One of the most significant and remarkable incidents of the Middle Ages was the series of conflicts known collectively as the Crusades. Generally these conflicts were militant pilgrimages to the Levant (though sometimes elsewhere) undertaken by medieval Europeans in the name of Christendom. Though there were many political and social issues involved in the whole affair, the primary theme, however superficial, was religious. The adversaries in these “wars” were non-Christians, namely Muslims, who were widely seen as the oppressors of Eastern Christians. Those engaged in the Crusades, especially the authorities preaching and administering them, believed that the Saracens (Turks, Arabs, etc) were intruding on lands that were inherently Christian. Two important primary source texts which explain this justification for war are Robert of Rheims’ account of Urban’s Speech at Clermont and La Chanson d’Antioche (The Song of Antioch) by Graindor de Douai. Though they are very different types of sources, written at different times and for different purposes, they both illustrate the reasons why Crusaders felt they were fighting for land that was rightfully theirs.…