Making War In The Name Of God. Christopher Catherwood
MAKING WAR in the NAME OF GOD
CHRISTOPHER CATHERWOOD
CITADEL PRESS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
To Gene Brissie,
Publisher, Literary Agent, and Editor,
Who gave me my big break
and to whom so many authors owe so much
and
To my wonderful wife, Paulette,
My Inspiration for All My Books,
Whose love and support makes them all possible
Contents
Acknowledgments
1.
Religious War: A Brief Introduction
2.
The Crusades
3.
The Islamic Superpower: The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, 1354–1922
4.
One King, One Law, One Faith
5.
The Poetry of Genocide: Celebrating Religious Murder in Verse
6.
A War on Terror: or, A Case of Continuing Conflict—Life Since 9/11
Conclusion
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
This book began life as a telephone conversation between two great men of the New York literary scene: Gene Brissie and Ed Claflin. Gene has moved responsibilities since then, but without the two of them this book would never have happened. It is their idea and I am deeply grateful to them both.
My wife, Paulette, is my constant inspiration, muse, help, best friend, companion, and many more things besides. (Even better, what I have written is only the half of it—it is no exaggeration.) So to her I give my warmest possible thanks, love, praise, and gratitude.
I am also very fortunate in having the splendid Gary Goldstein of Citadel Press as my editor, in place of Gene Brissie. I am most grateful for Gary’s encouragement and for his forbearance when my teaching commitments and my gaining a doctorate meant that this manuscript arrived later than he had intended.
I began the writing of this in the splendid surroundings of the History Department of the University of Richmond, in Richmond, Virginia. This is the latest of many years in which they have appointed me their annual summer Writer in Residence, and I am honored to have this post yet once again, to write and finish my books. Professor Hugh West, the department chairman, made the Douglas Freeman Office mine again, and it is a great haven in which to work.
This year special thanks go to Professor John Gordon, the former History Department chairman, and his wife, Susan, who have been the embodiment of scholarly kindness, help, and assistance well beyond the call of duty. I am also very grateful to the legendary Professor John Treadway, for making his apartment free for me and for my wife to live in for another summer, and, this year, for installing a special desk there for me to use. Kathy Fuggett remains the department administrator without whom no academics could function; and this year the department gave me some great new bookshelves to store all the many books on the Crusades, the French Wars of Religion, and on the numerous other subjects I need to write this book.
The humanities librarian at the Boatwright Library, Jim Gwin, was as efficient, kind and helpful as ever, in spite of a major reconstruction of the library building this year, the history and religion sections included.
I was able to teach a course again this summer at the School of Continuing Education’s annual summer school. Warmest possible thanks go to Dr. David Kitchen, who provided me with such a great number of students, and to Jane Dowrick, of the linked Osher Institute, for enabling me to teach retired people here in Richmond. The staff of the SCS, Professors Jim Narduzzi and Pat Brown, Cheryl Genovese and Ginnie Carlson, all deserve special thanks for another great year.
Ellis Billups Jr. and Marge Musial proved invaluable in technical assistance to a technically challenged historian. Fred Anderson, of the VBHS, has also been as encouraging a support as ever.
Finally at Richmond, the wonderful bookstore deserves a special mention, since, as every year, they have been kindness and assistance personified. Roger Brooks, Victoria Halman, Douglass Young, Sharon Crumley, Lydia Gale, and all other members of the staff there were as excellent this year as they have been for many years past. Few universities can be as fortunate as Richmond in the uniquely high quality of the service provided, and I, for one, am especially grateful to all of them once more.
I am also fortunate in my links in Cambridge, England. St Edmund’s College Cambridge is an exceptionally relaxed and friendly place, and my thanks go here to too many people to mention, but with special gratitude to all the Senior Combination Room regulars, to the master for formalizing my rights, to Moira Gardner for making that effective, and to the astronomer Simon Mitton and all my fellow coffee drinkers for making the college such an enjoyable place to be.
Warm thanks go as always to Dr. Philip Towle, the emeritus director of the Centre of International Studies, to Dr. Eugenio Biagini of the history faculty, and to Professor Chris Andrew for his seminar. I have the great pleasure of teaching bright American student exchange students from Tulane, Wake Forest, Rice, Villanova and other U.S. universities through the INSTEP Program; and its director and administrator, Professor Geoffrey Williams and his wife, Janice, deserve especial praise for their consistent support, kindness, and encouragement over many happy years of teaching.
This year I received a PhD by publication through the University of East Anglia, based in Norwich, England. Not only is UEA one of Britain’s top twenty universities, but its History Department is one of only a tiny handful to get a 5** rating—a much higher ranking than that of many far more internationally famous institutions. Warmest possible thanks and gratitude therefore go to my supervisor, the legendary John Charmley, who has been all one could ever hope for in such a task, and much more besides, and to his assistant Judy Sparks, who made it all administratively possible.
Some of this book was also written in the beautiful home outside of Atlanta, Georgia, of two dear friends, Don and Emilie Wade. I thank them both for their years of kindness and hospitality, and for all they have meant to me and to my wife over so long a time. Another part was written at the new home in Virginia of my brother-in-law Sterling Moore, and his wife, Janet. I am blessed in so many of my in-laws, and a special thanks goes to one who is no longer with us as I write this.
My late father-in-law, John S. Moore, the distinguished church historian, died while I was beginning the study for this work. His kindness and careful scholarship have been inspirations. He will be most sorely missed—it is hard to envisage a book of mine appearing without his sage insights and thoughtful comments.
Finally, I learned my love of history through my parents, Frederick and Elizabeth Catherwood, and many of my other books have been written in the atmospheric fifteenth-century upper floor of their house in Cambridgeshire. My gratitude to them and to John Moore is profound and lifelong.
Cambridge, England, and Richmond, Virginia
1
RELIGIOUS WAR
A Brief Introduction
Slay the unbelievers where you find them…
—Quran, Sura 9:5 the “Sword verse”
The atrocity