1130s to also protect the pilgrims (Nicholson,

1994). The key difference from the Knight Templars was they were not monks, and were known
as the Hospitallers. The Hospitallers also wore different uniforms to distinguish the difference
from the Knights Templar. They wore a white cross on black backgrounds on their robes
(“Hospitallers, 2013). At the first years of the crusades, they considered as allies to the Knights
Templar.
The third brotherhood was based again from Nicholson’s article, from another church
called The Hospital of St. Mary of the Teutons created their own military as well for the purpose
to protect the Germans in their pilgrimage to the Holy Land. They were known as the Teutonic
Knights. Their uniforms were similar to the Knights Templar, but their crosses were black
(Nicholson, 1994). With the help of three brotherhoods from different parts of Europe, they
became a strong military order for the emperor of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. But as they were
idolized, the knights succumb to greed and power mainly the Knights Templar.
The knights were granted special rights to slay any non-believers in the name God
without committing any sin. They believed killing an infidel is not murder, but a path to God. In
M. Cecilia Gaposchkin’s “The Place of Jerusalem in Western Crusading Rites of Departure,”
Jerusalem was the most sacred ground in all of the Holy Land. It is were to believed where
Christ was buried, were I stated before, and anyone who goes there for prayer or to protect can
be repent of their sins (Gaposchkin, 2013). Which means the knights can commit murder to the
Muslims as much as they see fit along as long it is for the name of God. In Gaposchkin’s article,
for the peasants or under-classmen, the Holy Land was for salvation or redemption in their
perspective, but it is for land, wealth, and power for the knights. The brotherhood sought this to
cleanse the Holy Land from non-Christians or the Muslims.

In Cole’s article “Christians, Muslims, and the ‘Liberation’ of The Holy Land,” there
were numerous witnesses and accounts of the knights’ actions as “bloodlust” and “barbaric”
(Cole, 1998). Cole summarized his article as if the knights were “enjoying” committing mass
murders to the Muslims, and referred to them as “filth.” Realistically, the crusades were
demonstrated with extreme prejudice. Overtime, the knights became rivals within the different
brotherhood for not sharing the same ideals over the years as they were in the first crusade.
The knights became more powerful and wealthier than ever before to certain point when
the Pope finally took notice and considered them a dangerous threat. It’s after the 1300s when
Philip IV of France and the help of Pope Clement to apprehend all the Knights Templar and
disavowed the Temple of Solomon for their crimes in the Holy Land and against the Church
(Nicholson, 1994). With their interrogations, the Knights Templar confessed of murder, cheating
off land and wealth from donations, and lying about their actions to the Pope. The Knights
Templar were convicted to torture, incarcerated, and having their properties confiscated. This put
other brotherhoods into a scare to sanitize their actions in order to avoid the same fate as the
Templar.
Corruption, disorder, and arrogance were part of a major conflict within the Christians
which led to surrendering crucial portions of the Holy Land to the Muslims (Cole, 1998). What
was left of the knights establish a headquarters in Cyprus in order to retake the lands. The
crusades went for up to 200 years (1095-1300) trying to fight for the Holy Land before the
Christians finally concluded an uneasy truce to the Muslims which they finally had control over
the territory.

Media to the Crusades (Methodology)
After understanding how the crusades came to surface, the media during the era
was far less sophisticated and accessible compared to our generation. Therefore, the pilgrims
from the crusades did not receive any information until months and maybe years from the Holy
Land and their war against the Muslims, their mail system was on foot. The most accessible
source of information was from stories, rumors, or heresy from the previous pilgrimages. There
were chroniclers during the pilgrimage wrote accounted letters to their Bishops or Pope in
Europe information of the status of their journey and information of the Holy Land. Which
means the Bishops or the Pope had control of the information to share to their people; whoever
influence the masses, controls the masses. (Nicholson, 1994). Other people in their journey wrote
poetry or stories for the account of the knights’ “heroic deeds” which influence the peasants to
believe the knights were romantic heroes (Cole, 1998). This was the earliest stages of
propaganda warfare to idolize the Christians and to scare the Muslims.
For my methodology, I further researched what other forms of media was utilized during
the crusades. Reading was a form of luxury not many people could afford at the time for the
peasants. I came across paintings and artwork from the crusades as a form of the media, and it
was a lot simpler to understand from those who cannot read. The sources from the artwork are
located from “The Metropolitan Museum of Art” website:

