The friars' involvement in the propaganda for the crusade opens up a new aspect in the history of the mendicant orders. Throughout the thirteenth century, Franciscan and Dominican friars preached the cross for virtually all crusades wherever and whenever they were required to do so by the papacy. Until recently, historians ignored the topic despite the richness of the available source material. A general tendency to view the friars as ‘humble’, ‘pacifist’, and preoccupied with the basics of pastoral ministry has in the past caused many historians of the mendicant orders to emphasise the friars' missionary activities at the expense of their involvement in the crusading movement. But the careers of men such as Peter the Hermit, Bernard of Clairvaux and Fulk of Neuilly, who belong to the first century of the crusading movement, make it quite clear that there was a certain tradition of combining a life of apostolic poverty, asceticism, and popular preaching with an enthusiastic, and sometimes even fanatical, support for the crusade. In addition, few people in the thirteenth century viewed mission and crusade as mutually exclusive. This is also made clear by the fact that, despite the friars' involvement in missionary activities, the voices against the crusades from within the mendicant orders were few and isolated, and certainly not representative of the majority of friars.

In lending their support to the crusades the mendicant friars followed in their founder saints' footsteps. By looking at the available source material in a new light it can be shown that both St Dominic and St Francis openly supported the crusades.