The Crusades: New Millennium, Knighthood, and Militant Christianity
How to Slim Down in Fourteen Days, 1595 "An excellent and approved thing to make them slender, that are grosse. Let them eate three or foure cloves of Garlick, with as much of Bread and butter every morning and evening, first and last, neither eating nor drinking of three or foure howres after their taking of it in the morning for the space of fourteene days at the least: and drinke every day three draughts of the decoction of Fennell: that is, of the water wherein Fennell is sod, and well strained, fourteene dayes after the least, at morning, noone and night. I knewe a man that was marveilous grosse, & could not go a quarter of a mile, but was enforst to rest him a dosen times at the least: that with this medicine tooke away his grossenesse, and after could iourney verye well on foote." Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things (1595)
What is a Crusade?
OED: modern French croisade (= Old French croisee ), Provençal crozada , Spanish cruzada , Italian crociata , medieval Latin cruciata (cruzata ), being in the various languages the feminine noun of action formed on past participle of cruciāre , crociare , cruzar , croiser to cross v., lit. a being crossed, a crossing or marking with the cross, a taking the cross: compare the early French croisement . The earliest and only Middle English equivalents were croiserie n. (13th–15th cent.), and croisee n. (15–17th cent.), from the corresponding Old French words. In 16th cent. French, croisée was displaced by croisade , with the new ending -ade suffix, adapted from the -ada of Provençal and Spanish. This croisade appeared in English c1575, and continued to be the leading form till c1760 (see Johnson's Dict.). …
a. Hist. A military expedition undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims.
b. transf. Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends, a ‘holy war’; applied esp. to expeditions undertaken under papal sanction against infidels or heretics.
The ‘Crusades’ or ‘Crusades’?
A military expedition undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims
Nine Crusades…
Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends, a ‘holy war’
Reconquista – war against Muslim states in the Iberian Peninsula
Baltic ‘Crusades’ or forced conversion of 12th century
Albigensian ‘Crusade’ against heretics in southern France 12th-13th Century
Crusades as a Cultural Phenomenon
Crusades a ‘logical’ manifestation of Christian feudal society?
Militant Pilgrimage?
Militant Conversion?
‘Form’ of ‘migration’? Conquest?
Papal and Ecclesiastical power?
Papal monarchy?
Religious zeal?
The ‘Just’ War?
What are long-term outcomes of Crusades?
Cultural Diversity
Oppression
Intellectual Life
Initial Causes for the Crusades?
Seljuk Turks take Anatolia, Syria, Palestine by 1070s
Conquers Jerusalem 1071
Battle of Manzikert
Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asks Pope for help in defending Anatolia, 1095
Objectives
Free the Holy Lands from infidels
Protect Pilgrims
Baldric of Dol “the estates given for the support of [pilgrims] ... and for the sustenance of the poor are subject to pagain tyranny”
Longer-term causes?
Sociological & Economic?….
Famine
Between 970 and 1040 forty-eight famine years
1080-1095 even worse
“Second sons” – land inheritance?
Land as wealth
Wealth
Loot & Trade?
Longer-term causes?
Condemnation of Violence in Europe – the Peace of God movement is successful (1040-1)
Monasticism and Asceticism = spiritual ideals?
Christian Knighthood?
Papal Sanctioned conquest & Reform stir up religious zeal?
Continuation of “norse” expansion, but this time it’s Christian?
1060 -1090 the Normans of southern Italy conquer Sicily from the Muslims
Reconquista begins in the Iberian Peninsula, Ferdinand I of Castile (1028-1065) & el Cid (1040?-1099)
Pope Alex II gives blessing to Norman conquests of England, 1066, and Sicily, 1068-1072
Urban II’s Speech at Clermont 1095
Provides hints of these other causes
Urges warriors to take warfare outside Europe
“either lay down the girdle of such knighthood, or advance boldly as knights of Christ”
“you may deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in which he died for us”
“it is less wicked to brandish your sword against Saracens. It is the only war that is righteous, for it is charity to risk your life for your brothers”
Crusade as Spiritually ‘Good Work’
forgiveness of sins to all
eternal life to those who should fall in the enterprise
Urban II’s Speech at Clermont 1095
5 accounts of Urban’s speech
emphasis on atrocities against Christians
significance of Jerusalem
ignorance of Islam
use of Old Testament analogies (and millenarian prophecy)
martyrdom: soldiers of Christ
Holy Land Crusades 1096-1272
First Crusade 1096-99 Godfrey de Boullion, Hugh of Vermandois and
Robert of Normandy lead northern feudal army
Count Raimond of Toulouse southern
Meet at Constantinople 1096-7
Summer 1097 march through Asia Minor
Peter the Hermit leads militant pilgrimage alongside armies
Massacred
Conquer Antioch (1098) and Jerusalem (1099)
Inhabitants of Jerusalem slaughtered
Establishment of Crusader kingdom (Outremer)
Godfrey’s brother, Baldwin I king of Jerusalem 1100-1118
Militant Monks
Orders of Monastic knights founded to protect Holy Lands & Pilgrims
Hugo de Payens in 1119 founds order based near site of the Temple – Templars
Bernard of Clairvaux writes in support of the idea
Papal approval 1128
Hospitallers or Knights of St. John
Raymond du Puy, transforms existing Order attached to Hospital founded by Charlemagne in Jerusalem – militant, but still serves sick
Teutonic Order - Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem
Founded in 1190, in Holy Land, but main importance would be in Northern Europe
More Crusades
1145-1149: Second crusade
After fall of Edessa, preached by Bernard of Clairvaux – dramatic failure
1188-1192: Third crusade
Jerusalem recaptured by Saladin in 1187 – Three Kings launch crusade: Frederick Barbarossa (Emperor), Philip II (Augustus) of France, and Richard I (Lionheart) of England
Recaptures Acre – fails to retake Jerusalem
1198-1204: Fourth crusade
Sack of Constantinople by Crusaders 1204
1213-1229: Fifth crusade
Emperor Frederick II Regains Jerusalem by treaty until 1244.
