Christianity is globally known as the most followed religion in history, with currently over 2.2 billion followers, which is roughly 31% of the world's population. Even in modern times, that is a colossal number, but in Medieval Europe, it is believed that over 89% of the population were religious, with 56% of those to be Christians. With this massive number of followers, the Catholic Church held irresputible power over the continent, from the ability to crown kings to be able to launch full scale attacks, the popes of the time were often corrupt or hungry for more power, an unfortunate but true characteristic of medieval leaders. But at the time, Islam was also rising through the ranks, and the Islamic Rashidun Army had invaded Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia. This led to the formation of crusades, where the pope would order the combined christian army to launch full scale attacks upon the muslims, and these battles were violent, merciless and brutal. Unfortunately, over 8 major crusades occurred, with what is believed to hold the cause of death for over 6 million people. Along with this, the Catholics became restless and supersticious, and tortured and executed even more millions... upon calculation and addition, one will find that over 23.5 million people were killed in the historical time period that is the crusades. So all in all, the catholic church had a divine goal, and only wanted to make their Lord proud. But in Medieval times, nobody was gentle, no matter what your religion.