Stained-Glass Panel, ca. 1245–1248
France, Tours, Ambulatory of the Cathedral of Saint-Gatien
Pot-metal glass and vitreous paint; 21 x 13 1/2 in. (53.3 x 34.3 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1937 (37.173.3)
This Glass Panel represented King Louis IX of France was in charge of two crusades
from 1245-1248 (“The Crusades”, 2014). King Louis was portrayed, in my opinion, more as a
saint to represent Christian purity and reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims. Clearly King
Louis was idolized.

Scene from the Legend of the True Cross, second half of 14th century
Northern French or Netherlandish
Stone; 24 1/2 x 29 1/2 in. (62.2 x 74.9 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1925 (25.120.528)
This is a sculpture of one of the battles in the Crusades when it was created in the late
1300s. It illustrates the bravery of what the knights had to overcome against the Muslims. It was
favoring as “Good vs Evil” scenario 1248 (“The Crusades”, 2014).

Initial A with the Battle of the Maccabees, ca. 1360–70
Italy, probably Bologna
Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment
Gift of Bashford Dean, 1923 (23.21.
This painting is another example of the Christian Crusaders in attempt to reclaim a city
near Jerusalem for the Italian church (“The Crusades”, 2014).

The Crusaders Reach Jerusalem: Scenes from the Gerusalemme Liberata, 1732–39
Designed by Domenico Paradisi (active 1689–1721); Woven at the San Michele manufactory in
Rome under the direction of Pietro Ferloni
Italian
Wool and silk
148.8 x 233.9 in. (378 x 594 cm)
Bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth U. Coles, in memory of William F. Coles, 1892 (92.1.15)
According to the website, this is one of the first crusades that marked the knights’
greatest accomplishment to taking control of Jerusalem from the Muslims. This received high
praise from the people of Europe and the church, but little did they know how much blood shed
was involved during the battle (“The Crusades”, 2014). For scholars, this was artwork and
history, but in my personal opinion, this was the early form of the media if you lived in that time.

A brief history of ISIS
According to Martin Smith’s video documentary “Frontlines: The Rise of ISIS,” it
all began on 2011 when a last US Army Battalion officially left Iraq. The US government left the
responsibilities to Prime Minister Maliki, a Shia tribesman, to govern themselves to continue
peace within the Iraqi state (Smith, 2014). Not even within 24 hours when Maliki began arresting
his Vice President, because he was a Sunni tribesman thus began purging Sunnis or any other
tribes in Iraq. Maliki feared anyone who is not Shia might be potentially a member of what was
left of Al-Qaida. Many were arrested, but most where brutally murdered with extreme prejudice.
Meanwhile, the remaining members of Al-Qaida camped in the western part of Iraq took
the opportunity of the tribal war, and convinced the Sunnis to join, and fled to Syria where they
were in the middle of a civil war. Al-Qaida once again took advantage of the conflict and
recruited more people in Syria which were mainly Sunnis, ex-Iraqi soldiers, and young male
adults. Within 12 months, the faction deployed back to Iraq with more man and firepower while
the Shia are still attacking the Sunnis.
City by city, the faction managed to seize control until they took over the second largest
city called Mosul. The city was occupied by the US military during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After conquering Mosul, what was left of Al-Qaida and their new recruits were officially known
as The Islamic States in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) (Smith, 2014). During the invasion, ISIS also
managed to confiscate US military weapons and vehicles left behind for the Iraqi Army. The
Iraqi government virtually did nothing to prevent the invasion, which in part, assisted on creating

