The Crusades Never Ended. Zionism’s Medieval Christian Roots EXPOSED | Prof. Manuel J. Ramos

## Introduction The familiar edges of modern geopolitics—airborne bombings, settler movements, sacramental claims to territory—are often explained as the product of 19th- and 20th-century imperialism. But a deeper, older current runs beneath those events. The conversation with Professor Manuel J. Ramos reorients our gaze: the ideological scaffolding for much of European domination was built centuries earlier, in the imaginations and maprooms of medieval Christendom. A crusading logic—millenarian, messianic, and territorially obsessive—did not vanish with medieval banners; it was repurposed, rebranded and eventually fused with Enlightenment utopian projects to produce modern forms of Christian Zionism and imperial strategy. Understanding that continuity helps explain why contemporary struggles over Jerusalem, the Red Sea, and parts of Africa still echo with medieval metaphors and motives. ## The Legend of Prester John Central to Professor Ramos’s account is a medieval fiction that functioned like a geopolitical engine: the legend of Prester John. Born in the chancelleries of the 12th century, the “letter of Prester John” circulated across Europe in dozens of languages and claimed that a Christian “king of kings” ruled a vast, distant dominion willing to ally with the West to reclaim Jerusalem. Although the letter was almost certainly a forgery—an ideological provocation composed in the Hohenstaufen court—it acted as a very real catalyst for exploration, diplomacy, and crusading fantasy. Prester John morphed across time and space. Initially conceived as an eastern monarch allied with the Alexandrian dream of an East-West Christian synthesis, he later migrated in European imaginations to the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia—imagined as an extension of India, fed by the Nile and linked to Eden’s lost rivers—became the locus of this messianic ally. Medieval maps and travelogues, including passing references by Marco Polo, fed the belief that powerful Christian rulers existed beyond the Islamic polities that held Jerusalem and the Red Sea. The long and febrile European search for Prester John animated voyages along Africa’s coasts and into the Indian Ocean, not merely for spices or trade but in the hope of finding a sacramental partner for the recovery of the Holy City. The legend’s potency came from its synthesis of biblical typologies, cartographic cosmology, and political yearning. Medieval worldviews placed Jerusalem at the heart of spiritual geography; Europe, by contrast, was often depicted as an outlying, degraded region in need of redemption. Prester John offered the promise of a redux: an eastern Christian force that could tip the balance in a divinely ordained campaign to restore Jerusalem and bring about a golden age. ## From Medieval Crusades to Modern Christian Zionism One of the conversation’s most destabilizing claims is that Christian Zionism did not emerge as a marginal, modern fringe but as a mainstream ideological thread stretching back to the early modern era. The millenarian impulses that fueled the crusading movement—expectations of a final struggle, apocalyptic culmination, and a geographically specific redemption—reconstituted themselves in the religious politics of the British Isles and continental Europe. By the 17th and 18th centuries, strands of millenarian thought had crystallized into a proto-Christian Zionism in England; by the 19th century, these ideas found new purchase among Anglophone elites and missionaries. Professor Ramos emphasizes that Christian Zionism preceded and helped shape political Zionism. Evangelical and millenarian movements in Britain imagined the return to and conquest of Palestine as a precondition for the second coming. These theological commitments translated into political sympathies and strategic alignments long before Theodor Herzl’s political project took public form. Herzl’s own memoirs, read closely, show the contingency of his Zionist turn—initially considering religious conversion strategies before shifting to a territorial project—underscoring how European conceptualizations of Jewish destiny were deeply entangled with Christian political imaginations. The result is a surprising inversion: rather than Zionism emerging primarily from Jewish nationalism seeking refuge, aspects of the Zionist project were incubated in theologies and imperial politics of Christian Europe and later in the United States. Christian Zionism’s growth, particularly among Anglophone elites and evangelical Americans, supplied not only moral cover but theological urgency to political moves in Palestine—moves whose justifications often echoed crusader rhetoric. The crusade did not so much end as migrate into new institutions, ideologies, and statecraft. ## The Asymmetry of Power & European Self-Perception To grasp why these medieval ideas endured, it helps to read the cartographic and symbolic language