The Crusades

703.73 - 733.519 Nathan W. Bingham

And they didn't initially call it crusades. That was a word that was adopted later. maybe as much as a century or two later, but crusade captures the sense of it because crusade was a French word that meant the way of the cross. They saw themselves sacrificing themselves, as Jesus had, taking up a cross, taking up self-denial to recapture the holy city for an eschatological purpose.