Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

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That night passed and the next day came, which was a Tuesday morning (13th April 1204); and all armed themselves throughout the host, both knights and sergeants, and each repaired to his post. Then they issued from their quarters, and thought to find a sorer battle than the day before, for no word had come to them that the emperor had fled during the night. But they found none to oppose them.

The Crusaders Occupy the City. The Marquis Boniface of Montferrat rode all along the shore to the palace of Bucoleon, and when he arrived there it surrendered, on condition that the lives of all therein should be spared. At Bucoleon were found the larger number of the great ladies who had fled to the castle, for there were found the sister[8] of the King of France, who had been empress, and the sister[9] of the King of Hungary, who had also been empress, and other ladies very many. Of the treasure that was found in that palace I cannot well speak, for there was so much that it was beyond end or counting.

At the same time that this palace was surrendered to the Marquis Boniface of Montferrat, did the palace of Blachernæ surrender to Henry, the brother of Count Baldwin of Flanders, on condition that no hurt should be done to the bodies of those who were therein. There too was found much treasure, not less than in the palace of Bucoleon. Each garrisoned with his own people the castle that had been surrendered to him, and set a guard over the treasure. And the other people, spread abroad throughout the city, also gained much booty. The booty gained was so great that none could tell you the end of it: gold and silver, and vessels and precious stones, and samite, and cloth of silk, and robes vair and grey, and ermine, and every choicest thing found upon the earth. And well does Geoffrey of Villehardouin, the Marshal of Champagne, bear witness, that never, since the world was created, had so much booty been won in any city. .

Every one took quarters where he pleased, and of lodgings there was no stint. So the host of the pilgrims and of the Venetians found quarters, and greatly did they rejoice and give thanks because of the victory God had vouchsafed to them-for those who before had been poor were now m wealth and luxury. Thus they celebrated Palm Sunday and the Easter Day following (25th April I204) in the joy and honour that God had bestowed upon them. And well might they praise our Lord, since in all the host there were no more than twenty thousand armed men, one with another, and with the help of God they had conquered four hundred thousand men, or more, and in the strongest city in all the world-yea, a great city-and very well fortified.

Division of the Spoils. Then was it proclaimed throughout the host by the Marquis Boniface of Montferrat, who was lord of the host, and by the barons, and by the Doge of Venice, that all the booty should be collected and brought together, as had been covenanted under oath and pain of excommunication. Three churches were appointed for the receiving of the spoils, and guards were set to have them in charge, both Franks and Venetians, the most upright that could be found.

Then each began to bring in such booty as he had taken, and to collect it together. And some brought in loyally, and some in evil sort, because covetousness, which is the root of all evil, let and hindered them. So from that time forth the covetous began to keep things back, and our Lord began to love them less. Ah God! how loyally they had borne themselves up to now! And well had the Lord God shown them that in all things He was ready to honour and exalt them above all people. But full oft do the good suffer for the sins of the wicked.

The spoils and booty were collected together, and you must know that all was not brought into the common stock, for not a few kept things back, maugre the excommunication of the Pope. That which was brought to the churches was collected together and divided, in equal parts, between the Franks and the Venetians, according to the sworn covenant. And you must know further that the pilgrims, after the division had been made, paid out of their share fifty thousand marks of silver to the Venetians, and then divided at least one hundred thousand marks between themselves, among their own people. And shall I tell you in what wise ? Two sergeants on foot counted as one mounted, and two sergeants mounted as one knight. And you must know that no man received more, either on account of his rank or because of his deeds, than that which had been so settled and ordered- save in so far as he may have stolen it.

And as to theft, and those who were convicted thereof, you must know that stern justice was meted out to such as were found guilty, and not a few were hung. The Count of St. Paul hung one of his knights, who had kept back certain spoils, with his shield to his neck; but many there were, both great and small, who kept back part of the spoils, and it was never known. Well may you be assured that the spoil was very great, for if it had not been for what was stolen and for the part given to the Venetians, there would have been at least four hundred thousand marks of silver, and at least ten thousand horses-one with another. Thus were divided the spoils of Constantinople, as you have heard.

Below is a Byzantine account of the sack by Nicetas Chroniates.[10]

3. . . How shall I begin to tell of the deeds wrought by these nefarious men ! Alas, the images, which ought to have been adored, were trodden under foot ! Alas, the relics of the holy martyrs were thrown into unclean places ! Then was seen what one shudders to hear, namely, the divine body and blood of Christ was spilled upon the ground or thrown about. They snatched the precious reliquaries, thrust into their bosoms the ornaments which these contained, and used the broken remnants for pans and drinking cups,-precursors of Antichrist, authors and heralds of his nefarious deeds which we momentarily expect. Manifestly, indeed, by that race then, just as formerly, Christ was robbed and insulted and His garments were divided by lot; only one thing was lacking, that His side, pierced by a spear, should pour rivers of divine blood on the ground.

