Some notes on the history of crociata in the Italian language

The first known attestation of crociata dates back to the late 13th century in a comic poem, where the word is used for expressive purposes. In extant medieval Italian texts, crociata is only used in four chronicles, often with the meaning or war against the pope's political enemy or the papal bull announcing this war. In the 16th century, the word, now certainly common, seems to have maintained both the meanings of “(holy)military expedition” and “fiscal device” to finance these expeditions. From the end of the 18th century on, crociata became part of the Italian Catholic political lexicon, indicating the intervention against modernity. Occurrences have increased since then: crociata is used both to sacralise or condemn any fight, while it has gained a figurative sense, as spiritual warfare. Albeit the historical revision of the crusades initiated by the papacy in the last decades, the reference to the crusade as a Christian identity trait is nowadays still alive, even in Italy, among the more traditionalist sectors of the Church.