May 15, 2007
Islam Watch
http://www.islam-watch.org/HistoryOfJihad/Jihad-against-Italians-Rome-Sicily.htm
Many of us would be startled if we are told that in the 9th century, an
Arab fleet based in
The Arabs did not succeed in entering the fortified inner city of
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After the Muslim occupation of
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In response to the Papal plea for help, an army started the descent by land
from
Uselessly Saxons, Longobards, Frisians and Franks defended St. Peter up to the last man. The Arabs brought away all the treasures of St. Peter, they tore the silver leaves of the doors, the gold foils of the floor of the confession, devastated the bronzy crypt of the apostle, took the gold cross that stood on the grave of Peter. They laid waste all the churches of the district Suburb.
The marquis Guy of Spoleto, arrived to help
During their retreat, the Arabs' in flight, inflicted ruin
and devastation in all the Roman countryside. At
Taking advantage of this Arab retreat, the Pope Leo IV, in consequence of
the attack against St. Peter, in 848 undertook the construction of the Civitas Leonina to protect the
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The fortress of
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The Arabs to the assault of the coasts and the Italian islands (813)
The Arab attack on
The Arabs attack on
In 848 the Arabs ransacked
The Arabs defeated in the naval battle of
But in 849 it was rumored of the organization of a great Arabic fleet that
would have attacked
When the Arabic ships appeared on the horizon the Italian fleet, led by Cesarius, attacked. The Arabs were defeated. The survivors were made prisoners and enslaved. These Arab slaves were conscripted to contribute with their work to the reconstruction of what they had destroyed three years before! And so justice prevailed.
But in consequence of these attacks of the Arabs, the Christian population
abandoned
The Arabs attack Canosa (856)
In 856 the Arabs attacked and destroyed the Cathedral of Canosa
in
The Arabs assault against Ascoli (861)
In 861 the Arabs occupied Ascoli in
The Arabs besiege
In 872 the emperor Ludovicus II attacked and freed
The Arabs in
Despite these reverses at the hands of the Franks and Italians, the Arabs
regrouped and again attacked
In response to this carnage, John VIII fitted out a fleet and led it to the
victory against the Arabs at Circeo. 18 vessels were
captured and 600 Christian slaves were freed from Muslim captivity. But inspite of this defeat, the Arabs regrouped and continued
to devastate
The Arab invaders arrived at around
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In 1127, Roger II the son of Count Roger,
led a second invasion of
After the Norman liberation, there were no Muslims left
in
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The Arabs in
In 881 the Bishop of Naples Athanasius played traitor when to compete with
against
Another traitor, Docibile, the duke of
The Arabs at Farfa (890)
In 890 the Arabic troops set siege to the Abbey of Farfa, in Sabina. The Abbot Peter resisted for six months then he was forced to surrender due to lack of food supplies for his flock. In consequence the Arabs slaughtered the inhabitants who had surrendered in good faith. The Arabs occupied Farfa and made it their base in Sabina.
The Arabs defeated and expelled from
Mercifully, in the 10th century the
Berengarius put at disposal the Tuscan troops of
the marquis Adalbertus and those Umbrian of the
marquis Albericus of Spoleto. The Byzantine emperor
Constantine sent his own fleet to the orders of the strategist Nicolaus Picingli. Landulf, prince of
The Longobards of Rieti,
led by Agiprandus, advanced towards Sabina and
liberated it. The troops of Sutri and Nepi defeated the Arabs near Baccano
on the
In June 916 CE, another attack was launched against the Arabs. For three
months the Arabs resisted waiting for reinforcements from
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The Turks launched two attacks against the island in
1547, and again in 1551 and again in 1565 till they were finally routed
decisively at the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. The Turks had a policy of
ravaging the Maltese countryside to terrorize the peasantry, while they ignored
the fortified towns. They turned their attention to the island of Gozo and carried away the entire Christian population into
slavery, the children being brought up as Muslims who were to be thrown into
battle as suicide warriors named Janissaries (from Jan = life and Nisar = given away).
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The Arab occupation of Sicily
The Arab attack on
But before this could happen,
After the rampage in
The infidels profaned St. Peter but the Aurelian walls resisted to the
assault and
To resist the initial attacks Pope John X, himself
formed an army of Italians of various origin (Romans, Greeks, Longobards, Franks, etc.), speaking different languages but
united by faith and culture. This army eventually defeated and drove from Lazio
and
The Arabs conquer
In 805 the Byzantine governor of
But resistance to the Muslims began almost immediately. In 827 the Byzantine
admiral Euphemius who had earlier surrendered to the
Muslims, rebelled and killed the Muslim governor of
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In 1571, Don John of
Although they were no longer the dominating power of
yesteryear, the Venetians could still assemble a fleet of more than a hundred
vessels beneath the winged Lion of St. Mark’s standard. The Venetians provided
the technological cutting edge that was to win the battle.
