What Role Did Propaganda Play In The Crusades

This paper is going to discuss the Crusades and what role religion played in them, ranging from 1096-1239AD. I will be discussing the meaning behind the most prominent Crusades as a religious cleansing, a penance, a devotion, and pilgrimage. I will mention some of the propaganda used for the Crusades to convince people to fight. I will expand on what caused the Crusades and how they were justified. The Crusades were religious wars commonly referred to as “holy wars” between the Christians and the Muslims from the late eleventh century to the mid-thirteenth century. The papacy played a big role in the propagation of these religious wars by convincing commoners and kings alike that there was a need for holy war with Islam to reclaim the land

On the Christian side and the Muslim side, both groups had influential people advocating the need for war. The Christians promoted the wars through the spreading of stories about horrible acts being done through the middle east. Soon poets, writers, and musicians were advocating the wars in their work.(3) Most people were illiterate and blindly followed whatever was told to them by their preachers and noblemen . The Muslims also used propaganda to encourage their followers to rise up and reclaim the land that was taken from them in the First Crusade. They too used religious leaders and artists to promote their cause. With the wound from the First Crusade still being fresh, the Muslim people were enraged enough to join forces and reclaim the Holy Land for themselves. One of the driving factors behind the Crusades was that this would be a religious cleansing for Christianity. They set out to either convert or rid the world of nonbelievers. The illiterate commoners and even well educated noblemen believed that they were doing God’s work by invading the middle east. As the years past the Crusades seem to have shifted their focus from fighting in the name of God to fighting for