1291: Final fall of “Outremer” colonies
Talk of new crusades for c. 2 more centuries!
The Fourth Crusade Called by Innocent III in 1198
Fails to raise enough money – conflict with Venetians (who failed to provide the transportation)
Conquer Zara in Hungary
Innocent excommunicates crusaders
Ends up in Constantinople – conquers & sacks Constantinople 1204
Feudal Latin Empire 1204-1261; Venetian republic gets trading rights
Byzantine Empire in Exile
Sack of Constantinople
Theft and destruction of Churches & Monasteries – crusaders seek relics and wealth as payment
Children’s “Crusade” - 1212
preached in France by a peasant boy Stephen of Cloyes
Stephen believes sea will part allowing them to walk to holy land
At Marseilles, children board 7 ships – never seen again ...?
Priests hear stories – 2 ships sink, the others captured by pirates and children sold into slavery in Algeria
In the Empire Nicholas from Cologne starts a movement after hearing of Stephen’s
20,000 Children and Young Adults; cross alps, many die
Arrive in Rome, pope tells them to go home, many die on the way back
Some get on ships in Pisa and disappear....
Outremer First example of Western
European colonization?
Profoundly unstable
Economically & Politically
Feudal cultures in Palestine
Krak des Chevaliers
Reconquista
Reclaim (reconquer!) lands in Iberia lost to Islam in 711
Caliph driven out in 1031 – Christian Kings in north seize the moment
Not complete until 1492 with fall of Granada (south)
Constant internal tension between Christian states
Intermarriage; contest for lands; imperial or royal titles – who is the ‘Emperor’ or King of Spain?
Relations with Muslim rulers not always straightforward, especially for lesser nobility
Christian knight - El Cid fights for muslim ruler of Zaragoza
What should be done with Jewish and Muslim inhabitants of reconquered lands
Moriscos & Conversos – initial tolerance; grows over next 5 centuries into intolerance and expulsion
Reconquista
Alfonso VI of Castile seizes Toledo 1085
Establishes permanent ascendancy of Christian reconquista kingdom Castile over rival Leon
Almoravides 1086
Invited by Muslim rule of Seville, al-Mu’tamid
Period of Muslim fanaticism to rival Palestine Crusaders in religious zeal
Alfonso I of Aragon & Navarre
Uses battle-hardened Crusaders from east; uses and founds military order of Belchite in 1122
Almohades 1146
Jihad used to describe the conflict with Christians
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa 1212
Anchors Christian power; quick moves to push muslims out over 1210s-1240s
Treaty of Almizra 1244 – Aragon & Castile agree on spheres of influence
By 1276 political geography of Iberian peninsula stabilized until Fall of Granada
Reconquista
Baltic Crusades Northern European Christian rulers decide to subdue the non-Christian peoples
of the Balkans
Lasts for 300 years or so
Wendish Crusade – 1147 – destruction or conversion
Golden Bull of Rimini – 1226 – Emperor Frederick II confirms Teutonic governance of Baltic territories
Motivations :
Lords sought new estates; peasants wanted land and an escape from the manorial system; Christian missionaries wanted converts; and merchants wanted new areas to trade
Results:
1000s of Germans moved into the Baltic region and established towns and brought new land under cultivation.
German language and culture and the Christian religion with them
protecting them were military orders like the Teutonic Knights
Livonians – Estonians - Lithuania
Baltic Crusades
Teutonic Order – a Monastic State 1147 Pope grants rights of
expansion
New Theocratic State
Linked to economics – Hanseatic league, german urbanization
Colonization?
Exists until 1525
Albigensian Crusade
Alexander III in 1181 calls for crusade against growth of Christian heresy in southern France
Cathars or ‘Albigensians’ – Dualist , ascetic
Innocent III renews calls in 1208 after Papal Legate is murdered
Missionary work to reconvert fails – Crusade called
Sanctioned by French Crown
twenty years 1209-1229
Subjection of Southern Nobles & Cities
Synod of Toulouse in 1229
Forbids lay possession of the Bible in southern France
Denounces vernacular translation of scripture
Albigensian Crusade
Militant Christianity? Fuelled by feudal structures and culture, and fervent
religiosity create a militant (fanatic?!) Christianity
Violence reconfigured as moral action
Lauding / glorification of violence and the violent as honourable or ‘manly’
Unified perception of Christianity / Christendom is exclusive – European
Forced conversions really conversions?
