The First Crusade is an epic story, on a par with the tale of Xenophon and the ten thousand. A volunteer army, inspired by a heady mix of greed and piety, marched over 2,000 miles from their homes, ...

Sparked by a zeal to rid the Holy Lands of "infidels"—meaning Moslems primarily—only the First ... of one sort or another and, instead, contributed to the heightened tensions still visible in the ...