WI/PC: Earliest possible Crusader - esque Orders

At what point did the idea of knights from Western Europe joining together to form an order against some kind of Islamic foe become viable/plausible?

I understand the direct causes of the First Crusade come from Seljuk attitudes towards Christian pilgrims following the Battle of Manzikert, with several other long - term causes too.
However, when did this idea first become a realistic possibility? Ignoring why they would do it, let's imagine the Pope calls for a Crusade in an earlier century than the 11th, would it have worked?
Was there something about Europe in that period that allowed the Crusades to occur, was there an excess of young noblemen or an increase in power of the papacy? Structurally, would it be possible for a Crusade to happen before.

And not just in the Middle East, could a Holy Order of knights be formed in Iberia in an earlier century, maybe not as popular as the OTL Templars or Hospitallers, but could such an Order exist? Maybe not due to the internal politics of all the Christian Iberian realms, but are there scenarios where they could exist financially, manpower wise, etc?
 
I understand the direct causes of the First Crusade come from Seljuk attitudes towards Christian pilgrims following the Battle of Manzikert, with several other long - term causes too.

However, when did this idea first become a realistic possibility? Ignoring why they would do it, let's imagine the Pope calls for a Crusade in an earlier century than the 11th, would it have worked?

As you said, there's a lot of long-term causes, on which Turkish threat is at best the most direct (it's less their attitude towards Christian pilgrims than both the chaos their takeover and inner wars caused with raiders attacking pilgrims one could argue).

But Crusades can't really be pulled before you add at least three things : a reinforcement of pontifical power, a fighting nobiliar class in need of legitimize its way of life, and a situation where they need to do so along Christian lines.

This is quite contingential, and couldn't have happened in the Xth century, where pontifical power was low and re-evengelisation of institutions beggining as were the importance of Italian naval projection (which was definitely needed for a Crusade being successful, but may be ignored for the concept of Crusade appearance).

At what point did the idea of knights from Western Europe joining together to form an order against some kind of Islamic foe become viable/plausible?
Not before, at least, the aforementioned need of a military-based social class along Christian lines appears AND with the monastic reforms of the monastic orders as with Cluny and critically Citeaux (which pulls a re-evengelized orders rules, quite free from local nobiliar authority and directly died to Rome, which brings the necessity of a gregorian reform, you get the point)

Don't get me wrong, you'd certainly see religious/political expeditions in Spain as it happened IOTL before the Crusades, but it wouldn't be Crusades to speak off.

But really, you need the changes Church and society knew in the Xth/XIth century, as with the appearance of milites Sancti Petri in 1053, which while not an order, was an army blessed by the Pope to go against Normans, having for charge to protect St. Peter, which is Rome.

This was one of the marking steps, with relatively similar situation arising after the Crusade, in order to protect either the patriarch and religious of Saint Sepulcre with the (milites sancti Sepulcri, or milites Christi to prevent banditry and protect pilgrims.
Giving that both of these were lay order but protecting precise consecrated orders, (and that a lot of these were constitued from former Crusaders, which mean knowing how to fight) it soon became mixed up.

Basically, not regarding the issues about Crusades : you need a situation where milites get tied up to religious orders, and sharing most social origins to begin to mix up AND monastic dynamism in western world to make it accepted by Rome (which frowned upon at first).

So, long story short, it's going to be hard, while not impossible.
As said above, you had religious expeditions before Crusades and consecrated milites as well. You may have a TL where either Crusade fails big time, or where pointifical policy makes such support of mixed-up orders necessary (as in Spain, for instance), but that wouldn't be an obvious evolution and you need at very last a similar background than for OTL to happen even if events diverge.

Rather than monastic orders, you may want to try lay orders that preceded them. It might be simpler to use in a more different TL.

Maybe not due to the internal politics of all the Christian Iberian realms, but are there scenarios where they could exist financially, manpower wise, etc?
Well, you did have milites orders in Spain, as the Order of Calatrava. That said they were obviously inspired by Holy Land orders and more tightly under royal influence.
 
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