“Deus vult” or God wills it.

The battle cry of the First Crusade is first reported in the Gesta Francorum, a chronicle written c. 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.