Story of The Crusades

In Western Europe the idea of a holy war developed later and for different reasons. So much has been written about this that there is no need to enter into detail. First, we must remember that what we call a crusade was, especially during the first century or so, a pilgrimage, and those who took part in it were pilgrims; it was a holy journey (iter, passagium), not a holy war. It was regarded primarily as defensive, that is, armed escorts were to protect pilgrims on their way to the sacred shrines of Christendom and were to recover or defend the holy sites in Palestine

The rest of the story at:

http://crusades-medieval.blogspot.com/2007/10/precrusade.html