Financing War...

[5fish]

It seems the Crusades created the financing for war ...

Crusade financing evolved from individual wealth to institutional systems, using donations, tithes, taxes (like poll/hearth taxes), church wealth, and even extortion, but most significantly through credit and banking, pioneered by orders like the Templars. The need for funds for massive armies led to the rise of Christian bankers and papal loans, normalizing interest and debt, while selling indulgences became a major revenue stream, controversially funding campaigns and sparking the Reformation.

Key Financing Methods

• Individual Efforts: Early crusaders used personal fortunes, sometimes selling lands or going into debt.
• Church Levies: Popes imposed tithes (a percentage of income) and specific crusade taxes (like poll taxes) on clergy and laity, notes this WordPress blog.
• Papal Banking & Credit:
  • The Church sponsored Christian bankers (like those associated with the Templars) to provide large loans.
  • Knights Templar developed early banking tools, including letters of credit, allowing nobles to deposit assets and withdraw funds in the Holy Land, effectively creating early international finance.
• Sale of Indulgences: Offering spiritual rewards (indulgences) for financial contributions became a primary funding method, linking payments directly to salvation and funding papal goals, as detailed in this YouTube video.
• Seizure & Legacies: Funds were also raised through collecting bequests (legata) and seizing unlawfully held wealth, says this Cambridge University Press article.

"Crusade finance" likely refers to the financial aspects and innovations during the Crusades (like the Knights Templar creating early banking/credit), or a misremembering of terms like "Christian finance" or "currency finance", as search results show strong links between Crusades, banking, and funding, alongside modern financial topics. The Crusades spurred financial tools like letters of credit and spurred modern banking roots, while "currency" relates to equipment loans, and "Christian finance" covers modern ethical banking.
1. Crusades & Banking (Historical Finance)

• Knights Templar: Developed early banking by letting people deposit money in one fortress and withdraw it at another, creating secure international transfers (letters of credit).
• Funding Crusades: Popes used emerging bankers to finance crusades, shifting Church views on usury (lending money for interest) as essential for religious goals.
• Indulgences: Selling indulgences (pardons) started as a way to finance crusades, but became corrupt, fueling Martin Luther's Reformation.

2. Modern Financial Terms

• Currency Finance: A service (like Currency) that helps businesses get equipment financing through various lenders.
• Christian Finance: Modern ethical banking rooted in Christian principles, involving banks like the Vatican Bank or other faith-based credit unions.

3. Other Possibilities

• "Cursan" (Spanish): In Spanish, "cursan" means "they take/attend" (a course), so "CURSANDE finance" might relate to educational finance or courses in finance, as suggested by some social media posts.

 

[5fish]

More...

Medieval History – Sins of the Crusaders – For the Love of Money?

Sins of the Crusaders: Despite popular belief, most Crusaders sacrificed wealth and comfort, driven by devotion rather than the pursuit of riches.

historymedieval.com

“We now know that greed cannot have been the dominant motive among the first crusaders, not least because, as recent research has shown, for most participants the expedition promised to be utterly terrifying and cripplingly expensive.”
– Thomas Asbridge, The First Crusade: A New History

In 1274, Humbert of Romans, the former master general of the Dominican order, said, “When we gain their lands, we do not occupy them like colonists.” The fall of the Crusader States occurred partly due to internal disputes but also because the West grew weary of the constant taxes required to provide financial support for them and lost the resolve to spend more lives and resources on their defence. The last vestiges of the Crusader era, the Christian-controlled islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, would fall to the Ottoman Turks during the 16th century, bringing an end to over four centuries of struggle and warfare that had never, ever been about earthly gain.

 

[LJMYERS]

I spend a lot of time at the General Arthur St Clair grave site. They say his family was in charge of the Crusades.

 

[5fish]

Communist thoughts...

Paying for the Crusades | Communist Party of Britain Marxist-Leninist

www.cpbml.org.uk

Ralph Niger, the historian and theologian, warned that God would not favour a crusade financed by the spoliation of the poor. Henry later exiled him for his efforts. Many of the clergy preached the crusades but refused to be taxed for them. The church exploited crusader-vow redemptions, whereby you could buy back your promise to crusade.

 

[LJMYERS]

Hey, Canevin Crusader here.