Crusades and the Church At the time of the Crusades, the official church had become corrupt and politically motivated. It should be noted, too, that crusaders did not take vows to go on crusade. The very term crusade, in English or in any other language, is a much later invention. What we call crusades, contemporaries knew as pilgrimages or even simply journeys. Aside from a tiny elite, people were illiterate and even if they could …showed first 75 words of 753 total…

…showed last 75 words of 753 total…to time spent in purgatory). Most medieval people were deeply interested in their fate in the next world, and the indulgence was a powerful incentive to participate in crusades. It was especially effective amongst the very people whom the Church was trying to recruit: the baron who was a competent warrior but who had perhaps been applying that competence to unlawful targets such as other Christians and who, as a result, had a guilty conscience.