The First Crusade: 7
Looking at the evidence
Taking all sources together in The First Crusade exercise, we asked if The Crusaders were motivated by piety. This is how we would look at the evidence:
Definitely true: Again the sufficiency of three sources must be considered. It is clear from source 1 that Pope Urban II would like Crusaders to be motivated by piety and that he offers them remission of sins if they are, but the fact that this needs to be stated may hint that there are other motives.
Probably true: It is too strong a statement to say that all Crusaders were motivated by piety based on these three sources, although there is an implication at least of piety in all of them.
Possibly true: It is certainly possible to say that some crusaders are motivated by piety. Pope Urban II refers to this and it is probably reasonable to assume that Geoffrey of Donzy has religious motivation as he is selling his property and being supported by the local Church. Whether or not Peter Bartholomew in source 3 is a charlatan, his actions convince some of those around him that he was inspired by God. This suggests that this is the best of the statements.
Definitely untrue: The fact that there is some reference to piety in all three sources means that this statement is not correct.
Not shown by the evidence: Again, all three sources have some reference to piety so this is not correct.
Other exercises
If you enjoyed this, why not try one of our other source material exercises?
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