Nor can the violation of the Great Church[11] be listened to with equanimity. For the sacred altar, formed of all kinds of precious materials and admired by the whole world, was broken into bits and distributed among the soldiers, as was all the other sacred wealth of so great and infinite splendor.

When the sacred vases and utensils of unsurpassable art and grace and rare material, and the fine silver, wrought with gold, which encircled the screen of the tribunal and the ambo, of admirable workmanship, and the door and many other ornaments, were to be borne away as booty, mules and saddled horses were led to the very sanctuary of the temple. Some of these which were unable to keep their footing on the splendid and slippery pavement, were stabbed when they fell, so that the sacred pavement was polluted with blood and filth.

4. Nay more, a certain harlot, a sharer in their guilt, a minister of the furies, a servant of the demons, a worker of incantations and poisonings, insulting Christ, sat in the patriarch's seat, singing an obscene song and dancing frequently. B'or, indeed, were these crimes committed and others left undone, on the ground that these were of lesser guilt, the others of greater. But with one consent all the most heinous sins and crimes were committed by all with equal zeal. Could those, who showed so great madness against God Himself, have spared the honorable matrons and maidens or the virgins consecrated to God? Nothing was more difficult and laborious than to soften by prayers, to render benevolent, these wrathful barbarians, vomiting forth bile at every unpleasing word, so that nothing failed to inflame their fury. Whoever attempted it was derided as insane and a man of intemperate language. Often they drew their daggers against any one who opposed them at all or hindered their demands.

No one was without a share in the grief. In the alleys, in the streets, in the temples, complaints, weeping, lamentations, grief, the groaning of men, the shrieks of women, wounds, rape, captivity, the separation of those most closely united. Nobles wandered about ignominiously, those of venerable age in tears, the rich in poverty. Thus it was in the streets, on the corners, in the temple, in the dens, for no place remained unassailed or defended the suppliants. All places everywhere were filled full of all kinds of crime. Oh, immortal God, how great the afflictions of the men, how great the distress !

While most objects of ancient and Byzantine art were destroyed, the relics of saints were eagerly sought out. Below is a description by Gunther of the theft of relics by Abbot Martin.[12]

While the victors were rapidly plundering the conquered city, which was theirs by right of conquest, the abbot Martin began to cogitate about his own share of the booty, and lest he alone should remain emptyhanded, while all the others became rich, he resolved to seize upon plunder with his own sacred hands. But, since he thought it not meet to handle any booty of worldly things with those sacred hands, he began to plan how he might secure some portion of the relics of the saints, of which he knew there was a great quantity in the city.

Accordingly, having a presentiment of some great result, he took with him one of his two chaplains and went to a church[13] which was held in great reverence because in it the mother[14 ] of the most famous emperor Manuel[15] had a noble grave, which seemed of importance to the Greeks, but ours held for naught. There a very great amount of money brought in from all the surrounding country was stored, and also precious relics which the vain hope of security had caused them to bring in from the neighboring churches and monasteries. Those whom the Greeks had driven out, had told us of this before the capture of the city. When many pilgrims broke into this church and some were eagerly engaged in stealing gold and silver, others precious stones,

Martin, thinking it unbecoming to commit sacrilege except in a holy cause, sought a more retired spot where the very sanctity of the place seemed to promise that what he desired might be found. There he found an aged man of agreeable countenance, having a long and hoary beard, a priest, but very unlike our priests in his dress. Thinking him a layman, the abbot, though inwardly calm, threatened him with a very ferocious voice, saying: a Come, perfidious old man, show me the most powerful relics you have, or you shall die immediately." The latter, tenified by the sound rather than the words, since he heard but did not understand what was said, and knowing that Martin could not speak Greek, began in the Romana Zinpa, of which he knew a little, to entreat Martin and by soft words to turn away the latter's wrath, which in truth did not exist. In reply, the abbot succeeded in getting out a few words of the same language, sufficient to make the old man understand what he wanted. The latter, observing Martin's face and dress, and thinking it more tolerable that a religious man should handle the sacred relics w,th fear and reverence, than that worldly men should, perchance, pollute them with their worldly hands, opened a chest bound with iron and showed the desired treasure, which was more grateful and pleasing to Martin than all the royal wealth of Greece. The abbot hastily and eagerly thrust in both hands and working quickly, filled with the fruits of the sacrilege both his own and his chaplain's bosom. He wisely concealed what seemed the most valuable and departed without opposition.

