The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/term_papers/crusade.txt

Text File | 1993-06-20 | 4KB | 64 lines

      The Medieval Crusades: Actually Fought Over Dionysean Worship

    Although it is a popular notion that the crusades of the
Eleventh through Thirteenth Century Europe were launched to spread
Christianity, it is a seldom realized fact that they were actually
launched to spread the worship of the Greek God Dionysus. While
many fundamentalist radicals and even some historians who ought to
know better will dispute this,it is,nevertheless,true.
  During the Middle Ages in Europe,there were a series of ten
religious crusades launched over a period of three centuries.It is
commonly believed that these were organized and carried out by
Christian religious leaders to unite more territory under the red
and white flag of their cherished religion. The fact that accounts
of the Crusades were recorded as they are in the history books is
due to the overwhelming influence exerted by overzealous religious
leaders on historians of the day.It is an unfortunate fact that
little remains of the historical representations of what actually
happened.
  While the Church leaders of the day destroyed all written account
of who initiated the ten Crusades and what really occurred in the
course of these religious conquests,the true story of what happened
survives to this day.High in the mountainous terrain of Northern
Turkey exists a tribe of dedicated monks who,with their female
counterparts,still engage in the rituals of Dionysean worship,just
as they have for centuries in their mountaintop isolation. These
are the chosen few who engage in the festivals of uncontrolled
drinking and the shared group enjoyment of their female members
characterizing their worship of this fun-loving God.It is to these
few that practice not the self-denial of the Christian Church,but
rather the indulgent,free-spirited way of the Dionysean following
that the true story of the Crusades is known.
  While the historical accounts of the participants and the motives
behind the Crusades are inaccurate,they do correctly identify the
routes taken by the Crusaders.Their objective was to come up
through Europe,eventually arriving in Turkey,staging festival after
festival along their way,in much the same manner as the original
followers of Dionysus did. After that,however,they planned to
return through what is now the Soviet Republics,so as to avoid
angry festival-goers recovering from the ill effects of excessive
alcohol consumption and various social diseases contracted during
the festivities.After the tenth Crusade,after numerous military
encounters with opposing religious groups occupying various
territories,they had arrived in Turkey. There,a tremendous
celebration and public orgy was held,as this would be their final
destination before returning home. Unfortunately,however,the group
lingered too long and was overrun by unruly,hung-over citizens.The
Dionysean company's chariots and wagons were burned,and they were
forced to flee into the mountains of Northern Turkey,where they
have lived ever since. This is how the correct version of the story
of the crusades of the Middle Ages has survived;it has been passed
along by word of mouth through the centuries by the descendants of
the original Dionysean company members,just as the secret of making
their wine,and all other important information has been passed
along.
  As this example illustrates,history can never be rewritten.The
Dionysean followers who continue to live on,isolated as religious
monks,somewhere in the cold,mountainous reaches of the North of
Turkey,serve as a living record of what really happened so many
centuries ago,during the Crusades.