ABSTRACT
There was a parallel development in Denmark and in Portugal – rulers and individuals in these two regions had a comparable mental background, they reacted in similar ways to the general European crusade movement and saw an advantage – or a duty – in utilizing its theoretical and theological apparatus in wars in their own local regions against their own heathens. The conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 created a template by which to understand later wars, also in the Baltic region and on the Iberian Peninsula, and the first crusade thus became a guiding principle or an ideal for religious wars in both places. Such parallel developments must presume a high degree of communication between the two regions, no matter what tangible traces we are left with today.
