Francesco D’Angelo, "Il primo re crociato: La spedizione di Sigurd in Terrasanta"

Abstract

The first king to go a crusade to the Holy Land was Sigurd Jorsalfare of Norway (1089?–1130). The crusaders’ bloody conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 had been led by very high-ranking nobles from Western Europe, but kings only afterwards recognized the potentialities of crusading and began investing time and money in defending religion and gaining political prestige.