Of all the caliphs, the celebrated Haroun al-Rashid,
best known to us in the stories of the "Arabian Nights," was the most
tolerant, and under him the Christians enjoyed perfect peace.
4. Great cruelties were practised by the Fatimite caliphs, who
conquered Syria about the year 980. The pilgrims were robbed, beaten,
and sometimes slain on their journey, the Christian residents
oppressed by heavy impositions, and their feelings outraged by insults
against their religion. These sufferings were slight, however,
compared with those which they endured after the invasion and conquest
of Palestine by the Turkish hordes in 1065. But recently converted to
Moslemism, and therefore more rude and fanatical than the other
Mohammedans, these Turks wreaked their vengeance on all
alike--Christians, Jews, and even the native Mohammedans.
5. The news of the atrocities perpetrated by the Turks produced a deep
sensation over the whole of Christendom, as well among the Latin
Christians as among the Greek Christians, the name given to the
population of what remained of the old Byzantine Empire. The latter
had reason to dread that, if the Turks were not checked,
Constantinople, their capital, would soon share the same fate as
Jerusalem. Accordingly, about the year 1073, the Greek Emperor, Manuel
VII, sent to supplicate the assistance of the great Pope Gregory VII
against the Turks.
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