Deus Vult

About

"Deus Vult" (“God wills it” in Latin) was a battle cry called out by Crusaders at the declaration of the First Crusade in 1095. Online, the historical phrase has gained popularity among fans of the strategy video game series Crusader Kings, as well as the alt-right camp on Reddit's /r/The_Donald and 4chan's /pol/ (politically incorrect) board, typically in the context of discussions relating to Islamic extremism and the moe anthropomorphized humanization character Christ-chan. The phrase can be seen as the Christian equivalent of "Allahu Akhbar", an Islamic Arabic expression that is most well-known as the battle cry of Jihadhists in Western cultures.

Origin

In 1095, "Deus vult" was used as the cry of the people during Pope Urban II's declaration of the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in Clermont, France. On February 14th, 2012, the strategy game Crusader Kings II was released, which contains a pop up message displaying "Deus Vult!" when the Pope announces a Crusade during the campaign (shown below).

Spread

On December 10th, 2013, YouTuber universalbean uploaded a video titled "Deus Vult!," containing a slideshow of various paintings depicting the Crusades (shown below, left). On October 14th, 2015, YouTuber Metaphysical Gnome uploaded a video titled "Ave Maria! Deus Vult," featuring footage of Christian soldiers in the Free Syrian Army (shown below, right).

On October 21st, Urban Dictionary^[1] user speed_kill submitted an entry for "Deus vult," translating it as Latin for "God wills it." On March 2nd, 2016, FunnyJunk^[7] user thedankmemer submitted a gallery titled "Deus Vult! Meme Collection" (shown below).

On May 6th, /r/The_Donald^[6] moderator D4rkd3str0yer submitted a post titled "Meme Magic Friday: Deus Vult Edition" to the subreddit, inviting viewers to "bring down the holy wrath of meme fire" upon Donald Trump's political opponents. On July 10th, Imgur^[4] user TheBigGay submitted a gallery of image macros referencing the Crusades and "Deus vult," which reached the front page of the /r/dankchristianmemes^[5] subreddit two months later (shown below).

On August 22nd, YouTuber Starbot Dubs uploaded an animated web comic in which a crusader repeats the phrase "Deus vult" (shown below). On October 3rd, Redditor MarlRhane submitted a question about "deus vult" references to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[3] subreddit.

Search Interest

External References