I definitely agree with you about Geoffrey. But I'm not sure such fanatism was uncommon at the time. Even if many crusaders -fortunately- were less prone than him to conquering, the lame and disastrous first crusade, the peasants' one, shows that there really was LOADS of faith involved.
Sure, the way Venicians directed the 4th Crusade to Constantinople is all the evidence we need to show that many, including some of the mighiest, had a much more secular point of view. But since very few "westerners" stayed in the Middle East after the conquest of Jerusalem was achieved, there was a lot more than mere sensible and rational economic reasons.
Let's not forget that even if crusading was economically disastrous for most crusaders, waging war was definitely in the nobles' mentality. I was taught all my childhood that the Church at the time wanted above all to limit private warfare between christian lords. Sending them wage war somewhere else was a rational choice too, and Jerusalem was the obvious target for religious reasons.
In short, mentality had a key role, faith was real in many cases, and crusades were partly rational from some points of view.
I just hope I'm not adding to a thread war...
Sure, the way Venicians directed the 4th Crusade to Constantinople is all the evidence we need to show that many, including some of the mighiest, had a much more secular point of view. But since very few "westerners" stayed in the Middle East after the conquest of Jerusalem was achieved, there was a lot more than mere sensible and rational economic reasons.
Let's not forget that even if crusading was economically disastrous for most crusaders, waging war was definitely in the nobles' mentality. I was taught all my childhood that the Church at the time wanted above all to limit private warfare between christian lords. Sending them wage war somewhere else was a rational choice too, and Jerusalem was the obvious target for religious reasons.
In short, mentality had a key role, faith was real in many cases, and crusades were partly rational from some points of view.
I just hope I'm not adding to a thread war...
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