Reduction in religious and cultural diversity in Europe
Persecution & Expulsion of the Jews concurrent with Crusades
Rhineland pogroms in 1096 against Jews
1182 Expelled from France, 1198, recalled; 1290 expelled from England
Muslims pushed out of Iberia, Sicily and Southern Italy
Heretics persecuted; non-Christians forcibly converted in Baltics
To be ‘European’ is to be Latin Christian
The New Knighthood – Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux
Proclaims new concept of knighthood - bound up with the monastic ideal in Liber ad milites Templi: De laude novae militae (In Praise of the New Knighthood)
New Knights trouble the princes of darkness, wipes out his followers, the children of disbelief
twofold war both against flesh and blood and against a spiritual army of evil
Fights for a good reason, the issue of his fight can never be evil
Orders of Knights to live by rule, in the shadow of the Temple in Jerusalem
Discipline and godliness
“The knight of Christ, I say, may strike with confidence and die yet more confidently, for he serves Christ when he strikes, and serves himself when he falls. Neither does he bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of the good.”
El Cid – The Knight
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar
Born c. 1043, minor Castilian nobility
Entourage of Sancho II; exiled by Sancho’s brother, Alfonso VI
Career in eastern Iberia, often in pay of Muslim ruler of Zaragoza
From 1089 and death in 1099, free agent in Valencia
c. 1207 ‘The Poem of the Cid’
Frontier lifestyle of Spanish nobility
Raids and conflict
A ‘Just’ War?
Augustine of Hippo
Righteous to suppress unbelief in order to protect true belief
Violence should only be used as last resort, but can be used in defense
Christian political theory means good governance might require violence in order to suppress wickedness
By 1000
Violence can be employed on behalf of Christ to further his intentions for humankind in general; even ‘authorized’ by him
Morally it is neutral; transgressions or ethics derive from the actions of the perpetrators, not the call to spread the Christian message
Isidore of Seville
“Waged on authority to recover property or to drive off enemies”
Bernard of Clairvaux
Requires divine sanction and right intention on part of aggressors
Theologians discuss it as a result of Crusades
Peter Lombard’s Sentences
Gratians Decretum (c.1140) – discusses military use of force and its moral / ethical dimensions
Focus on perpetrators and cause in 12th century analyses in Italy
Stephen Langton – can a knight question the justness of a war declared by his ruler or prince?
Views of the Crusades – European
Bernard of Clairvaux’s New Knighthood
Destruction or conversion
Righteousness of Christianity
Prior to 13th Century forced conversions prohibited by Canon Law – this changes with Reconquista and Baltic Crusades
Bringing ‘civilization’ to Baltics? Christianization to Spain & Baltics?
Different motives than the Holy Land?
Views of the Crusades - Muslims
Ibn Al-althir 1160-1233
(born in present SE Turkey; career in today’s Iraq and Syria)
The Complete History, c. 1231
account of the 1st Crusade
Christians ‘Franks’
Barbarians – slaughter christians too
Sweaty, slow, uncultured
Wild Beasts from the West?
Intolerant
Greedy
Impact of the Crusades – Byzantine Empire
Severely weakens the Byzantine Empire, especially the 4th crusade
Energy devoted to reconquering empire comes at expense of defence against Sultanate of Rum
Impact of the Crusades – Economic
Rise of Venice as trading power in Eastern Mediterranean
Becomes southern terminus of land trade routes in and out of Europe
Movement of luxury goods from Outremer to Europe
European awareness of luxuries not seen for centuries – Silks, Spices
Impact of the Crusades – Intellectual & Cultural
Contact with Islamic & Greek Scholarship reinvigorates and profoundly alters European intellectual culture
Astrology
Mathematics – Arabic Numerals
Natural Philosophy – ‘proto science’; Optics & Vision
Medicine
Cultural Imagination & Story Telling
Chivalry & Christian Knighthood; Epic; Travel & Pilgrimage
Legends & Chronicles of the Crusades
Chess!
Outcomes of the Crusades
Damage to Muslim-Christian relations
European identity as ‘Christendom’
Damage to Byzantine-Latin relations
sack of Constantinople by Crusaders, 1204
First Western European colonial experiments
Rise of Venice as trading power in East
Continuing decline of Byzantine empire
Commodities, words, ideas brought back
Take Away
Crusades a complex combination of religious beliefs and feudal culture
Builds on an internal rationalization of religious violence as justifiable and worth expression of Godliness
Ideals mix with economic and cultural pressures
Cultural Phenomenon, not just individual ‘events’
Holy Land
Reconquista
Baltic
Helps further ideas of Christian knighthood
Bernard of Clairvaux’s New Knighthood is monasticism + feudal warrior
First instances of European Colonization
Bernard of Clairvaux
Teutonic Order
1204
Ibn Al-althir
Reconquista
El Cid
Just War
Godfrey de Boullion
Terms