Medieval Christians equated the destruction of Jews with that of Muslims in Jerusalem

Evidence

The subsequent reconquest of Jerusalem by the Muslims will be characterized as a return to the “old law” of the Jews, a reedification of what had been cast down by the Romans in the first century; the triumphant entry of the Christians into Jerusalem, whether during the first century or the eleventh, is therefore heralded as taking place at a significant moment in salvation history. The former takes place on “the paske-euene” (Siege, 1211), that is, the last night before the Easter commemoration of the Resurrection; the latter takes place “vpon a frydaye, aboute None… ffor on this daye and about that hour suffred [oure lord] deth on the crosse right cruel in the same place, for the Redempcion of man” (Caxton Siege, 272.25–29). The destruction of the Muslims in Jerusalem during the First Crusade and the destruction of the Jews in the first century are equivalent, part of a cycle of destruction and reedification that will come to an end only with the Apocalypse. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 291

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the typological reading that casts Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem as a return to the ‘old law’ of the Jews, fitted into a Christian salvation-history cycle.
• XREF: connects to: Crusader violence against civilians exceeded Saladin’s conduct in Jerusalem — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 364