through which medieval Europeans saw the world. Professor Ramos draws attention to maps and biblical genealogies that placed Europe in a subordinate cosmological position: Jerusalem sat at the heart; Christ’s face loomed over the map’s eastern horizon; Europe and Africa were assigned particular moral valences. Europe’s location—often depicted on the right side of Christ’s body—was ambivalent: not the center but an outpost needing redemption. Africa, by contrast, bore the stigma of Ham, a theological marker of curse and otherness that rationalized demonizing representations of its peoples and geographies. This theological anthropology keyed early European notions of hierarchy and mission. The “civilizing mission” and later colonial ideologies inherited a symbolic grammar that had already construed non-European peoples as cursed, monstrous, or fundamentally in need of salvation. The crusade’s moral universe made conquest less a secular policy than a sacral campaign—a means of restoring divine order, reclaiming sacred space, and hastening eschatological fulfillment. That grammar also reinforced classed and racialized claims about European identity. In Britain, for example, a powerful strand of thought equated Anglo-Saxon identity with Israelite lineage, investing monarchy and nationhood with sacral legitimacy. These beliefs sanctified conquest as the enactment of providence: rulers were not mere sovereigns but anointed figures whose martial campaigns carried religious freight. Such premises helped make imperial aggression seem less like naked expansion and more like divinely ordained stewardship, a rhetorical sleight of hand that made brutality plausible under the guise of salvation. ## The Modern "Civilizing Mission" in Africa Examining Portuguese expansion provides a concrete case of how millenarian imagination translated into maritime and territorial strategy. The Portuguese voyages of the late 15th and early 16th centuries were not uniform in purpose. Vasco da Gama’s realism—controlling ports and sea lanes to manage trade—sat alongside Afonso de Albuquerque’s messianic ambitions to control the Red Sea, align with Ethiopian forces, and ultimately penetrate the Arabian Peninsula and Jerusalem. Albuquerque’s radical plan to redirect the Nile and invade Mecca reads like a crusader’s fever dream recast in early modern operational terms. These competing logics—mercantile pragmatism and millenarian conquest—shaped the shape of European encounters in Africa and the Indian Ocean. Contact with the Kongo, the Wolof, and other polities was filtered through the expectation that local rulers might be subjects of Prester John. African political formations were thereby read through a script that reduced their autonomy and diversity to a single theological plot: potential allies or obstacles in a transcontinental fight for sacred territory. When this framework migrated into the modern colonial era, it fed the “civilizing mission” rhetoric used to justify extraction and violence in Africa. European powers treated control of waterwa

The Crusades Never Ended. Zionism’s Medieval Christian Roots EXPOSED The age of European colonialism never really ended, it just changed its costume. Today’s geopolitics look and feel so barbarian medieval because they are the ghosts of the Crusades and a forgotten medieval legend. To explore these startling ideas, I’m talking to Dr. Manuel João Ramos, an Associate Professor at the Dept. of Anthropology at the University Institute of Lisbon, where he has been working for decades on questions of European Colonialism and Power in International Relations. We trace a 1,000-year-old story, uncovering the surprising roots of Christian Zionism, the messianic fantasies behind the "Age of Discovery," and the religious undercurrents that still shape Europe's troubled relationship with the world. Links: Manuel's website: https://www.mjr.link/ Neutrality Studies substack: https://pascallottaz.substack.com Goods Store: https://neutralitystudies- shop.fourthwall.com Timestamps: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:49 The Crusading Spirit of European Colonialism 00:08:47 The Legend of Prester John 00:15:11 A Messianic Drive for Empire 00:26:38 From Medieval Crusades to Modern Christian Zionism 00:30:18 The Enlightenment's Utopian Roots 00:39:41 The Asymmetry of Power & European Self-Perception 00:45:10 The Modern "Civilizing Mission" in Africa 00:54:18 Outro #Pascal Hello, everybody. This is Pascal Lottaz from Literary Studies, and today I'm talking to Dr. Manuel J. Ramos, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University Institute of Lisbon, where he has been working for decades on questions of European colonialism and power in international relations. Manuel, welcome. #Manuel J. Ramos Pleasure to meet you, and I'm very happy to be here. #Pascal Thank you very much for coming online. You reached out because you’ve actually done research on the longue durée of European colonialism. And I recently realized just how