What did the crusades promise different groups in Medieval society and why did different groups participate?

Source Paper 5

Read the primary sources from Week 11 (and it would be useful to review the lectures and primary sources of Week 10) and consider the following question:

In recent years the Crusades have re-emerged in our popular consciousness. The idea of a crusade today evokes ideas of racial intolerance, religious bigotry, and violent Eurocentrism. In the Middle Ages, however, the idea of crusade was less stereotyped and consistent. Some have even claimed that somehow European Christians were entitled to control Palestine. When we look more carefully, however, at the Medieval sources, we can see that different groups in society saw the idea of crusade in different ways. Read the documents in Unit 12 in the Course Reader, and address the following questions in a well-written and tightly-organized short paper. That means, do not simply answer the questions one-by-one!

Consider the various interpretations of crusade in the Unit 11 documents. What did the crusades promise different groups in Medieval society and why did different groups participate? How did their action reflect their motives? Did the rationale for the First Crusade differ from the rationale for the Second Crusade? Finally, consider the motivations for the Crusades in the context of the Medieval “reform movement” characterized by the emergence of a powerful, independent Papacy.