Medieval chroniclers had crusaders smash golden idols inhabited by demons to court martyrdom

Evidence

Tudebodus, like the anonymous hagiographer of Thiemo, portrays the deaths of crusaders in terms taken from hagiography. This is easiest to do, of course, for the deaths he did not witness: he can imagine them as they should have happened. Rainaldus Porchetus, a crusader taken captive by the Turks of Antioch, Tudebodus says, is taken to the top of the walls and told to urge the crusaders to pay a large ransom for his return. Instead Rainaldus exhorts the crusaders to persist, telling them to value his own life as nothing and that the city’s defenders will be unable to hold out much longer. This advice earns him the praise of his comrades and death at the hands of his captors. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 629 (#expands, via linked claim)

We came to the temple of Solomon [i.e., the Dome of the Rock], where they [the Saracens] used to sing their rites and festivals. But what happened there? If we speak the truth, we will be beyond belief. Suffice it to say that in the temple and porch of Solomon one rode in blood up to one’s knees, and up to the horses’ reins. This was truly a judgment [of God], that that place should receive their blood, since it endured for such a long time their blasphemies against God… . I say that this day saw the weakening of all paganism, the confirmation of Christianity, and the renovation of our faith. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 647 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval polemics featured idols destroyed by their own devotees.; Crusaders who died in battle were reframed as martyrs like the early church’s — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 623; Crusade chroniclers framed mass slaughter of enemies as divine judgment — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 246 (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• Invented idol-desecration scenes crowned crusader hagiography #exemplifies (1.00)
• Latin crusader chroniclers retold unobserved deaths as hagiographic martyr legends. #expands (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 629
• Medieval polemics featured idols destroyed by their own devotees. #complicates (0.90)
• Crusader massacre of Jerusalem was written as divine vengeance for alleged blasphemies #complicates (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 647
• Medieval crusader chronicles fabricated enemy atrocities from martyrdom tropes #complicates (0.85)
• Crusade chroniclers fabricated Muslim portraits by repurposing early Christian martyr narratives #complicates (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 604
• Saracen idols structured the dramatic conflicts of medieval liturgical plays #complicates (0.85)
• Crusade chroniclers framed mass slaughter of enemies as divine judgment #complicates (0.80) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 246
• Crusader chroniclers celebrated massacres they claimed to condemn. #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2113