important it is that we keep talking about the modern-day impact of Europe’s colonial legacy. Because Europeans think, “Oh, this is long over, we’re not colonial anymore.” Well, can you maybe speak to that a little bit? #Manuel J. Ramos -- 1 of 16 -- Yes. Actually, I'm a weird anthropologist because part of my research is in medieval studies. You don’ t find many anthropologists doing medieval studies. But I focused part of my career on studying this very strange and very powerful legend—the legend of Prester John of the Indies—which set the stage for the search and the so‑called discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. It’s a crusading legend that was developed in the court of Frederick of Hohenstaufen in Germany, and it’s a very, very powerful ideological setup. I’m not a Hegelian necessarily, and I know you also have to look at the material causes, but ideas are very, very powerful. And the idea of, well, the remake of the Alexandrian idea of joining East and West under one kingdom or one emperor is something that really filtered into this legend. This powerful idea—that the King of Kings was also a priest, a Christian priest who would ally with the West to conquer Jerusalem—really fueled the Discoveries project and, as I said, set the stage for European expansion. It set the stage for 500 years of development of a very, very powerful hegemonic machine, which, as we know, fully developed in the 19th century and part of the 20th century, when it started dismantling. #Pascal So you're saying that even current attempts by Western Europe to dominate the world at large— especially what we call the Middle East or Western Asia—are still outgrowths of the Crusades? Is that... #Manuel J. Ramos Absolutely, absolutely. I think—I mean, if you look at what's happening in the Middle East—we're still in a crusade. To an extent, we’re still in a crusade. If you look at the rhetoric, at the discourses, especially in the United States, of what’s called Christian Zionism, it’s incredible. I mean, it’s amazing that in the 21st century we are still so overwhelmed by this crusading, millenarian, apocalyptic Christian discourse, which is very much alive today. #Pascal Can you maybe give us a couple of examples of how today’s discourse reflects the crusading spirit from 500 years ago? #Manuel J. Ramos I mean, what I believe is that, as I said, all the pieces, all the discourse, and the whole framework for understanding the world—understanding Europe’s place in the world—were developed in the Middle Ages and flourished in the centuries that followed. What’s amazing to me is that the development of millenarianism, the rise of utopian millenarianism—especially from the 16th century -- 2 of 16 -- onwards, and particularly in England—really evolved into the 19th‑century Christian Zionism that later crossed the ocean to the United States and created this notion that control of Jerusalem is the ultimate goal of European or Western identity. And that’s what I’m saying: we’re still in this crusading spirit. #Pascal You know, that never occurred to me, because the discourse about Zionism is so strongly focused on Judaism. But of course, Judaism and Zionism are completely different concepts. It’s just so focused on that religious belief. But you’re absolutely right—Christian Zionism is actually bigger. There are more Christian Zionists than Jewish Zionists. #Manuel J. Ramos Not only is it bigger, but it actually precedes Jewish Zionism as a political ideology—by more than a century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, that’s when Christian Zionism starts to develop in the UK, and it really takes shape from the 1830s onwards there. And then, as I said, it travels to the United States. I found it very interesting—very recently, actually. I mean, it’s not the kind of thing you do every day—but I read Theodor Herzl’s diaries, and I was absolutely amazed that Zionism was not Herzl’s first plan. His first plan was to convert Austrian and German Jews to Catholicism. He even talked to the Pope’s envoy in Vienna, but he was dismissed. So Zionism became a backup plan for Theodor Herzl, which is amazing. I think you really have to understand that Zionism was something developed in Europe and in the United States, and it actually precedes Jewish Zionism. And there’s much more—many, many more millions of Christian Zionists than there are Jewish Zionists, of course. #Pascal Yeah, and you’re absolutely right that the reason these—especially the evangelical Christians in the United States—describe themselves as Zionists isn’t because they want a home for the Jews. It’s because they want to trigger the coming of Christ. Exactly—who will then eradicate the Jews and elevate the Christians to heaven. I mean, it’s basically an end‑of‑the‑world cult. #Manuel J. Ramos Exactly. I mean, it's the Battle of Armageddon. That's what they're seeking—the Battle of Armageddon. #Pascal -- 3 of 16 -- But when you connect that with the ideas of the Crusades, it actually opens