From the time that Islam appeared on the scene in the early seventh century, Muhammad and his adherents began to preach their message throughout the Middle East, eventually making way into modern day Europe. During this time period, Islamic territory had expanded into places like France, Portugal and Spain. In these places, the Qur’an used derogatory terms to describe Jews and Christians: for Jews they became referred to as “People of the Book” and “Scripture People” and Christians were known as, “People of the Gospel” and “Nazarenes”. During this time a document called the Covenant of ‘Umar was in placed which basically taxed the Jews simply for being Jewish. To the typical Christian, the conquest of Europe by the Muslims was seen as a punishment for their sin(s) from God. The concept of a convivencia was more of imaginary status quo than actual reality, since in communities like Baghdad, “Christians were quite badly and in some…even persecuted” (Madigan). During this time, Christian property and buildings were seized by Muslims (churches, monasteries, and schools). The concept that eventually lead to the Crusades was Christian propaganda that essentially stated that it was their sole duty to defend the Church and to purify the Holy Land from the infidels, which came to include not just Muslims but also non-Christians who posed a threat to the Church.

During his speech which eventually leads to the Crusades, Pope Urban II states that the Frankish Kingdom is in a state of lawlessness, “…one can hardly go along the road by day or night without being attacked by robbers” (Anderson, Bellenger 89). He then makes a request to aid Christians in the East who have been ravaged by Muslims and have been killed, captured and had their churches destroyed. He then goes on to say, “… aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends” (Anderson, Bellenger 89). In the mind of the Christian, embarking on this journey to take back the Holy Land from the Muslim is seen as “honorable”, and a “true Christians’ duty”. Pope Urban II uses theological promises to appeal to those listening and with hopes that they indeed answer his rally call to arms. He even goes so far to state that, “…Christ commands it” ( Anderson and Bellenger 89). The promises he makes include being rewarded in Heaven upon death for their actions which is describes as being almost “righteous”. He describes the enemy as, “infidels” and “barbarians”. In short, the Pope is using the Bible as propaganda to draw supporters by appeal to their senses and theology for his cause to reclaim the Holy Land.

In The Conquest of Lisbon, the author uses the same tactics of using Biblical theological, particullarily numerous parts of the Gospels and Psalms to insinuate a call to arms and recruit followers to the cause in the same manner as Pope Urban II did in his speech. The image that the author is trying to create is one where the mission is viewed as nothing short of “holy” and to an extent, the participants are seen as “emissaries from God, ultimately doing God’s work”.