Well in fairness the Anglo-Norman he spoke was probably less of a mouthful than the "English" like.....

Forrþrihht anan se time comm þatt ure Drihhtin wollde ben borenn i þiss middellærd forr all mannkinne need he chæs himm sone kinnessmenn all swillke summ he wollde and whær he wollde borenn ben he chæs all att hiss wille.

I have, many times. And came to the same conclusions.

From which we (in my little corner) got many words and place names to this day.
They represented the summit of civilization advance (especially so between 9th and 12th centuries) after the collapse of the western Roman Empire, which left Europe gliding down into the infamous Dark Ages, further darkened by Christianity.

Then came Al-Ghazali, and the Muslim scientific golden age died. Incidentally it was in the 12th century that my country became independent, and started conquering Muslim territory to the south, until finally Al-Gharb (meaning The West) was conquered. A place well know to modern era Brits :03:
With Al-Ghazali the Muslim Dark Ages began. And the rest is history.

Btw, the numerals on your cell phone keypad are Arabic.

"We" even had a go at Jerusalem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_o...lem_%281099%29
Quote: "The Siege of Jerusalem took place from June 7 to July 15, 1099 during the First Crusade. During it, the Crusaders stormed and captured the city from Fatimid Egypt. The Siege is notable for the massacre that followed, during which much of Jerusalem's population was slaughtered."

Unfortunately, according to their belief system, all non-Muslims are infidels, regardless of creed or lack of one.

On the crusades, I recommend this book I finished reading just weeks ago. The author radically cleans some of the masochistic myths that are so popular in guilt-ridden Europe and America. It was translated and published in German just this year.

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Battalion...ods+batallions

I'm sick and tired of this one-sided biased nonsense about evil villains from Europe seeking wealth and suppressing innocent Muslims invaders that did no harm. People simply fade out all the events that lead to why the crusades have been called for. They were triggerd as a desperate attenmpt to militarily push back an aggressor posing a huge threat and waging a war of endless attacks since a very long time already. Most noblemen and knights did not go to become rich, but indeed had to sell all they owned in family property and went into personal bancruptcy to finance their equipment and their trip to the Unholy Land.

So very boring to be confronted with the same propaganda myths time and time again. Grenada was a golden age of Muslim tolerance. Sahaladin was such a tolerant and noble king and dealt so fairly with the undeserving infidel dirtbags. The crusades were so evil and uncalled for and such a crime against innocent Islam. - Grenada was haunted by progroms and deeply rooting discrimination of Jews and Christians, who saw massive intellectual abuse and saw the fruits of their labour beign claimed by Muslim rulers (thats where the claim comes from that Islam once saved Europe, which is the climax of hilarious forging of history here). And Sahaladin - was a grim and violent suppressor of his own people, and massacred war prisoners without any military need already when still serving a Syrian king and long before Richard landed in the Unholy Land, he also was a very unforgiving hunter and suppressor of reformists and "alternative" Muslim thinkers, who got killed in significant numbers by his orders. And the crusades were a desperate attempt to launch a counteroffensive against an invader and agressor who marched against Europe since long time, unprovoked, and raising a massive threat to Europe itself. Most noblemen from Europe going there, economically ruined themselves and their families by doing so.

Saying that today can get you sued for hate crimes.