ISIS itself from trying to purge the Sunni tribe. ISIS, now, has claimed territory to half of Syria
and a huge portion of Iraq by a few miles away from Baghdad for it to be the true state of Allah.
In Medyan Daireh’s video documentary “Vice News: Islamic State,” his coverage was
about how ISIS run the state after they seized control. ISIS wanted to make Islam as pure from
any influences from the western culture, and purge anyone who does not to convert to Muslim.
Anyone who breaks their religious laws will be arrested or executed. They also welcomed to all
Muslims around the world to come to the Islamic State, or show the rest of the global population
that Islam will dominate other religions. Sounds familiar? Iraq and Syria may not be the Holy
Land, but ISIS claimed the majority, and they are more than willing to fight for claim and
destroy those who do not believe in Islam.
Media with the ISIS
After nearly 900 years, I noticed the same pattern that ISIS is demonstrating compared to
the Christians. Unfortunately, not only ISIS is attacking anyone who does not believe in Islam,
but to their own kind in another tribe. Not only the same pattern is being repeated, but their
method to utilize the media has not either. The only difference is the tools for media are
different. We are now in era where people are highly dependent on technology, and media is now
at the highest form of accessibility to the world’s population. ISIS believed in purity of their
Islam religion, but they evolved enough to use social networking to recruit and rise up against
western cultures.
In Crain’s “To Battle ISIS’ message, We’ll Need Slickly Produced Content That’s Just as
Compelling,” he explained there are agencies analyzing the videos ISIS recorded circulating
around the World Wide Web, and banning them from the internet. US officials are also

contemplating a way to counter their propaganda videos (Crain, 2015). Martin Smith from
“Frontines” understood the most effective method to counter ISIS’s videos is to gain the trust of
the Sunni tribe elders, because they played a key role for the ISIS faction. The Sunni are the true
victims from the purging, and if US government can manage to turn them into allies, then it
could strike a devastating blow to ISIS.
I have viewed ISIS videos myself to get an understanding of their motives, and it
appeared their target audiences were children from ages 9 to young adult. They also use children
to create sympathy from the global population to victimize themselves. This was also explained
in Crain’s article. It is safe to assume ISIS was using basic methods for propaganda. Young
adults with little education were more susceptible to fall under the influence to their
manipulation. As compared to Christians Crusaders, young Muslim population viewed ISIS as
romantic heroes who are trying to overcome tyrants who happened to be the western cultures in
ISIS’s perspective.
Conclusion
When I witness the news coverage on ISIS, I must admit I have mix emotions, but more
with the media coverage itself. I am certain not all people who practice Islam are evil, because I
have met them. Audience must understand religion is not the enemy; is on how people use it for
personal benefits or greed is the true adversary. Audience must also understand no religion is
perfect or absolute. We as audience allowed the media to social profile how the world works, and
puts on a scare to the public when a group or individual goes murderous rampage on someone
who has an opinion. This must change. I could organize this paper to only cover on ISIS, but it
felt crucial to add our Christian history to remind ourselves to not only this is not the first time

mass-genocide was committed for religion, but to remind ourselves that history is repeating once
again from 900 years ago in the 21st century. We must educate ourselves, before our children will
carry our mistakes.

References
1. Broder, J. (Feb., 2015). Iraq's ISIS fight could be a second 'awakening'; prominent sunnis want
to fight ISIS and are asking for U.S. money, arms and training.164 Retrieved from
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&it=r&p=PPCM&sw=w&asid=6b5525a75fbb9f56411228c78a6718bf.
2. Cole, P. J. (1998). Christians, muslims, and the “liberation” of the holy land Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aft&AN=505715889&site=ehost
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compelling. Advertising Age, 86(5), 0036-0036. Retrieved from
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direction of Pietro Ferloni: The Crusaders Reach Jerusalem: Scenes from the
Gerusalemme Liberata (92.1.15). In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The
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8. Initial A with the Battle of the Maccabees [Italy] (23.21.4). (Jan., 2014). In Heilbrunn
Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/23.21.4.
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10. Knights templars, in medieval history (2013). Columbia University Press. Retrieved from
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11. Nicholson, H. (1994). Saints or sinners? the knights templar in medieval europe. History
Today, 44(12), 30. Retrieved from
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12. Scene from the Legend of the True Cross [French or Netherlandish] (25.120.528). (January,
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