[lit-ideas] Crusade

L. J. Kramer:
"But this "war," which is only a war because we don't have a better
word for what it is..."

L. Simmons:

"How about "crusade"?  That's what you think it is, isn't it?"

M. Geary: 

"Thank you, Lance."

For what it's worth -- the entry for 'crusade' in the OED. Some interesting 
quotes.
Cheers,

JL

---

From the OED

"crusade"

Etymology. = mod.F. croisade (= OF. croisee), Pr. crozada, Sp. cruzada, It. 
crociata, med.L. cruciata (cruzata), being in the various langs. the fem. noun 
of action formed on pa. pple. of crucire, crociare, cruzar, croiser to CROSS, 
lit. a being crossed, a crossing or marking with the cross, a taking the 
cross: cf. the early F. croisement. The earliest and only ME. equivalents were 
CROISERIE (13th-15th c.), and CROISEE (15-17th c.), from the corresponding OF. 
words. In 16th c. French, croisée was displaced by croisade, with the new 
ending 
-ade, adapted from the -ADA of Provençal and Spanish. This croisade appeared 
in Eng. c.1575, and continued to be the leading form till c.1760 (see Johnson's 
Dict.). About 1600, the Sp. cruzada made its appearance under the forms 
crusada and crusado (see -ADO); a blending of this with croisade produced two 
hybrid forms, viz. croisado (-ada), with French stem and Spanish ending, 
frequent 
from c. 1611 to 1725, and crusade, with Spanish stem and French ending, 
mentioned by Johnson, 1755, only as a by-form of croisade, but used by 
Goldsmith and 
Gibbon, and now universal. From 15th to 17th c. occasional attempts to adopt 
the med.L. and other Romanic forms, as cruciat, -ada, -ade, cruceat, were made: 
see CRUCIADE.]  

Usages.

1. Hist. A military expedition undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 
11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. 

a. 

1577 HARRISON England III. iv. (1878) II. 29 At such time as Baldwine 
archbishop of Canturburie preached the Croisad there. 1616 JAS. I. Remonstr. 
Right of 
Kings Wks. 445 All such..as undertooke the Croisade became the Pope's meere 
vassals. 1753 CHESTERFIELD Lett. (1774) IV. 6 His history of the Croisades. 
1769 BLACKSTONE Comm. IV. 416 The knight errantry of a croisade against the 
Saracens.

b. 

1611 SPEED Hist. Gt. Brit. IX. xx. (1632) 965 A Croisado against the Turkes. 
c1645 HOWELL Lett. IV. xix. (1892) 592 A Croisada to the Holy Land. 1758 
CHESTERFIELD Lett. cxxxi, This gave rise to the Croisadoes, and carried such 
swarms 
of people from Europe to the..Holy Land.
 
c. 

1631 WEEVER Anc. Fun. Mon. 793 To preach the Crusado. a1678 MARVELL Poems, 
Britannia & Raleigh, Her true Crusada shall at last pull down The Turkish 
crescent and the Persian sun. 1765 H. WALPOLE Otranto v. (1834) 249 Until his 
return 
from the crusado.
 
d. 
 
1706 PHILLIPS, Croisado or Crusade. c1750 SHENSTONE Ruined Abbey 118 Here the 
cowl'd zealots..Urg'd the crusade. 1755-73 JOHNSON, Crusade, Crusado: see 
Croisade. 1781 GIBBON Decl. & F. III. lxi. 546 The principle of the crusades 
was 
a savage fanaticism. 1841 W. SPALDING Italy & It. Isl. II. 318 A single 
campaign of the first crusade, that of 1099. 1856 EMERSON Eng. Traits, Relig. 
Wks. 
(Bohn) II. 96 The power of the religious sentiment..inspired the crusades.
 
B. transf. Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious 
ends, a â??holy warâ??; applied esp. to expeditions undertaken under papal 
sanction against infidels or heretics. 
 
