The Crusades

In medieval Islamic societies, Christians were regarded as the People of the Book ( ahl al-kitab ) since they had their own scripture (the New Testament or Injil ). Christians were granted safe conduct ( aman ) while venturing into Muslim states as merchants, pilgrims, ambassadors and travellers. These territories also included those which were once held by the Byzantine Empire, notably the Holy Land of Palestine. Jerusalem was conquered by the Arabs in but it was ever-present in the Christian imagination as the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

This was an important factor in the formation of the image of Muslims in Christian Europe. Hostility towards the Muslim world became more pronounced in the eleventh century. Normans, Hungarians and some Slavs had