Christian writers justified crusader atrocities through rhetoric.

Evidence

It is an agreeable irony to read the Christian justification of the First Crusade; Robert the Monk speaks of the destruction and murder of Christians and concludes the passage, ‘quid dicam de nefanda mulierum constupratione, de qua loqui deterius est quam silere?’ — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2116

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of how moral panics and accusations get deployed defensively, as in the book’s ongoing treatment of crusade ideology. — connects to: Crusade apologists justified the war as divinely authorized collective punishment; Missionary ‘defence of the faith’ rhetoric paralleled Crusade justifications; Insurrectionists explicitly framed the Capitol attack as divinely ordained Christian duty — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 129