ABSTRACT
So they are seen to be a strange and bewildering breed, meeker than lambs, fiercer than lions. I do not know whether to call them monks or knights because though both names are correct one lacks a monk's gentleness the other a knight's pugnacity (Bernard of Clairvaux, 1128). [Crusading] was an opportunity for indulging in warlike adventure under an ascetic aim, with the possibility of worldly advantage in a new land and a certainty of spiritual benefits... The fanatic, the adventurer, the enterprising merchant, the debtor, the serf, and the outlaw, all found in the crusade a welcomed occasion for possible betterment (Newhall 1963, p. 42).
