Why did the medieval Church bless the invasion of Duke William of Normandy into Christian England in 1066 and give its blessings for the cultural genocide that took place in Provence? How could a Western Christian army plunder Constantinople to the point of destruction in 1204? Why did thousands of ordinary men and women, guided by knights and ladies, kings and queens, embark with zealotry on ships and set sail for the Holy Land in a campaign to destroy the world of Islam? The people of that era did not call the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 the "First Crusade," nor the heroic confrontation between Richard the Lionheart and Salah ad-Din, the famous Saladin, the "Third Crusade," as this term had not yet been invented. However, the idea of a war for faith had long been in the air. Why the Crusades began and what truth lies behind them are just two of the important questions this book examines. Many saw the Crusades as a kind of pilgrimage. Many mistakenly believed that this was the will of God, and even more participated for the spoils and the revelry of plunder. The author, examining aspects of history that have remained unexplored until now, sheds light on religious factions, demonstrating how the shaping of modern Europe, as well as the relationships that have developed to this day between the Christian and Muslim worlds, are due to the Crusades. [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]