1603 FLORIO Montaigne II. xxvii. (1632) 393 George Sechell..who under the 
title of a Croysada, wrought so many mischiefes. 1624 BP. R. MONTAGU Gagg 95 
Urban the eight, that now Popeth it, may proclaime a Croisado if hee will. 1681 
BURNET Hist. Ref. II. 122 Afterwards croisades came in use; against such 
princes 
as were deposed by popes. 1875 STUBBS Const. Hist. III. xviii. 106 Commander 
of a crusade against the Hussites.
 
2. fig. An aggressive movement or enterprise against some public evil, or 
some institution or class of persons considered as evil. 
 
1786 T. JEFFERSON Writ. (1859) II. 8 Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against 
ignorance. 1839 DE QUINCEY Recoll. Lakes Wks. 1862 II. 184 This new crusade 
against the evils of the world. 1855 MILMAN Lat. Chr. (1864) IV. VII. i. 25 
Dunstan's life was a crusade..against the married clergy. Mod. The Temperance 
crusade.
 
3. A papal bull or commission authorizing a crusade, or expedition against 
infidels or heretics. 
 
1588 (title), The Holy Bull and Crusado of Rome, first published by the Holy 
Father, Gregory the XIII. 1643 PRYNNE Sov. Power Parl. App 64 They concluded 
to crave ayd from all Christian Princes, and a Crossado from the Pope against 
the Moores. a1677 BARROW Popes Suprem. Wks. 1859 VIII. 50 To summon or 
commissionate soldiers by croisade, &c. to fight against infidels. 1724 T. 
RICHERS 
Hist. R. Geneal. Spain 247 The Pope, willing to help the King to sustain this 
War, sent him the Croisade, by which Means he raised 300,000 Ducats. 1771 
GOLDSM. 
Hist. Eng. I. 317 The pope published a crusade against the deposed monarch.
 
4. Span. Hist. A levy of money, or a sum raised by the sale of indulgences, 
under a document called Bula de la cruzada, originally for aggression or 
defence against the Moors, but afterwards diverted to other purposes. Obs.
  The sale of the indulgences granted under the Bula became a permanent 
source of revenue, held by the kings of Spain in consideration of expenses 
incurred 
by them as champions of Catholicism and in the conversion of the American 
Indians. A board for the collection and administration of these revenues was 
created in the 16th c. called Consejo de la Cruzada, the court or tribunal of 
the 
Crusade. 
 
1579 FENTON Guicciard. I. (1599) 30 The moneys gathered in Spaine..vnder 
colour of the Croysade. Ibid. XII. 566 The Pope had transferred to the king of 
Aragon for two yeares the moneys and collections called the Croissards of the 
realme of Spaine. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 531 His Subsidies which he 
levieth extraordinarily (of late times for the most part turned into ordinary, 
as his Croisados). 1655 DIGGES Compl. Ambass. 288 To suffer a levy of money to 
be made within his Dominions, termed by the name Crusado, for the maintenance 
of the Turkish Wars. 1716 in Lond. Gaz. No. 5480/3 The President of the 
Cruzada is ordered to draw up a perfect Account of the intire Produce of the 
Cruzada, as well in Spain as in the Indies. 1760-72 tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. 
(ed. 3) 
II. VII. xii. 132 Here [Peru] is also a court of inquisition, and of the 
croisade.
 
5. A marking with the cross; the symbol of the cross, the badge borne by 
crusaders. 
 
  1613 ZOUCH Dove 43 Like the rich Croisade on th' Imperiall Ball. 1641 
PRYNNE Antip. 299 He tooke up the Crossado and went..with King Richard..to the 
warres in the holy Land. 1700 TYRRELL Hist. Eng. II. 772 He took upon him the 
Crusado, i.e. Vowed an Expedition to the Holy-Land.
 
b. fig. (with allusion to â??crossâ?? in the sense of trial or affliction). 
Obs. 
 
1654 WHITLOCK Zootomia 531 The Noble Order of the Cruysado Heaven bestoweth 
not on Milk-sops. Ibid. 533 The Cruysado, or Crosse of Christ, above all Orders 
taken up by the Potentates of the World.
 
6. attrib. 
 
1750 CARTE Hist. Eng. II. 706 The crusado troops of Cardinal Beaufort. 1764 
HARMER Observ. XVIII. i. 43 The Croisade army arrived there in the end of May.
 

 

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