Crusading kings such as Louis IX of France and Richard I of England
exert a unique hold on our historical imagination. For this reason, it
can be easy to forget that European rulers were not always eager
participants in holy war. The First Crusade was launched in 1095, and
yet the first monarch did not join the movement until 1146, when the
French king Louis VII took the cross to lead the Second Crusade. One
contemporary went so far as to compare the crusades to 'Creation and
man's redemption on the cross', so what impact did fifty years of
non-participation have on the image and practice of European kingship
and the parameters of cultural development? Constructing kingship
considers this question by examining the challenge to political
authority that confronted the French kings and their family members as a
direct result of their failure to join the early crusades, and their
less-than-impressive involvement in later ones.