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Then Euphemius proposed to the Aghlabide
emir of Kairuan, Ziyadat
Allah I, to conquer
On June 17th 827, the Saracen general Asad ibn al-Furat with an army of
10,000 soldiers and 7000 cavalrymen disembarked at Mazara
del Vallo. The general Theodorus stopped and defeated the Arab army before it
reached
But Enna and Cefalů
fought for years before being conquered, razed to the ground and burnt. Cefalů fell in 858. Enna fell in
859 through treason. Then it was the turn of
But the Muslim occupation was never complete. Some hotbeds of resistance
kept recurring.
An African Muslim army in 938-940 devastated wide zones of the southwest of
In the cities that had opposed resistance all the residents were killed and
the women and the boys reduced in slavery. The women and the most beautiful
boys were sent to
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The inhabitants of the Sicilian cities that had surrendered without fighting
could keep on practising the Christian religion but:
- they had to bring identification marks on their suits and on their houses;
- they had to pay more taxes (Jaziya);
- they could not occupy positions that entailed authority over the Muslims;
- they could not marry a Muslim (but a Muslim could marry a Christian);
- they could not build new churches;
- they could not ring Church bells;
- they could not organize processions;
- they could not read the Bible within the earshot of a Muslim;
- they could not drink wine;
- they had to get up when a Muslim entered the room;
- they had to let the Muslims pass first in the public road;
- they could not bear weapons;
- they could not ride horses;
- they could not saddle their mules;
- they could not build great houses as those of the Muslims.
The Christian women could not have access to the baths.
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After the victory at the battle of
Illustration courtesy: Nafpaktos
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After the Arab conquest, hundreds of thousand of Muslims immigrated to
The Arabs at Centumcellae (829)
In 829 the Arabs destroyed Centumcellae.
The Arabs at
In 836 the Longobards of the dukedom of
The Arabs at Subiaco (840)
In 840 the Arabs devastated the monastery of Subiaco.
The Arabs conquer
In 840 the Longobard Radelchi,
duke of
The Arabs at Ponza and Capo Miseno
(845) In 845 the Arabs took possession of Capo Miseno,
in the
The Arabs at
In 846 the Arabs ransacked
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With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the prospect of
the conquest of
After the conquest of Constantinople, the Ottomans now
moved toward
So
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But in spite of their raids into
By the mid 7th century, after overrunning North Africa, the Arab Muslims
turned their attention towards the North Mediterranean coast in an effort to
invade the
The Arabs who had started developing pretensions of
becoming a naval power, sent a fleet to
The
The Christian resistance began immediately to recapture the
This was followed by the main Norman assault in 1071, when they attacked and
defeated the Arabs at
Norman Valor drove the Arab Muslims from Sicily
The Battle of Palermo stands as one of the most astounding Norman escapades
in
The
But the
In 1072
Re-conversion of Mosques into Churches and of the Muslim populace into Christianity rolled back the Jihad in its entirety
This was taken by nightfall, though most of the adjacent al Kasr district, further inland, remained in Saracen hands.
Nevertheless, a Saracen delegation surrendered to the
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The ceremonial entry of the Norman Christians into Palermo took place on January 10, 1072 with a Greek Rite mass celebrated by the Orthodox bishop Nicodemus of Palermo in the old cathedral (on the site of the present one), that had then been hastily re-converted into a church from its use as a mosque.
Here was a historic juncture where Robert and Roger chose to defy convention
and their own Christian tradition. All mosques that had been churches (before
the Arabs' arrival two centuries earlier) were re-converted into Churches. But
even after the conquest of
But in spite of the Norman attack, the Arabs in
In 1127, Roger II the son of Count Roger, led a
second invasion of
Lessons from the
This ensured that the population forgot about the Islamic interlude. The
The second Muslim lunge at Italy
Although
After the conquest of Constantinople, the Ottomans now moved toward
So
Turks ravaged the Maltese peasantry to instill terror
And so as if to prove the point, the Turks launched two attacks against the island in 1547, and again in 1551 and again in 1565 till they were finally routed decisively at the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. The Turks had a policy of ravaging the Maltese countryside to terrorize the peasantry, while they ignored the fortified towns. They turned their attention to the island of Gozo and carried away the entire Christian population into slavery, the children being brought up as Muslims who were to be thrown into battle as suicide warriors named Janissaries (from Jan = life and Nisar = given away).
