12. Although it is widely believed that Islam and Christianity existed in a condition of permanent conflict throughout the Middle Ages, the reality was that the relationship was the same as any other: there was war and there was peace.
Despite the common modern perception, especially in the 21st century, that Islam and Christianity have long been incompatible and in conflict, this was not true for much of the Middle Ages. Whilst it has been claimed that after the Caliph Umar captured Jerusalem in 638 CE from the Byzantine Empire that “Islam and Christianity were locked in a brutal conflict” that lasted “for centuries”, the reality is far from it. Whilst the Crusades occurred, among other instances of sustained and horrific violence justified on the grounds of religion, both societies also coexisted for prolonged periods of time in peace.
Christian kings would hire the services of Muslims, and vice-versa, referenced famously in Shakespeare’s Othello, Islamic merchants from the Levant traded freely with the city-states of Italy even as the Third Crusade raged, and during the 16th century France allied itself with the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman Empire. Ultimately, whilst religious violence occurred, it was merely one factor among many as the cause of conflict in a world filled with strife. As with any neighbor during the Middle Ages, Christian or Muslim, there was war, there was commerce, and there were alliances; Islam and Christianity was no exception to this, nor any special case.