According to some historians, the reason for this inhuman act was deprivation and hunger; According to some historians, it was a source of embarrassment. This incident, in which many Muslims were killed by being eaten raw, was also recorded in the chronicles as the Maarra Cannibals.
It has been the subject of all sources that the Crusaders ate many people during the invasion. It is even said that normal markets have turned into human markets, and human meat is sold. We cannot know the exact cause of this atrocity, but we can definitely say that it was the greatest monstrous act in history.
Looking at the regions where they are located, it is said that it is unlikely that the Crusaders will starve.
According to the information Anna Komnene, one of the important witnesses of the Crusades, gave in her work in which she describes the life of her father, Emperor Alexios Komnenos (1081-1118), groups under the leadership of Pierre L’Ermite did not stay calm and plundered the surrounding villages without distinguishing between Christians and Muslims. Although it seems reasonable that these regions do not have an environment where they can starve, cases of cannibalism are mentioned.
Anna Komnene describes how the Crusaders cut some babies into slices and barbecued them, and possibly skewered the older ones and fried them over the fire.
At this point, it is necessary to mention the Cannibals of Maarra.
In 1098, Ma’arrat’ün-Numân, a city in Syria, was occupied by the Crusaders and the locals were put to the sword. According to the testimonies of three Latin historians who took part in the First Crusade, it is seen that there were horrific incidents of Muslims frying and eating their corpses. But according to these people, it was famine that had forced them into cannibalism. Fulcherius Carnotensis describes the cannibalism of the Crusaders as a painful condition in his Historia Hierosolymitana:
“When the siege lasted for twenty days, our people suffered from extreme hunger. I speak with trembling and trembling, because many of our people were disturbed by the insanity caused by extreme hunger, where they sliced and chewed pieces of the buttocks of the Saracens (Muslims) who had just died, cooked and chewed them, and when they were not sufficiently cooked in the fire, they ate it with a savage mouth. And so the besiegers suffered more damage than the besieged ones.”
This atrocity is described in the Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosoliminatorum, written by an unknown crusader:
“While we were there (Antakya), some of our men were unable to provide for their needs, either because they stayed long or because there was nothing to plunder outside the walls, or because they were so hungry. So they slit the stomachs of the dead, because they hoped to find Byzantine gold in the bowels of the Muslims. And others cut the flesh of the dead into slices and cooked it for food.”
German Historian Albertus Aquensis, who wrote his book Liber Christianae Expeditionis pro Ereptione Emundatione et Restitutione Sanctae Hierosolymitanae Ecclesiae based on the testimonies of eyewitnesses of the expeditions, mentioned that they did this cannibalism “out of desperation”.
“The famine that grew around these cities became so agonizing that Christians were not afraid to eat the corpses in the face of the famine they were experiencing. They cooked in the fire not only the Muslims or Turks they had killed, but also the dogs they had captured.”
By the way, while all sources confirm this cannibalism, there is one thing we should add, which is that this type of cannibalism was common whenever there was hunger in the Middle Ages.
Whether they ate humans before or after the siege is still a controversial issue. Fulcheris Carnotensis stated that this event took place at the time of the siege, with these words: “During this siege, our men suffered terribly with insanity caused by severe hunger, and cut pieces of meat from the thighs of dead Muslims lying around. They cooked and ate these pieces, and savagely swallowed even the meat that was not fried enough.”
On the other hand, Willermus Tyrensis explained that this event took place after the siege as follows: “After the capture of the aforementioned city, such a famine was also prevailing in the army that they used filthy creatures such as wild animals as food. It is also said that they starve, if it may be believed, of human flesh, and it happens that many of the unfortunate folk have died because they ate such filthy and vile things unnaturally.
While expressing these terrible events in the city of Maarra, it is seen that they also express that it is a preliminary rehearsal of the atrocities that will take place in Jerusalem.
Although some artifacts say that the cannibalism took place only in the city of Maarra, there are just as many opposing views. Andrew Holt, for example, states: “The only source for allegations of cannibalism in Antioch was written several years after the events. Since the events in Maarra took place only months later, it is possible that the events might be mixed up by claiming that they were also in Antakya.”
In short, we can say that these cannibalism incidents were not caused by a strategy of scaring the Turks and Arabs. Medieval historians analyzed this from the reports sent to the Pope after the expedition.
Here’s how the commanders in the siege described this event in the reports:
“The army fell into the grip of terrible hunger in Maarra, and necessity compelled them to do the monstrous task of eating the corpses of Muslims.” If we look at the report presented in the form, we need to make a few inferences. Firstly, this “inhuman” approach is to be determined in the context of a need, and secondly, all this is to be evaluated as “criminal”. But it seems that the Crusaders did this out of pleasure rather than necessity.
People staying in Maarra for 33 days and not during the time; The Crusaders, who ate the corpses of animals as well, left behind this story of cannibalism, which would be a shame for humanity. In addition to all this, the city, which was the victim of the ambitions of the two Crusader commanders, and the Muslim people who suffered the most, remained.
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