LogFAQs > #881269552

The Crusades actually started when the Byzantine Empire requested military aid from the Pope to repel Turkish invaders. They were a very complex collection of a multitude of events. Some were defensive wars, others offensive, or retaliatory. Some were mercenaries doing their own shit. All of Europe was involved in a shit storm of power struggles before, during, and after the Crusades.

To use them as nothing more than a point to say "Christians bad" way oversimplifies the events that took place, and completely ignores the fact that all of Europe was bad regardless of what faith, or lack thereof people followed. It was such a chaotic mess of a time with so many conflicting records of what happened, that historians are still trying to piece everything together.

Now the Spanish Inquisition on the other hand is pretty clear cut. That and the Salem witch trials. Those are fair game. Unless you want to pick out specific events that took place during the Crusades, like the Massacre of Antioch. However, though that was completely barbaric, it was a common practice at the time for invading armies regardless of faith. Because again, the world really sucked back then.