Up to the time of the Crusades, the English, when they entered upon
Continental wars, had been actuated either by ambition for military
glory or desire for conquest. But they undertook the Crusades from
motives of religious enthusiasm.
Those who engaged in them fought for an idea. They considered
themselves soldiers of the cross. Moved by this feeling, "all
Christian believers seemed redy to precipitate themselves in one
united body upon Asia" (S182). Thus the Crusades were "the first
European event."[1] They gave men something noble to battle for, not
only outside their country, but outside their own selfish interests.
[1] Guizot's "History of Civilization."
Richard, as we have seen, was the first English King who took part in
them. Before that period England had stood aloof,--"a world by
itself." The country was engaged in its own affairs or in its
contests with France. Richard's expedition to the Holy Land brought
England into the main current of history, so that it was now moved by
the same feeling which animated the Continent.