In the West, the Crusades are typically discussed in the plural as a series of expeditions in which successive groups of Europeans traveled to the Holy Land, engaging in plunder, murder, conquest, and eventual return. Many in Europe and North America today regard such historical chapters as closed. Alongside colonialism and feudalism, the Crusades are seen as episodes from which the modern, civilized, liberal, democratic, and secular West has learned its lessons, and which no longer shape present-day conduct.
» The Crusades were a transformative force for Latin Christendom, a realm defined by its recognition of papal suzerainty. A coherent European identity emerged in tandem with the crusading movement, framed as an act of caritas—Christian charity—to protect Eastern Christians, a medieval prototype for the modern doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and humanitarian interventionism. «
However, between the 11th and 13th centuries, Latin Christendom became what can be termed a crusading society—a concept that reframes these events not merely as discrete military campaigns, but as a deeper ideological and societal transformation, one whose logic persists to this day, dressing up war and aggression in the language of "universal human rights," the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), and humanitarian interventionism.
Between 1095 and 1291, Latin Christendom organized nine major military mobilizations, accompanied by continuous preaching, financing, administration, and provisioning. Losses such as the County of Edessa prompted the Second Crusade, the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 called forth the Third Crusade, and territorial ambitions contributed to the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the sack of Orthodox Christian Constantinople in 1204. Subsequent expeditions, including the Fifth and the Seventh under Louis IX, followed in succession.
This sustained mobilization created a pervasive sense of emergency that reshaped the internal ordering of Christian society. Emphasis was placed on suppressing heresy, maintaining proper order, and purifying society from sin to explain military setbacks against Muslim resistance. The resulting paradigm led to persecutions of heretics, Jews, and conquered Muslim populations in regions such as Spain and Sicily.
A 1954 painting by Said Tahsin, depicting the victorious Saladin alongside the defeated King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, following the Battle of Hattin in 1187. Saladin's victory and the subsequent fall of Jerusalem reverberated through the Vatican, striking the Normanic, Anglo-Saxon, Frankish, and Germanic nobility and clergy alike. This profound shock catalyzed the Third Crusade (1189–1192)—the storied 'Kings' Crusade'—spearheaded by monarchs such as Richard the Lionheart.
One illustrative case involved Frederick II’s relocation of Muslim populations from Sicily to the Italian peninsula, establishing the city of Lucera, which endured for sixty to seventy years before its liquidation under Angevin rule. Such actions reflect an internal ordering of Latin Christendom shaped by the pressures of expensive, often unsuccessful overseas wars and persistent resistance. Over two centuries, this experience played a formative role in shaping Western identity, politics, society, and culture.
Moment when the 81st Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (SMOM), Fra’ John Dunlap, was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal on March 26, 2025. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, represented by the Maltese Cross as a symbol of allegiance and membership, was founded in 1048 by direct descendants of Roman Emperors. Today, this crusading order constitutes a unique case in international law, as a non-territorial sovereign entity that nonetheless maintains full diplomatic relations, through embassies or similar diplomatic missions, with around 113 sovereign states, including, of course, since 1948, the genocidal settler-colonial State of Israel. Where's the beef in all of this? Who bankrolls SMOM, and for what? Stories for another day.
The Great Schism and the First Crusade
The Crusades occurred parallel to the Great Schism of the Christian Church, which differentiated Eastern and Western Christianity. Latin Christendom formed a commonwealth of states that recognized shared political legitimacy under the Catholic Church, while sharing theological foundations such as the Nicene Creed with the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Disputes over the filioque clause, the dating of Easter, and other liturgical matters contributed to the schism and mutual non-recognition.
Papal doctrine emphasized universal supremacy, seeking reunion with the Orthodox Church under Roman primacy. The Eastern emperors, facing Seljuk Turkish advances after the Battle of Manzikert, sought Western military aid and proved willing to pursue religious accommodations. The appeal from the Byzantine emperor for limited mercenary support ultimately elicited a far larger response following Pope Urban II’s call for "holy war" against "the infidels" at Clermont in 1095 and his battle cry "Deus vult!" (God wills it). Preachers such as Peter the Hermit infused the movement with apocalyptic and millenarian expectations.
» Destroy that vile race [the Muslims] from the lands of our friends [the Eastern Christians]. [...] Christ commands it. All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested. O what a disgrace if such a despised race, which worships demons, should conquer a people which has the faith of omnipotent God and is made glorious with the name of Christ! «
Political necessities encouraged temporary rapprochement, yet clerical resistance on matters of principle preserved lasting separation between the churches. Historical alliances later emerged among Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims in opposition to medieval and early modern Catholic power.
Jerusalem, Holy War, and Motivations
A thousand years after the death of Jesus Christ, the drive to march eastward and secure Jerusalem under Christian dominance gained widespread popularity. At the time, West Asia was highly urbanized and integrated into extensive trading networks linking the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and overland Asian routes. Its history of empires and kingdoms, position as a cultural crossroads, and role as the birthplace of writing, legal codes, and monotheistic religions made it a source of great prosperity and innovation.
