One thing not even Madden can excuse is that cultural and social exchanges between Christians did not lead to compassion towards members of other faiths, particularly Jews. In fact, the crusading impulse invariably, more so with every successive crusade, brought examples of the persecution of Jews in the region. The first crusade almost immediately spawned mass killings of Jews down the Rhine en route to Jerusalem, supposedly because Jews' wealth was obtained through usury, or lending money at interest. Usury was prohibited by the Church, even though many Christians borrowed from Jews, and Jews were denied entry into almost every profession by the Church at the time, other than money-lending (Madden 17-19). Jews everywhere began to dread crusades, because they knew that their safety would be threatened by zealous Christians, or Christians who wanted an excuse to kill and steal from Jews.

The Third Crusade was lead by Richard the...
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