вЂњWe shall not want for pork as long as we have sixty-thousand prisoners,вЂќ he said, not in the least bit disturbed to know that he had been eating human flesh. вЂ¦With much trembling he brought the head of the Saracen. Perhaps, however, he mistrusted that it was not pork, for, said Richard, вЂњBring the head of the pig, that I may see it.вЂќ вЂ¦he killed a Sacracen prisoner and cooked some of the flesh and had it placed on the table. He had heard it said, however, that human flesh tasted like pork. He was in trouble, for if there was no pork on the table he would stand a chance of having his head chopped off. One day told his cook to have some fresh pork for dinnerвЂ¦but the cook had no pork. So IвЂ™m afraid to say it does look like there were cannibals in the Crusades after all! I shudder to tell that many of our people, harassed by the madness of excessive hunger, cut pieces from the buttocks of the Saracens already dead there, which they cooked, but when it was not yet roasted enough by the fire, they devoured it with savage mouth In his History of the Expedition to Jerusalem Fulcher of Chartres wrote the following about what happened at MaвЂ™arra. Christian chroniclers, three of them, felt constrained to both record and try to excuse acts of cannibalism by the crusader. In an earlier incident in 1098 during the First Crusade вЂ“ a year before Jerusalem was taken by Prince Tancred вЂ“ the crusaders overran a Syrian town called MaвЂ™arra. You have to recall that Richard the Lionheart presided at a mass execution of prisoners so there was a very mean streak to the man. This story might have been intended as a sick joke or a boastful means of scaring the Saracens вЂ“ conversely, the incident may have happened. Needless to say the attendants produce a SaracenвЂ™s head and Richard, far from being appalled, gets stuck into some more вЂњporkвЂќ pointing out to his men that they shall never starve as this meat is so plentiful.ДISCOVER: Smear campaign that led to the Templar downfallД¬annibals in the Crusades вЂ“ propaganda or fact?

Richard bolts down his food and asks to see the pigвЂ™s head. His attendants cook him up some Saracens on the basis that they taste of pork (even though theyвЂ™re not allowed to eat pork вЂ“ go figure!). ItвЂ™s said that he requested pork to eat while camped outside the Hospitaller fortress of Acre in modern Israel. Did incidents of cannibalism occur during the Crusades? ItвЂ™s a question that fascinates a lot of you! The idea that our valiant Templars would also have been cannibals is shocking and very disturbing.ДЄstonishingly, one person accused of cannibalism is none other than Richard the Lionheart.

Crusader kings 2 cannibal