Crusades

The First Crusade begins (ending in 1099) the Crusades, of which there were ten—if one counts the tragic Children s Crusade— reflected a growing energy surplus (as did... 

Yes—no—yes, I have found it. But not your sort of Heaven, he said, and I wondered how he knew what Heaven was to me. Not even on Rhodes with the Knights Hospitaller, which is the nearest I have come to crusade. Nor the sort of heaven men seek with the nearest wench. He shook his head, as if impatient with himself. I spoke foolishly, for I do not look to find Heaven on earth again. .. I have a wife, and she is well enough. But... Perhaps you heard. There was a woman I loved. ... 

Damascus steel, also known in the Western world as Damascene steel, is a special type of steel that was and is still used to make sward and knifeblades. Apparently, Damascus steel was first made in India, where it was known as wootz or kuft, and later (during the second century b.c.e.) it was developed in Persia. The name "Damascus steel" was used by the Crusaders to describe the steel used by sword smiths of Damascus, Syria, famous for their ability to hammer and temper the steel into fine blades. The sword blades made from the steel had a reputation for their exceptional properties, especially their toughness, the retention of their cutting edge, as well as for a particular and characteristic decorative pattern on their surface (Figiel 1991). 

Fitzgerald, W.F. 1999. Clean Hands Clair Patterson s Crusade Against Environmental Lead Contamination. Nova Science, 119-137. 

The Board flatly refused to accept this advice. When forced to a decision, the conflict between crusader Wiley and lawyer McCabe flared as it had over several other issues (58). 

To be sure, the formulation of those hypotheses was clumsy and subjective, guided less by scientific acumen than by determination to validate dietary practices already adopted on the basis of personal experience or philosophical inclination. Yet as scientifically naive and short-lived as food reform crusades have generally been, their leaders have too frequently attracted sizeable followings, including well-educated and otherwise critical minds, to be dismissed so flippantly as "the nuts among the berries." (2) One might even argue that in a sense the impact of... 

This article is adapted and revised from material in James C. Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness The History of American Health Reformers. Copyright 1982 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press. 

Quotes from Animal Rights The Inhumane Crusade by Daniel T. Oliver, Merril Press, Bellevue, WA. Reproduced with the approval of the Capital Research Center, Washington, DC. 

Chief chemist Harvey W. Wiley (called the "Crusading Chemist" and "Father of the Pure Food and Drugs Act") campaigns for a federal drug safety law. 

A pioneer leader for women s rights, Susan B. Anthony became one of the leading women reformers of the nineteenth century. In Rochester, New York, she began her first public crusade on behalf of temperance. The temperance movement dealt with the abuses of women and children who suffered from alcoholic husbands. Also, she worked tirelessly against slavery and for women s rights. Anthony helped write the history of woman suffrage. 

To be clear, the CCLE is not suggesting that cigarettes or alcohol should be prohibited. Alcohol prohibition was a failure in all respects, again confirming that drug prohibition produces a net harm for individuals and society. See, Gusfield, Symboiic Crusade Status Poiitics and the American Temperance Movement 1986, 2nd ed.) University of Illinois Press. Thornton, Mark. (1991). Alcohol Prohibition was a Failure. Cato Policy Analysis, No. 157 http //www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.htmi... 

Alchemy did not enter mainstream Europe until the twelfth century. It is believed that the Knights Templar were among the first Westerners to be acquainted with alchemy. During the Crusades, the Knights Templar had adopted the teachings of the Druses, a mystical pagan sect within the Islamic world. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Islamic empire in Spain lost territory to Christian rulers. With the help of Jews, who were able to act as intermediaries between the two cultures, Spain became a cultural melting pot. 

Hewitt, Bill. A Separate Peace Dismayed by Violence on the Streets, a New York Businessman Offers to Swap Ttys for Guns and Starts a Disarmament Crusade Across the Country. People Weekly, vol. 41, January 17, 1994, pp. 84ff. Tells the story of carpet store owner Fernando Mateo, Sr. Dismayed by media reports of violent deaths just before Christmas in 1993, Mateo hit upon the idea of organizing a program to swap toys for... 

Heston, Charlton. My Crusade to Save the Second Amendment. American Rifleman, vol. 145, September 1997, pp. 30ff. Heston, newly elected president of the NRA, explains why he came out of retirement to participate actively in the fight for gun rights. 

There is little mystery behind the fact that opium, as such an extremely addictive drug, that creates such intense euphoria, became a world commodity when left unregulated. By the late nineteenth century, opium was traded globally on an enormous scale, tantamount to other major products such as coffee and tea. As millions of people became addicts, and the terrible withdrawal effects were increasingly realized, an anti-opium crusade developed in many nations with the goal of eradicating opium altogether. 

By Avicenna s time, around 1000, the Arab Empire was in decline from both internal and external forces. Factions of the Islamic faith battled one another. A general intolerance of science pervaded Arab culture, and scientists were not free to publish their ideas. Christian Crusaders from the West and Mongol invaders from the East exerted pressure on the Arabic world. As traditional Arab regions were recaptured by Europeans, the classical knowledge that had been preserved and advanced by the Arabs influenced European thinking. Major Arab learning centers, such as Toledo in Spain, provided works to rekindle European science. From the twelfth century, major advances in the chemical arts shifted from Arab lands to western Europe. 

Such mixtures may more correctly be called Wild Fire. Such mixts were used by Moslems in the Crusades (See under year 1250 AD)... 

In the battle of Nice of the 1st Crusade, the Caliphate troops threw burning pitch and fatty balls. They also shot fire arrows with pitch, sulfur and tow from the walls of Jerusalem (Ref 66, p 14)... 

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