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xix Introduction: The World of the Crusades The medieval crusading movement was a phenomenon that took place over a per- iod of centuries on multiple continents, involving millions of people of different faiths. This complexity effectively led to many specializations within the field of crusades studies. Some historians, for example, trained in Hebrew, work with Jewish sources of the crusading era to write about how crusading impacted the lives of medieval Jews, both in the Holy Land and in Europe. Similarly, scholars of Arabic and other prominent languages of medieval Muslims write about the Muslim perspective of crusading, while scholars who read medieval Greek do the same with the Byzantine perspective. Most crusade historians focus on Latin texts, and thus best understand the crusading movement from the perspective of the medieval Europeans. The emphasis on medieval Europeans is central to understanding the most fundamental aspects of crusading. It was, after all, medieval Europeans who developed the religious, political, and moral framework in which crusading emerged. It was also medieval Europeans who took vows to become crusaders, and then carried their zeal to the Holy Land, where they established their own states that maintained a presence there for nearly two centuries. It was also medi- eval European Christians who developed the institution of crusading so that it was used for similar purposes outside of the Holy Land. Yet an awareness of Eastern Christian, Muslim, and Jewish roles in the crusading movement is also essential for a broader understanding of how crusading impacted its victims, intended or otherwise, as well as how it impacted those it was sometimes meant to serve, for better or for worse. The crusades began with a specific papal focus on Muslim powers in the Holy Land, who were understood to be treating members of Eastern Christian groups brutally and abusing Christian holy places in the East. Ending such persecution was the official focus of the First Crusade, and the establishment of the crusader