Iberian conquests adopted crusade imagery even where historians hesitate to call them crusades

Evidence

Some historians hesitate to use the term “crusade” to describe Jaume’s conquests, noting (correctly) that even for the king himself, a crusade to the Holy Land had a special prestige that the Iberian campaigns lacked. Yet clearly Jaume uses the imagery and ideas of crusading to glorify his own exploits against Muslims closer to home. His descriptions, and indeed probably his actions, are influenced by the idealized image of the crusader. Jaume saw his successes as part of a wider confrontation between Islam and Christendom: he planned (though failed) to head East to crusade in the Holy Land, and he claims to have received letters from the Mongol khan that proposed a Mongol-Aragonese alliance against Islam. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 914 (#expands, via linked claim)

Jaume consistently portrays himself as a righteous crusader in his autobiography, the Llibre dels feyts; he focuses on his military contests against the Muslims of the Balearics and Valencia, passing over in silence his legislative and judicial career. … The choice of patron saint is telling: Jaume prefers George, the favorite of chroniclers of crusades to the East (as in the case of Petrus Tudebodus) rather than James or Isidore, associated with the reconquista of León and Castile. … Some historians hesitate to use the term “crusade” to describe Jaume’s conquests, noting (correctly) that even for the king himself, a crusade to the Holy Land had a special prestige that the Iberian campaigns lacked. Yet clearly Jaume uses the imagery and ideas of crusading to glorify his own exploits against Muslims closer to home. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 914 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Papal crusade indulgences were extended to Iberian conquests against Muslims; Iberian kings borrowed crusade prestige to elevate local Moorish wars — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 914; Iberian kings borrowed crusading imagery to glorify local conquests. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 914

Broader Connections

• Papal crusade indulgences were extended to Iberian conquests against Muslims #expands (0.95)
• Iberian kings borrowed crusade prestige to elevate local Moorish wars #expands (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 914
• Iberian kings borrowed crusading imagery to glorify local conquests. #expands (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 914