200 000 Jews killed in the Crusades?

[dmitry]

I remember reading an article that claimed (citing some weird scourse) that 200 000 jews were killed during the crusades.

Siance I never could find any numbers, exept for some thousands that were killed in Europe by the first crusaders, I wonder how realistic such a number is?

Also does "crusades" include the Reconquists? If yes would the number be realistic?

[jonkon]

While the crusaders were not exactly supportive of the Jews, the 200,000 figure killed in Europe and in Jerusalem does seem unrealistically high. During the Reconquista, the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Leon took advantage of infighting among the Moorish leaders, following the death of Caliph al-Hakam II al-Mustansir (961-976), to expand their holdings. The idea of El Cid, in reality a mercenary selling his services to whoever - Moor or Christian - met his price, being the great Christian crusader ridding Spain of the Moors was a myth perpetrated by the Pope to encourage his attention southward. The Jews were not expelled from Spain until after the end of the Reconquista in 1492. Until this time, they were a key element in the translation efforts that brought Greek learning to the West.

[dmitry]

I wonder if there is any evidence of massacres of Jews by Christians during the Reconquista? 

[domics]

Frankly I wonder why you should think there would have been massacres of Jews during the Reconquista. You should know that during the Reconquista the Jews in Islamic lands were under the Almohades, Muslims who expelled or forcibly converted them and discriminated even the newly converted, so maybe you could be surprised but the Jews during the Reconquista were, as wrote Poliakov in his classical work on anti-Semitism, "devoted and reliable allies" for Christian princes and "intermediaries" in governing the conquested cities. Even in 1492 when Granada fell "the Jews also had a part in the victory" (from the Jewish Encyclopedia).

[dmitry]

Yes I know that Jews mostly suported the Christians during the Reconquista, but I wonder if some might have been massacred in the general sacking of cities?

Sadly I know almost nothing about the Reconquista so I dont know if there even were such murderous sackings, nor how many Jews there even were in Spain at that time.

[ignorantianescia]

"It is impossible to quantify the consequences of crusader violence against the Jews. It is not known how many Jews were actually resident in Europe. Estimates vary between 30,000 and 50,000 in toto. In terms of loss of life it is reckoned between 3,000 and 5,000, or 1 per cent, were casualties of the assault on Jerusalem. For the other crusades put together a total of 1,000 casualties has been put forward. Any estimates of the material and cultural damage are not available."

Peter Lock, The Routledge Companion to the Crusades, page 402.

So it seems that the figures aren't quite certain, but that a total of 4,000 to 6,000 lethal victims in Europe and the Middle East is the current consensus. Of course that number may well change and if the consensus changes it will probably sooner be revised upward, but 200,000 deaths is way off the mark(s).

I don't think that includes the Iberian wars that were later recast as a single Reconquista effort.

[dmitry]

Thank you very much for that answer!