Deus vult

Deus vult (Ecclesiastical Latin: 'God wills it') is a Christian motto relating to Divine providence. It was first chanted by Catholics during the First Crusade in 1096 as a rallying cry, most likely under the form Deus le veult or Deus lo vult, as reported by the Gesta Francorum (ca. 1100) and the Historia Belli Sacri (ca. 1130).
In modern times, the Latin motto has different meanings depending on the context. It has been used as a metaphor referring to "God's will", by Christians throughout history, such as the Puritans, or as a motto by chivalric orders such as the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. In the 21st century, far-right and Christian nationalist movements adopted the motto as a catchphrase. Medievalist scholars have criticized this use as harmful and historically inaccurate.
Meaning and variants
The phrase appears in another form in the Vulgate translation of 2 Samuel 14:14 from the Bible: nec vult Deus perire animam ("God does not want any soul to perish").
The variants Deus le volt and Deus lo vult, incorrect in Classical Latin, are forms influenced by Romance languages. According to Heinrich Hagenmeyer, the personal pronoun 'le' (or 'lo') was very likely part of the original motto as shouted during the First Crusade at Amalfi, since both the authors of the Gesta Francorum and the Historia Belli Sacri report it. Later variants include the Old French Dieux el volt and the Classical Latin Deus id vult ("God wills it") or Deus hoc vult ("God wills this").
History
First Crusade
The battle cry of the First Crusade is first reported in the Gesta Francorum, a chronicle written ca. 1100 by an anonymous author associated with Bohemond I of Antioch shortly after the successful campaign. According to this account, while the Princes' Crusade were gathered in Amalfi in the late summer of 1096, a large number of armed crusaders bearing the sign of the cross on their right shoulders or on their backs cried in unison "Deus le volt, Deus le volt, Deus le volt". Medieval historian Guibert de Nogent mentions that "Deus le volt" has been retained by the pilgrims to the detriment of other cries.
The Historia belli sacri, written later around 1131, also cites the battle cry. It is again mentioned in the context of the capture of Antioch on 3 June 1098. The anonymous author of the Gesta was himself among the soldiers capturing the wall towers, and recounts that "seeing that they were already in the towers, they began to shout Deus le volt with glad voices; so indeed did we shout".
Robert the Monk
Robert the Monk, who re-wrote the Gesta Francorum ca. 1120, added an account of the speech of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095, of which he was an eyewitness. The speech climaxes in Urban's call for orthodoxy, reform, and submission to the Church. Robert records that the pope asked western Christians, poor and rich, to come to the aid of the Greeks in the east:
When Pope Urban had said these and very many similar things in his urbane discourse, he so influenced to one purpose the desires of all who were present, that they cried out, 'It is the will of God! It is the will of God!' When the venerable Roman pontiff heard that, with eyes uplifted to heaven he gave thanks to God and, with his hand commanding silence, said: Most beloved brethren, today is manifest in you what the Lord says in the Gospel, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them." Unless the Lord God had been present in your spirits, all of you would not have uttered the same cry. For, although the cry issued from numerous mouths, yet the origin of the cry was one. Therefore I say to you that God, who implanted this in your breasts, has drawn it forth from you. Let this then be your war-cry in combats, because this word is given to you by God. When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: It is the will of God! It is the will of God!
Robert also reports that the cry of Deus lo vult was at first shouted in jest by the soldiers of Bohemond during their combat exercises, and later turned into an actual battle cry, which Bohemond interpreted as a divine sign.
Tyerman, writing in 2006, suggests that the cheering at Urban's speech was "probably led by a papal claque".
19th and 20th century uses
Deus lo vult is the motto of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a Roman Catholic order of chivalry (restored 1824).
Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914), a Protestant Episcopalian, used the expression for his argument of the dominion of Christ as "essentially imperial" and that Christianity and warfare had a great deal in common: Deus vult!' say I. It was the cry of the Crusaders and of the Puritans and I doubt if man ever uttered a nobler [one]."
When Adolf Hitler staged the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, Houston Stewart Chamberlain wrote an essay for the Völkischer Beobachter entitled "God Wills It!" calling on all Germans who love Germany to join the putsch.
The 1st CCNN Division "Dio lo Vuole" ("God wills it") was one of the three Italian Blackshirts Divisions sent to Spain in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War to make up the "Corpo Truppe Volontarie" (Corps of Volunteer Troops), or CTV.
In 1947, Canadian prelate George Flahiff used the expression Deus Non Vult as the title of an examination of the gradual loss of enthusiasm for the crusades at the end of the 12th century, specifically of the early criticism of the crusades by Ralph Niger, writing in 1189.
Adoption by far-right as slogan
Deus vult has been adopted by a slogan by a variety of alt-right and white supremacist groups. This usage was disseminated widely online, though hashtags and internet memes. Crusader memes (such as an image of a Knight Templar accompanied by the caption "I'll see your jihad and raise you one crusade") are popular on far-right internet pages. It is one of several pieces of Crusader imagery used by far-right Christian nationalists and dominionists. By co-opting the slogan, racist movements in the U.S. intend to evoke a fantasy of a "pure" white European heritage, a nostalgic view that is historically inaccurate, and has been denounced by medievalist scholars as a gross distortion of history.
The "Deus vult" slogan was used by the perpetrators of Right-wing terrorism; it was repeatedly used by the perpetrator of the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting and was one of the tattoos on the body of the perpetrator of the 2023 Allen, Texas outlet mall shooting. It was among the slogans and symbols used during the violent far-right riot in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
The slogan, as well as other Knights Templar imagery, has also been associated with far-right subgroups in the U.S. that merge Christian nationalism with gun culture; a Florida gun manufacturer engraved the slogan on its "Crusader" model of AR-15-style rifle. The motto is also used by Christian nationalist groups in Europe; it was portrayed on large banners carried by far-right marchers in 2017 in Warsaw, Poland.
See also
Be'ezrat Hashem, "with the help of Heaven"
Deo volente, "God willing"
In hoc signo vinces, "in this sign, you will conquer"
Inshallah, "if God wills," and Mashallah, "what God has willed"
Allāhu akbar, "God is [the] greatest"
God works in mysterious ways
Churches Militant, Penitent, and Triumphant
Divine retribution
Just war theory
Muscular Christianity
Will of God
Jai Shri Ram, Hindu expression, translating as "Glory to Lord Rama"
Notes
References
Bibliography
B. Lacroix, "Deus le volt!: la théologie d'un cri", Études de civilisation médiévale (IXe-XIIe siècles). Mélanges offerts à Edmond-René Labande, Poitiers (1974), 461–470.
Anti-Arabism in Europe
Anti-Islam sentiment
Internet memes
Latin religious words and phrases
Christian nationalism
Crusades
First Crusade
Religious formulas