In his book American Crusade (2020), Pete Hegseth, Iraq War veteran, Fox News commentator, and current US Secretary of War, portrays the current era as a "crusade moment" analogous to the 11th-century Christian campaigns to "defend the faith and the Holy Land." The book concludes with the phrase "Deus Vult" ("God wills it"), presented as a rallying cry for his fight. As a self-proclaimed fervent Christian Zionist, Hegseth has tattoos that include a large Jerusalem Cross (Crusader's Cross) on his chest and the phrase "Deus Vult" on his bicep.
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Crusaders viewed Palestine as a biblical land of milk and honey, rich in wealth that rightly belonged under Christian control. The concept of the Holy Land gained prominence alongside the Crusades. Penitential pilgrimage to Jerusalem had grown increasingly popular from the 10th and 11th centuries, facilitated by safer routes through Eastern Europe. Jerusalem was regarded as the spiritual and geographical center of the world.
» The notion of "Judeo-Christian civilization" is a modern post-World War II construct linked to Holocaust-era developments, Zionism, and the establishment of a settler-colonial entity in Palestine viewed as a latter-day crusader state. «
Complaints about harassment and tolls imposed by Muslim authorities were perceived as outrages justifying intervention. Muslims were often depicted not as adherents of a monotheistic faith but as pagans defiling Christian holy sites. Accounts of Urban II’s speech highlighted the oppression of Eastern Christians, including lurid reports of atrocities, framing the campaign in terms of blood piety and fraternal duty through shared communion. This impulse has been interpreted as an early religious expression of "humanitarian intervention," akin to later doctrines of "responsibility to protect."
"Judeo-Christian" Identity and Contemporary Connections
Contemporary emphasis on protecting "Judeo-Christian heritage," including high-level political pilgrimages to Jerusalem and alignment with military control over holy sites, reflects continuities with the crusading spirit. The notion of "Judeo-Christian civilization" is a modern post-World War II construct linked to Holocaust-era developments, Zionism, and the establishment of a settler-colonial entity viewed as a latter-day crusader state.
In the medieval period, Jews faced repeated violence during Crusades, often linked rhetorically with Muslims as joint enemies of Christ. The discovery of Islam as a sophisticated monotheistic rival civilization intensified theological and geopolitical tensions, contributing to the erosion of earlier Augustinian tolerance toward Jews. Crusading logic intertwined the roots of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Biblical narratives were reinterpreted with Latin Christians, particularly the Franks, cast as the new chosen people tasked with restoring a holy kingdom. Protestant developments, including Christian Zionism and restorationist doctrines, further adapted these frameworks. Zionism itself offered a pathway for Jewish assimilation into European projects by relocating populations as settler-colonizers.
Crusades, Colonialism, and Genocide
The fundamental drive of European expansion eastward, though ultimately unsuccessful in the Holy Land due to sustained resistance, redirected westward. The colonial enterprise can be understood as an extension of the Crusades, achieving in the Americas and beyond what failed in the East through large-scale displacement and destruction of indigenous populations.
The Mediterranean served as a laboratory for techniques later applied in the Atlantic world: sugar plantations attempted in Palestine and Cyprus, extensive slave trading by Genoese merchants, and practices of conquest and settlement. Christopher Columbus drew on Joachite apocalyptic traditions rooted in 12th- and 13th-century Franciscan thought, viewing his voyages as advancing the restoration of Jerusalem to Christian hegemony.
Structures, institutions, and practices forged in the crusading era provided a paradigm for civilizational expansion combining material gain, conquest, and religious mission. This history demonstrates how genocidal methods became embedded within Western approaches to expansion. The modern State of Israel is regarded as the last major European settler-colonial project, sharing characteristics with the earlier crusader states and commanding broad Western elite support as a collective endeavor.
Contemporary events, including open invocations of crusading rhetoric by leaders and coordinated international actions, illustrate a millennium-long pattern of obsession with the East. Resistance in the region continues to frustrate these ambitions, echoing dynamics from eight centuries ago.
Islamophobia as a Structuring Paradigm
Islamophobia functions as a central structuring element in Western political culture, framing existential rivalry with Muslims as irreconcilable. Anti-immigrant narratives gain coherence within this longer historical frame. While crusading history receives emphasis, periods of diversity and cosmopolitanism under Muslim rule—such as in Al-Andalus—receive less attention. Though hierarchical, those societies generally respected life, property, and religious practice in ways that contrasted with the internal transformations of the crusading society. Understanding these deep historical roots is essential for addressing contemporary patterns and avoiding their perpetuation.
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Adnan A. Husain is Associate Professor of History and Director of the School of Religion at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. A specialist in Medieval Mediterranean and Islamic World history, he received his Ph.D. (1998), M.A. (1992), and B.A. (1991) from the University of California, Berkeley. His research examines cross-cultural and inter-religious encounters among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Mediterranean (10th–15th centuries), focusing on religious culture, polemic, mysticism, the Crusades, and their modern legacies in Islamophobia, antisemitism, and settler colonialism. Among his other works, he is the author of the forthcoming monograph Identity Polemics: Encounters with Islam in the Medieval Mediterranean World (1150–1300). He also hosts a website on Medieval Mediterranean and Islamic World History, and The Adnan Husain Show on YouTube.
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