From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears; namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persian, an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God, a generation, forsooth, which has neither directed its heart nor entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by the sword, pillage, and fire; has destroyed by cruel tortures; it has entirely destroyed the churches of God or appropriated them for the rites of its own religion. They destroy the altars, after having defiled them with their uncleanliness.

DEFINE: This is the famous speech (or account of it) launching the First Crusade, demonstrating how the enemy was dehumanized as 'an accursed race... utterly alienated from God.'

Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imag…, loc. 117