[Antoninus]

There is quite a bit more to it than that. Urban preached the crusades, in part, because he thought Europe was overpopulated and needed to ship people out.

Yeah, that's the cynical view offered by many medieval studies professors of the "critical theory" bent. Can you cite for me some hard evidence (a quote or two from Urban would do) that support this idea?

If this truly was the case, you'd think the Popes would have tried it before 1095. I find it hard to believe that the Popes really thought that squabbling knights in Europe were a more dangerous threat than militant, jihadist Islam.

[LS]

I can cite for you the "Truce of God" and the "Peace of God," which are anything but "revisionist." And Lynn White is pretty respectable---hardly a cynical revisionist. The fact is, the common view was that the knights had gotten out of hand, and shipping a lot of them on a mission far away would bring peace to the land.