ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book concerns the way in which thirteenth-century laymen like Joinville may have perceived crusading, and how they involved themselves with the crusading cause. During this period the Church and secular rulers who were responsible for instigating and executing crusade campaigns had come to use the crusade as a weapon against a variety of enemies in a range of locations and had found new ways to call on the support and assistance of their congregations and subjects. The book concentrates largely on the participants in Louis IX's crusades to Egypt in 1248 and to Tunisia in 1270. It outlines the methodology and historiographical background, which concentrates on specific themes as they feature in sources related to the promotion and practice of crusading, and on the careers of individual crusaders.
