Protest and politics before the Modern Era

I have recently been reading a book that I find very interesting called The Saint and the Sultan by Paul Moses. It is about St. Francis and his visit with Sultan al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade. What I find most interesting about the book is that it portrays the untold story of how St. Francis was an influential counter-cultural antiwar advocate of his time. We usually don’t think about there being counter-cultural protesters during the Middle Ages and especially Saints. But, St. Francis was major opponent towards the main ideology of the time. He condoned war and all acts violence during a time when war was highly supported by the main ideology. He even went against the call for the Fifth Crusade, in 1217, to invade Egypt. Francis did not agree with the popular crusades propaganda that it was okay to treat the Muslims as less than human. Francis believed that all peoples were equal in Gods eye, including Muslims, and he was heavily criticized for his belief. In 1219 he met with Sultan al-Kamil of the Saracen Empire and tried to convert him, when the Fifth crusades were still active. He failed but, al-Kamil was impressed by Francis bold attempt, while the European Kings and even some Church leaders found his attempt repulsive.