ABSTRACT
There is general agreement amongst historians that during its 'classical period', crusading was influenced to only a limited degree by Christendom's frontier societies. The First Crusade had its origin in the interaction between a reforming papacy and a warrior aristocracy concerned for its own salvation, which occurred within the heartlands of post-Carolingian Europe in the late eleventh century. The vital job of interpreting the First Crusade in the context of Catholic theology was accomplished in the early decades of the twelfth century, as one of the last great achievements of traditional monastic scholarship, mainly in northern France. Frontiersmen in Spain, and on Germany's eastern borders, lobbied with some vigour for an extension of crusading to their local conflicts with Muslims and pagans. Political confusion and change amongst the Christians, both Catholics and Orthodox, was complemented by rich if shifting patterns of commercial and political intercourse between Christians and Muslims.
