User blog comment:Draugluin the werewolf/This guy on youtube, why do I even bother./@comment-25975584-20170110060346

I have to say, that the Middle Ages were a mixed bag. It was only due to the waning strength of the Byzantine Empire, and the rise of the first of the Komnenoi that they began at all. Before the crusades, in the disastrous aftermath of Manzikert, the Seljuks had eaten their way across Anatolia, and came dangerously close to Constantinople. The heart of the eastern half of Chalcedonian christianity, and a 'gateway' to Europe.

So, religion was merely abused for political aims. As it has been (unfortunately), since time immemorial.