The Impossible Definition of Crusading

How the usage of the word “Crusading” in modern scholarship should be re-evaluated.

Abstract

The word “crusading” is a well-known and seemingly well-defined word in modern academia. This historiographical paper questions the usage of the word. Using the works of Jonathan Riley-Smith, Jay Rubenstein, Paul M. Cobb, and Christopher Tyerman, the term “crusading” will be explored in its many contexts and uses, especially the conflicting definitions explored by these authors. What is shown is that in both the Middle Ages and modern scholarship, there is not a single universal meaning to the word “crusading”. Instead, there is a spectrum of different motivations and actions that are classified as “crusading” by modern scholarship. This makes the term “crusading” so broad that it ultimately loses its meaning. This essay compares various modern interpretations of what crusading means in an effort to emphasise how contradictory these definitions have become.