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  • Leona Bastianic

Who were the crusaders?

Updated: Feb 8, 2021

A commonly overshadowed thought about the crusades is that only knights went on crusade, however, quite intriguingly, many different types of people went on crusade and not all people went for religious reasons.


You probably think that going on crusade to claim land sounds quite unappealing, but, many monks and knights decided to go, as, if you died in crusade you would get an immediate pass to heaven without any wait in purgatory and if you died after going on crusade you would be extremely likely (but not guaranteed) to go to heaven. You would also be helping and supporting the church in behalf of god.


Some common soldiers went on crusade to climb social and wealth ranks, as, if you were born in Europe you would be likely not to move social class and there were not many opportunities to earn money. However, if you went on crusade and successfully invaded a town you would be able to loot and steal from them, which enticed many young men.


Interestingly, children went on crusade too. Many of them believe that they had a calling from god, saw him in a dream or were in some way directed by him to go on this war and felt that they were doing him an injustice not going. Many children’s families didn’t approve, so, the children escaped or persuaded them - anything just so they could fight alongside strong soldiers.


To sum up, a large fraction of the people who went on crusade were actually not noble princes and knights!

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