The Cruzader

The Cruzader is a figure of the imagination. He abandons home and safety to travel far away into dangerous lands, full of enemies of all kinds and traps. He seems naive, sad, depressed and lost. He is shrouded in the great christian zeal - Defender of the Faith, Hammer of the Infidel but  to look at he appears puny, vulnerable and bewildered.

Behind him, the shadow of the Inquisition:The fortress to be conquered, the fear to bear and die under.

There is something of the clown in the Cruzader, for the modern person. It all seems so pointless!

As a Portuguese person, I have in my past the shadow of these Cruzaders as well. They started the obcession with North Africa that would be the equivalent in England of Britanny: we have to have it, occupy it, conquer it, but can't and it took time to give up the idea.