That same year the Turks drove the Knights out of
Pan-European Christian alliance defeats the Turkish Jihad
At the battle of
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The Turkish fleet under the command of Ali Pasha had been
reinforced by a Calabrian traitor fisherman who had
turned Moslem. His name was Uluch Ali and he was now
the Bey of
The action that was to follow was the biggest naval engagement anywhere
on the globe till then.
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After the fort had been reduced, the Ottomans turned their attention to the
two badly fortified towns overlooking the harbor. Subjected to a ceaseless
bombardment, the Christian forces held back the enemy behind the crumbling
walls, and against all odds, kept the enemy at bay until a small relief force of
some 8,000 troops arrived from
These attacks in addition to their losses from disease, fire and steel, totally demoralized the Turks. Added to this was the fact that their supplies were running low. The Turkish invaders were in no position to offer further battle, and the Turks retreated never again to attempt another invasion in that part of the Mediterranean.
The
In 1571, Don John of
Each of these Spanish galleys held a hundred soldiers on top of the rowers
who propelled the ship through the water and no less than 30,000 men in the
service of
Although they were no longer the dominating power of yesteryear, the Venetians could still assemble a fleet of more than a hundred vessels beneath the winged Lion of St. Mark’s standard. The Venetians provided the technological cutting edge that was to win the battle.
The Turkish fleet under the command of Ali Pasha had been reinforced by a Calabrian traitor fisherman who had turned Moslem. His name
was Uluch Ali and he was now the Bey
of Algiers, that notorious nest of the Muslim corsairs feared by all Christian
ships plying their trade in the
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The Turkish flotilla initially arrayed in a giant
crescent-shaped formation, quickly sliced into three sections by two
concentrated charges of the Venetian navy. The centre, under Ali Pasha,
nevertheless pushed forward and the action opened when the cannon of Don John's
two centre galleasses (gunships) began to do great
execution among Ali Pasha's advancing ships.
Seven or more Turkish galleys went down almost
immediately as a result of the longer range of the Christian fleet. The Turks
were not lacking in murderous instinct, however, and they pressed on in the
face of intense fire from the galleasses, the galleys' guns and crossbowmen on
the Christian decks.
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The action that was to follow was the biggest naval engagement anywhere on the globe till then. The Turkish flotilla initially arrayed in a giant crescent-shaped formation, quickly sliced into three sections by two concentrated charges of the Venetian navy. The centre, under Ali Pasha, nevertheless pushed forward and the action opened when the cannon of Don John's two centre galleasses (gunships) began to do great execution among Ali Pasha's advancing ships.
Seven or more Turkish galleys went down almost immediately as a result of the longer range of the Christian fleet. The Turks were not lacking in murderous instinct, however, and they pressed on in the face of intense fire from the galleasses, the galleys' guns and crossbowmen on the Christian decks.
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At Lepanto, in a wild melee of attack, retreat and
counterattack played out on decks awash with the blood of the slain, the air
rent by the screams of the wounded and dying seamen from both sides, the
Spaniards forced their way onto the Turkish galley three times. Twice they were
beaten back but finally they stormed the Turkish poop and a wounded Ali Pasha
was beheaded on the spot. His head was spitted on a pike and held aloft for all
the Turkish fleet to see and the Ottoman battle flag, never before lost in
battle, was pulled down from the mainmast. The Muslim centre broke and retired
as best it could, their courage forgotten in face of the grisly sight of their
admirals head held aloft by the elated Spaniards. Amen.
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Christians follows Muslim tactics and outdo the Muslims
Ali Pasha tried to come alongside the Christian ships in the hope of boarding. Here the legendary steadfastness under fire of the 16th and 17th century Spanish infantryman came to the fore and attack after attack was beaten off by killing shots from their guns and engaging in hand to hand combat by the Spanish swordsmen. Then Don John gave the order to board Ali Pasha's flagship.
In a wild melee of attack, retreat and counterattack played out on decks awash with the blood of the slain, the air rent by the screams of the wounded and dying seamen from both sides, the Spaniards forced their way onto the Turkish galley three times. Twice they were beaten back but finally they stormed the Turkish poop and a wounded Ali Pasha was beheaded on the spot. His head was spitted on a pike and held aloft for all the Turkish fleet to see and the Ottoman battle flag, never before lost in battle, was pulled down from the mainmast. The Muslim centre broke and retired as best it could, their courage forgotten in face of the grisly sight of their admirals head held aloft by the elated Spaniards. Amen.
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Lepanto was a battle to death for both sides. Negotiations were never on the agenda. The options were fight, flight or death. The first mistake made by Rodrigo in Spain when he faced the first Muslim Jihad in 711, he had tried to walk his way out by negotiating his freedom, only to be betrayed and having his head sawed off to be paraded before the Visigothic Spanish army – a grisly sight that numbed and demoralized the Visigoths at the Battle of the Guadalete river between the Muslims and the Visigothic Spaniards.
