Neither the Franciscans nor the Dominicans were instituted for the broadcasting of crusading propaganda. Both founder saints had wide-ranging ideas about the reform of Christianity as a whole which went far beyond the limited aspects of society and of the lives of individuals touched on by the crusades. Since the outlook and personality of both Dominic and Francis were of prime importance for the shaping of the two orders, the first chapter of this study explores their attitudes towards the respective crusades in which they were each involved at different times. The intention is to show that the friars' later involvement in propagating the crusade did not contradict the ideas and ideologies of the two founder saints.

Francis of Assisi's visit to Damietta during the Fifth Crusade has provoked the thoughts and comments of a great number of historians. With few exceptions Francis's journey has been interpreted as a mission of peace, carried out in opposition to the war and the violence of the crusading army. By crossing enemy lines during a pause in the fighting to preach in front of Sultan al-Kamil, Francis is said by the majority of modern commentators to have attempted to promote an alternative to armed struggle: mission by preaching the word of God instead of crusading. Dominic Guzman, too, was in close contact with the crusading movement. Between 1205 and 1215 he was a member of the papal legation in Languedoc, which was in charge of combatting the Albigensian heresy. Initially, this was done by a combination of preaching and conducting disputations and then, from 1208, in conjunction with a crusading army.