The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading

Examines the First Crusade (including the massacre of the Jews in the Rhineland) in light of Crusader ideology in which knightly violence was directed towards Holy War. Pp. 50-57 discuss the Crusaders' motivations: their need for supplies, obtained by looting; the view of Muslims and Jews as enemies of the faith; the desire to take vengeance on the Jews for the crucifixion, viewed in feudal terms as an injury to Christ's person which a knight must avenge.