[tiamat]

This is going to be unpopular here, but the Crusades were ALSO a land-grab, an excuse for plunder, and a way for some european rulers or the Pope to get RID of inconveiniant people. ( He's after your crown? Send him on Crusade! ) People justify all SORTS of things in the name of religeon, and the Church's hands are not as pristine as they might be.

Tia

[Restorer]

Not unpopular with me. :)

You're absolutely correct. However, there has never been any war that was fought with unmixed motives. That some Crusaders fought just for themselves does not change the fact that some fought for high ideals, and probably the vast majority fought for both in varying mixtures.