The First Crusade: 6

Taking all sources together in The First Crusade exercise, we asked if The Crusaders were motivated by greed.  This is how we would look at the evidence:

Definitely true: No. This cannot be said from this evidence. In fact source 2 suggests that there are considerable costs involved in going on Crusade, with Geoffrey of Donzy selling half a county to fund his journey.

Probably true: There are hints in source 1 that some men are going on Crusade because they seek earthly profit, but this is not approved by Pope Urban II. It would be stretching the evidence to say that this makes the statement probably true.

Possibly true: It might be possible to say that some Crusaders are motivated by greed from the hints in source 1 but this set of evidence is insufficient to make a general statement.

Definitely untrue: No. The evidence does not support this, not least the evidence of source 2 as to the costs. The statement is too sweeping to be supported by three sources. It would be unlikely that all Crusaders shared the same motivation but your own experience might suggest that it is also unlikely that greed played no part in the motivation of any Crusader.

Not shown by the evidence: In some ways this might be the best answer. There is certainly no direct evidence in these sources to support this statement. Other sources would need to be consulted to give a definitive answer.

b) The Crusaders were motivated by piety:

• Definitely true;
• Probably true;
• Possibly true;
• Definitely untrue;
• Not shown by the evidence.