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It is well known that the crusades were represented in propaganda as wars wanted by God. In the propaganda sources sometimes we see a slogan that God personally calls people to participate in the crusades. A lot of chronicle accounts describe God's help to crusaders during their expeditions to the East supported by accounts of miracles. At the same time, nobody has noted that the liberation of the Holy Land was probably not the only purpose of the crusades. From the first crusade onward the crusade was expected to...

Humbert of Romans (OP) was the fifth master general of the Dominicans. Among other things he wrote a treatise on the preaching of the Holy Cross (De predicatione sancte crucis), allegedly in 1266-1268. This is the only known “textbook” for the preachers of the crusades in Palestine, actually preserved in 23 manuscripts and one early printing. Among these manuscripts there is a “short version” with an independent manuscript tradition that had been unknown before. Furthermore, the manuscript tradition is int...