What were the Crusades?
Mention the word “crusade” to anyone and you’ll engender visions of either wild-eyed religious fanatics charging off to kill the infidels, or esteemed holy warriors taking up the burden of a religious mission far greater than themselves. There’s no single judgment that can be made about the Crusades or even crusading generally, but it is a subject which merits closer attention than it usually receives. What is crusading, exactly? The term “Crusade” can be used generally to refer to any of the military operations launched during the middle ages by the Catholic Church and Catholic political leaders against non-Catholic powers or heretical movements. Most crusades, however, were directed at Muslim states in the Middle East, with the first starting in 1096 and the last in 1270. The term itself is derived from the Latin cruciata, which means “cross-marked,” i.e. cruce signati, those who wear the insignia of scarlet crosses. Today the term “crusade” has generally lost its military implicatio