Moreover what and how worthy of veneration those relics which the holy robber appropriated were, is told more fully at the end of this work.l When he was hastening to his vessel, so stuffed full, if I may use the expression, those who knew and loved him, saw him from their ships as they were themselves hastening to the booty, and inquired joyfully whether he had stolen anything, or with what he was so loaded down as he walked. With a joyful countenance, as always, and with pleasant words he said: As We have done well." To which they replied: a Thanks be to God."

While Pope Innocent III excommunicated the Crusaders after their sack of the catholic city of Zara (Zadar in Croatia), he later lifted the bull of excommunication and justified the capture of Constantinople in the letter below.[16]

To all the clergy and people in the Christian army at Constantinople.

If the Lord had granted the desires of His humble servants sooner, and had transferred, as He has now done, the empire of Constantinople from the Greeks to the Latins before the fall of the Holy Land, perhaps Christianity would not be weeping today over the desolation of the land of Jerusalem. Since, therefore, through the wonderful transference of this empire God has deigned to open to you a way to recover that land, and the detention of this may lead to the restoration of that, we advise and exhort you all, and we enjoin upon you for the remission of your sins, to remain for a year in Romania, in order to strengthen the empire in its devotion to the Apostolic See and to us, and in order to retain it in the power of the Latins; and to give wise advice and efficient aid to Baldwin, our most beloved son in Christ, the illustrious emperor of Constantinople; unless, perchance, your presence in the Holy Land should be necessary before that time, in which case you ought to hasten to guard it before the year elapses.

 

he used it to open the door, had it never been written, had marx never written a book, do you think honestly that stalin would have gained power? what promise would he have had?

 

hey didn't say it and the qu'ran shouldn't have been there......


hammurabi's code too.......

 

in most cases books weren't responsible for wars and genocides - misinterpretations were. only book (in my limited knowledge, please expand the list everybody) wroten to make harm was ''the protocoles of sion's wisemen''. this book was created by russian czarist inteligence service to imput crimes to russian jews so ''legitimate'' causes for genocide may exist. even today it's one of the neonazi's prime ''literature'' item.

 

im sorry, but do you not see the idiocy in this?

if the bible had never been written the crusades would never had happened, gwbush might not be in power

umm if mobydick had never been written then maybe whaling would not be that popular

come on, you've gotta look at the events and people in question, and stalin did not follow marx's theories

 

Thanks to Intense Heat for putting that article up. It's a bit long, but if anyone's managed to read some or all then perhaps you will get the gist of what I'm about to say:

"If a powerful nation wants to start a war, it doesn't matter which book they use as their doctrine. All they're interested in is what they have to gain from the outcome of the conflict and to find something that will propel the plebs to do their will. If the public were heavilly inclined towards 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' to the point of social ideology and George W. Bushwacker wanted a war with N.Korea, he would turn around and say that the N.Koreans are being exploited like oompa loompas and it is America's crusade to liberate that country by bombing it, with a little help from America's butler, England."

Just as every Marxist, Maoist, Darwinian, Freudian, Nietzcheian et al text that is deemed as harmful by the right-wing members of the bourgoisie (harmful to its state of exploiting those of a more unfortunate condition to them) so should every document on capitalist economic growth be rounded up and incinerated in a way that would not harm the environment. Maybe pulped would be better. Everyone knows that the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were not about religion, they were not about the instability of communism on the balance of power, they were not about evolution of the species, they were not about psychological problems related to sex (although I'm not sure about Generalissimo Bush), they were not about man making his own destiny rather than god. They were about MONEY. OIL. ECONOMICS.

By throwing smokescreens around Utopian ideologies, social and scientific research designed to help mankind progress into a higher more enlightened species, we have created a corrupt system that has grown cancerous, vulgar, counter-productive, self-destructive, and ultimately mandane.

 

i'm strongly against burning books. i believe in composting

 

I like the idea zeljko-h. All we need now is some corporation to exploit it and grow profit from it. And the world would carry on spinning.

 

Jehova witness books.

 

And another thing...

In the 70's when things went wrong politicians shouted: 'Ban that magazine! Ban that book! It's corrupting society!"

In the 80's if someone went on a murder spree it was :'Ban that film! Ban that video! It's corrupting young people!"

In the 90's it was :'Ban computer games! They're corrupting kids!'

And now it's :'Ban the Internet! They're onto us that we're corrupt!'

Reich chancellor Büsh is so obsessed on putting a ban on every civil freedom he even started a war with the Tali-ban.

 

It's awonder none of Learys books made it. After been called the most dangerous man in Amerika by Nixon? Love and peace still R.A.T AUZTRALIA

 

Maybe it's because there was an even more dangerous man in America. Someone that was kicked out of the White House. Richard Nixon I think his name was.