The Romantics broke from what some have called вЂњthe cult of progress,вЂќ composing a Middle Ages that was supernatural, artistic, and steeped in escapism. Enlightenment thinkers viewed the period as a time of base emotion, barbarism, and religious dominance. Protestant Reformers decried the many abuses of the Medieval Church, some more real than others. Renaissance humanists saw Medieval scholastics as a collection of backwards, uneducated rabble who wrote in bad Latin and did not even know Greek. Before this period, the Middle Ages were viewed with almost universal scorn.

Though it may seem that way, as before 2001 this sort of rhetoric existed only on the vary fringes of world politics, in fact nothing could be further from the truth.Д®urope and America began their love affair with the Middle Ages in the 19th century, starting with the Romantic movement. All of this, to many people, seems like a rather sudden development, as if this obsession with the Middle Ages simply appeared out of nowhere. Before that, however, I think we ought to consider the basis of the connection between the far-right and the Middle Ages in more depth. It should go without saying that these people are incorrect in their assertions, but I will say it anyway: these people have a distinctly incorrect, skewed, and politicized portrait of the Middle Ages in their minds, and I mean to prove how and why this is the case.

Examining Islamic fundamentalismвЂ™s own obsession with the Middle Ages would require its own article and training that I probably do not possess. To be fair, I should also mention that similarly twisted versions of Islamic jihadist ideology, championed in the Middle Ages by figures such as Zengi, Saladin, and Baibars, also drive organizations like the Islamic State, but I am going to focus on white supremacists and white nationalists here. These connections do not exist only in the United States and Europe, as Brazilian fascists in support of Bolsonaro have also appropriated the crusader war cry of вЂњDeus Vult,вЂќ meaning вЂњGod Wills ItвЂќ in Latin. Alt-right, white-supremacist, ultra-conservative movements now wish to claim the Middle Ages, and especially the crusades, as part of their 'cultural heritage.' A racially twisted version of crusade ideology has resurfaced in far-right circles on websites like 4Chan and Reddit. There was a time when this was not a dangerous demographic, but this has changed, and I dearly wish that it had not. I am a college-aged, white male interested in the history of the crusades.

Deus vult alt right