quite a lot of doors, because it also explains why, in current discourse, we keep hearing about the so‑called Judeo‑Christian tradition. Can you speak more about this connection between Judaism and Christianity in the context of the Crusades, five to seven hundred years ago? #Manuel J. Ramos I mean, it's a long, long story. But of course, it's very interesting that this letter—Professor John’s letter, or the so‑called letter of Professor John—is actually a fake. You could call it a false flag. Can you tell us what it is? I actually don’t know it. Okay. This letter appeared in the... well, most probably it was forged by a bishop in the Hohenstaufen court as a—maybe I’m using the term “false flag” anachronistically—but as an incentive for the Third Crusade. The Third Crusade differs from the first two in that it was a very—well, I mean, it was a very official crusade. There was Friedrich Barbarossa, there was Richard the Lionheart, and there was the Dauphin de France. They all went to the Holy Land, and they all died there—or on the way. So this letter is supposedly written by this “king of kings,” an Indian king of kings, addressing the West and proposing an alliance—a military alliance—to overrun the Ottomans, or rather the Turks, the Seljuk Turks, who had taken control of the Holy Land. And this letter... #Pascal The year is 1400. #Manuel J. Ramos No, no, it's the 12th century—mid-12th century. Sorry, we're talking about the 1140s. #Pascal 1140s, 1150s—the letter, this fake letter of John of... And this letter became an incredible bestseller. #Manuel J. Ramos I mean, this letter was translated into most European languages. You find it in Hebrew, in Russian, in other Slavic languages, in Greek, in Latin, in Old Scots, in Germanic, in Dutch, in English, in French, in Spanish, and later in Portuguese. It was a letter that circulated everywhere in Europe. And, as I said, it was immensely powerful. It said, “We can conquer Jerusalem because we have an ally on the other side of the world.” And once we conquer Jerusalem, the prophecy—the Alexandrian prophecy, in a way—is brought in and transformed into a Christian prophecy. -- 4 of 16 -- That is, it will mean the coming of the Lord in the last days. So, as I said, it’s an immensely powerful letter, and it proposes a golden age once Jerusalem is conquered. You know, this is a fact. And it’s the start—this letter—because of what happened in the Third Crusade. There was a lull, a moment of calm, but immediately after—or not immediately, maybe 30 or 40 years after the Third Crusade— the Pope starts sending emissaries, travelers to the East in search of Prester John. So we have the beginning of an immensely rich literary corpus of travel accounts by Westerners, by Europeans traveling to India, traveling to China, visiting the Mongols. And at that point, Marco Polo also talks about Prester John, and he says, well, Prester John, after all, I think he's a subject of Genghis Khan or Kublai Khan, and he's Christian, but he's a heretic. So I think there are actually Christians—better Christians—in Eastern Africa, and he was probably talking about Ethiopians. So from the 14th century onwards, the Indian Prester John becomes an Ethiopian Prester John, because Ethiopia was considered the third India. It was thought that the Horn of Africa, in European views, was conceived as neighboring India. And so Prester John becomes Ethiopian—hence the Portuguese obsession with traveling all around and inside Africa in search of Prester John. So the explorations of the Portuguese throughout Africa were explorations in search of Prester John. Every contact they had with the Wolof, with the Kongo, was thought to involve kings who were subjects of Prester John, because Prester John was like Jesus. Just as Jesus had 72 disciples, Prester John was said to have 72 kings under him. So there was this image of Africa as having a political unity centered on an Ethiopian Prester John—a Christian Ethiopian Prester John. And that was very much one of the goals of the Portuguese: reaching the Indian Ocean, reaching India, and trying to conquer and control the Red Sea. So it was vital for them. Sorry. #Pascal No, no, this is fascinating. So you're actually— I mean, you're making the case that Western colonialism started not primarily out of a drive to export excess population, but out of this Christian messianic idea of finally creating the alliance that could then take over the Holy Land. And one thing that's interesting here is that if we look at medieval maps of the world, what you usually find is Jesus Christ superimposed, with the heart being Jerusalem. So Europe was actually not at the center of the map—it’s Jerusalem that’s at the heart, and you have to go west. And that’s the world you live in. #Manuel J. Ramos Yes, that's the so-called Ullendorf map, which has disappeared. It's an amazing map that actually shows the face of Christ in the far east. At the top of the map is the east, not the north. His hands— one is to the north, the o