What Are the Reasons for the Crusades?

The beginning of a series of lectures on the Middle Ages. We start by throwing out the junk, such as the notions that medievals smelled bad and liked to hunt witches, and then look into the mystical and apocalyptic roots of the idea that history should be divided into three ages. Become a patron of Historiansplaining in order to hear the next lecture, on the "Dark Age," in which the medieval civilization first arose -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/8814492