From Guadalete to
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Lessons of the
The Christians had now learnt their lessons. Lepanto was a battle to death for both sides. Negotiations were never on the agenda. The options were fight, flight or death. The first mistake made by Rodrigo in Spain when he faced the first Muslim Jihad in 711, he had tried to walk his way out by negotiating his freedom, only to be betrayed and having his head sawed off to be paraded before the Visigothic Spanish army – a grisly sight that numbed and demoralized the Visigoths at the Battle of the Guadalete river between the Muslims and the Visigothic Spaniards.
From Guadalete to
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Beheading and sticking the severed head on to a pike and
parading it were unchristian and uncivilized practices, but it was the Muslims
who had introduced them into Europe, and the Christians were quick to learn and
use them against the Muslims. A lesson we need to relearn, not to behead and
stick the head once again on a pike, but to unleash a nuclear and neutron
assault on the enemy, before he does it to us at New York, London, Madrid,
Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow, Berlin or in any city in the civilized
world.
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The Christians were quick to learn the tactics of foul warfare from the Muslims and turn their new learning against a ruthless adversary. Apart from the bravery of soldiers on both sides, the tactic that clinched victory was the gruesome act of beheading of the Turkish Admiral Ali Pasha and his deputy Uluch Ali.
Beheading and sticking the severed head on to a pike and parading it were
unchristian and uncivilized practices, but it was the Muslims who had
introduced them into
The engagement at Lepanto had lasted for more than four hours and when the smoke finally cleared it became apparent that this was a major victory for the Holy League and a bitter defeat for the Ottoman Turks. Almost 8,000 of the men who had sailed with Don John were dead and another 16,000 wounded.
On the brighter side 12,000 Christian galley slaves had been released from their servitude to the Ottomans. The Turks and Uluch Ali's Algerines had suffered much more grievously. Of the three hundred and thirty Turkish ships, fewer than fifty managed to escape and most of them were burned because they could not be made sufficiently seaworthy for further use; one hundred and seventeen Muslim galleys were captured intact and the rest were sunk or destroyed after they had been run ashore by the fleeing Turks.
More than fifty thousand of the seventy-five thousand men who had entered
the battle on the Muslim side were killed, five thousand were taken prisoner
(with at least twice that number of Christian galley slaves liberated), and
only a few were able to escape either by ship or by swimming ashore.
The day belonged to Don John, the Holy League and Christendom. When the news
of the victory broke, church bells were rung all over in
The Jihad had a penultimate break at Lepanto, the final one was to come a
century later at
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The overarching relevance of the Battles of Palermo and
Lepanto was that they saved the Italian mainland from a Muslim invasion and so
also indirectly prevented (or should we say delayed) the Islamization
of Europe (or Eurabia) when there was no power strong
enough in Central Europe in the 10th to the 15th centuries to resist a
successful Muslim onslaught.
But modern Europeans have become enfeebled by modernism
and liberalism, qualities that the Muslim immigrants will have nothing to do
with. And if we do not wake up and reinvent the spirit of
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Modern liberalism has set the lethargy in motion that prevents the immediate decimation of the Muslims who are a perennial threat to civilization
Modern liberalism had set the lethargy in motion a lethargy that came to roost at Mostar and other cities in the Balkans which saw the slaughter by the Muslims and Christians of each other. Howsoever ideal may liberalism be, it is of no value when dealing with the blood-thirsty Muslims. This is the lesson which the Serbs and Croats learnt in the 1990s. But these being Christian lands originally, it was the Muslim who were the occupiers and even if we forget the concept of anyone being an occupier, since the world belongs to all humans, with their beastlike behavior, the Muslims became unwelcome citizens wherever they attacked ravaged and imposed their beastlike cult on their unwilling victims. The Muslims have quarreled and fought with everyone wherever they went, and when there were no non-Muslims around, they fought among themselves. Such is the beastlike legacy that Islam has given the modern age.
But the overarching relevance of the Battles of Palermo and Lepanto was that they saved the Italian mainland from a Muslim invasion and so also indirectly prevented (or should we say delayed) the Islamization of Europe (or Eurabia) when there was no power strong enough in Central Europe in the 10th to the 15th centuries to resist a successful Muslim onslaught.
But modern Europeans have become enfeebled by modernism and liberalism,
qualities that the Muslim immigrants will have nothing to do with. And if we do
not wake up and reinvent the spirit of
The answer to this poser decides if civilization wins or barbarism wins.
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