The Crusades were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem. The Crusades were originally launched in response to a call from the leaders of the Byzantine Empire for help to fight the expansion into Anatolia of Muslim Seljuk Turks who had cut off Christian access to Jerusalem, and were also sparked by the destruction of many Christian sacred sites and the persecution of Christians under the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim. The crusaders comprised military units of Roman Catholics from all over western Europe, and were not under unified command. The main series of Crusades, primarily against Muslims in the Levant, occurred between 1095 and 1291. Historians have given many of the earlier crusades numbers. After some early successes, the later crusades failed and the crusaders were defeated and forced to return home.
Several hundred thousand soldiers became Crusaders by taking vows; the Pope granted them plenary indulgence. Their emblem was the cross — the term "crusade" is derived from the French term for taking up the cross. Many were from France and called themselves "Franks," which became the common term used by Muslims.
William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X. He then embarked on a successful solo career, aided by a series of stylish[citation needed]music videos, making him one of the first MTV stars. Idol continues to tour with guitarist Steve Stevens and has a worldwide fan base.[citation needed]
Idol was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, the son of a salesman.. The name Billy Idol was inspired by a schoolteacher's description of Broad as "idle".
In 1958, when Idol was two years old, his parents moved to Patchogue, New York, on Long Island. The family returned to England four years later with Idol and a younger child Jane (who had been born in the US), settling in Dorking, Surrey. In 1971 the family moved to Bromley, southeastern London, where Idol attended Ravensbourne School for Boys. Idol (rather William Broad) also attended Worthing High School for Boys (later becoming Worthing College), in West Sussex. In October 1975, Idol went to the University of Sussex, near Brighton, to pursue an English degree and lived on campus (East Slope) but left after year one (1976). He then went on to join the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, a loose gang that travelled into town when the band played.
Thomas F. Madden (born 1960) is an American historian, a former Chair of the History Department at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Director of Saint Louis University's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He is considered one of the foremost historians of the Crusades in the United States, and was often called upon as a historical consultant after the events of September 11, to discuss the connections between Jihad, the medieval Crusades and modern Islamic terrorism. He has frequently appeared in the media, as a consultant for various programs on the History Channel and National Public Radio. In 2007, he was awarded the Haskins Medal from the Medieval Academy of America, for his book Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice, which was also a "Book of the Month" selection by the BBC History magazine.
Madden received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of New Mexico in 1986, and his Masters (1990) and PhD (1993) degrees in History from the University of Illinois.
I used to be so young and invincible.
The mistakes of my youth are finally catching up to me.
The face that stares back in the mirror
Should carry nothing but pride.
As the days go by, it's getting harder to hold my head up high.
I've never been so tired, I've never felt so weak,
But I swear to you, I swear to you that I'm not giving up.
Never been so tired, never felt so weak
My storied life is coming to a graceful descent.
Descend.
I see peace end and battles begin.
I see peace end and battles begin.
I won't forget the lives I touched.
I won't forget the life I know.
As the days go by, it's getting harder to hold my head up high.
As the days go by, it's getting harder to hold my head up high.
I used to think I'd last forever.
I used to think I'd last forever.
I used to think I'd last forever.
I used to think I'd last forever.
Forever.
I'm praying for the light to just carry me away.
I'm praying for the light to just carry me away.
Say goodnight. Say goodbye.
Say goodnight. Say goodbye.
She was holding somebody's hand,
I forget who it was I am.
Giving up the crusades for a while,
I can't crawl another mile.
The rags are torn,
the sheets are tattered,
rat-a-tat and all the tribes scattered.
She'll be hanging out in hotel rooms,
I'll be tucked away in underground tombs.
Now I'm finally giving up crusades,
when I realized no one could be saved.
Dusty gashes we were seeing,
this giant airfield came into being.
the harnessed power and force of a million;
faithful followers who sold their children.
Some return with souvenirs,
stick a heart in your boutonnière.
Some return with tales of glory,
all the fucking stories bore me.
Now I'm finally giving up crusades,
when I realized no one can be saved.
Say I know when I just don't know.
Say I love you, I don't just know.
I was a pretender to the throne,
I knew my cover'd be blown.
Never could be that dogmatic,
whose to blame if I just heard static?
Never known the truth of a zealot,
whose to blame if I just can't spell it?
Never known true righteousness
just the safety and vague red lust.
Give dust to life, give life to dust,
Crusades
Alloyed in a void, I am torn, I am born,
Crusades
Ruderal roots tulleric shoots in cahoots
Making life out of death chthonic breath meristem,
Jubilee, I am free, so I rise from debris,
Other seeds who are weak need a spur so I speak,
Every word like a burr, so hoist my voice and rejoice,
Just a spark from the dark ignites a thousand to march
So we embark on a drive to split from the stem,
Divide out of the clade, a parade to invade,
Crusades
Glory to grow as part of a whole,
Crusades
We are roots, we are soil, we are leaves, we are souls
Crusades
Broad canopy from the tree, a decree,
Blazon to the world we were born to press on,
Blank the sky with our kind, make the branches align,
Sing the spores to the throng, fill the fields with our song,
We are bright in our blight, full of poison and pomp,
Molded as one, we will outshine the sun,
Spread like vines as we climb, knots that can't be undone,
The crusade has begun, turn the many to one,
Crusades
Let the blind be led by the dumb
Crusades
The Philistines arrive at the gates
Crusades
Let the brave lie down on their swords
Crusades
The devoted unleash their wrath
One ant is no ant, no branch is a tree,
Crusades
Just a part of a plant I gave up to be free,
Crusades
Rejoice in the life that I gave to a wave,
Of likes that will die and behave all the same,
To populate the terrain until all that remains,
Is our kind of one mind, evolved and refined,
Fall from the crown, I will rot on the ground,
Left by the march that moves on as the sound,
From their step fades, alone, for a purpose I'm placed
Born again in new roots that will rise from my waste
Not proud of it
Not proud of it
I've wasted a lifetime
Not proud of it
We have digits to fill the keys
The problem with that is
Reaction, retraction
A pseudo wordsmith we can see
Dictionary word of the day
So comment on this thread
Your exposed, your exposed
So try and say those words to my face
Tweet
Where has trust gone?
It is dead it is dead it is dead
From the moment you brought him back home
Where has love gone?
It is dead it is dead it is dead
From the moment you brought him back home
Where have you gone?
You are dead dead dead
From the moment you brought him back home
Faceless death threats
We have digits to fill the keys
The problem with that is
Reaction, retraction
A pseudo wordsmith we can see
Dictionary word of the day
So comment on this thread
Your exposed, your exposed
So try and say those words to my face
Tweet
Where has trust gone?
It is dead it is dead it is dead
From the moment you brought him back home
Where has love gone?
It is dead it is dead it is dead
From the moment you brought him back home
Where have you gone?
You are dead dead dead
From the moment you brought him back home
Faceless death threats
Your life's hopeless