Crusading as a knightly deed:

How far do the works of Jean of Joinville and James I of Aragon represent
crusading as an integral part of chivalry in the thirteenth century?

Abstract
During the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, noble and lesser
European military elites came to identify themselves as a common social
order with similar rights and functions, and a shared code of chevalerie
(knighthood or chivalry). Through analysis of two autobiographical texts, this
article will argue that by the thirteenth century, participation in a crusade was
deeply embedded in the normative behaviour of elite Christian martial groups.

Keywords
Medieval warfare, chivalry, crusading, reconquista

Medieval European military elites were generally capable of fighting either

mounted or on foot. However, many had adopted the warhorse as a sign of
status and drew their name from it, such as chevalier in French, caballero in
Spanish and chivaler in Anglo-Norman. During the course of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, noble and lesser European military elites came to identify
themselves as a common social order with similar rights and functions, and a
shared code of chevalerie (knighthood or chivalry). 1 What this article will
argue is that crusading was represented as laying at the heart of that code. 2
To consider this question, this article will analyse the representation of
crusading and chivalry in two works that are considered eyewitness
accounts: Jean of Joinvilles Vie de Saint Louis and the Llibre dels Fets of
King James I of Aragon. 3 Through intimate narratives, these texts cover the
lives of two European monarchs who enjoyed long reigns during the thirteenth
century and undertook two or more crusades. Through analysis of these texts,
this paper will show that by the thirteenth century, participation in a crusade
was portrayed as deeply embedded in the expectations of elite martial groups.
Further, that this indicates that it had became part of their normative
behaviour as a one of the principal actions or deeds a preudomme (good and
valiant knight) could perform to conform to the expectations of his peers.

See J. France, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000-1300 (New York, 1999),
p.53; H. Nicholson, Medieval Warfare (Basingstoke, 2004), pp. 5-6, 32; M. Keen, Chivalry
(New Haven and London, 1984), pp.20-1.
2
That is to say participation in a military expedition sanctioned by the papacy, in which
participants took the cross, were granted an indulgence and gained certain rights privileges
for the duration of the campaign. J.S.C. Riley-Smith, What Were The Crusades, 4th edition
(Basingstoke, 2009), pp.2-3.
3
James I of Aragon, The Book of Deeds of James I of Aragon: A Translation from the
Medieval Catalan Llibre dels Fets, trans. J. Smith & H. Buffery (Farham, 2003); Jean of
Joinville, The Life of Saint Louis, Chronicles of the Crusades, trans. C. Smith (London,
2008).

KNIGHTS AND CHIVALRY

Alongside the knights who practiced it, chivalry has come to be a key element
in representations of medieval society. This was reflected in traditional military
histories, leading to both chivalry and knight becoming loaded terms. Maurice
Keen defines the knight as, a man of aristocratic standing and probably noble
ancestry, who is capable, if called upon, of equipping himself with a war horse
and the arms of a heavy cavalryman, and who has been through certain
rituals that make him what he is who has been dubbed to knighthood. 4 Yet
as Keen acknowledges, the Latin word miles (pl. milites), which was used to
signify a knight, simply meant a professional soldier. It was also used for nonnoble warriors, such as serjeants, which he classifies as members of the
lesser knighthood. Indeed, in Iberia one can find reference to two groups
within the milites: caballeros hidalgos (noble-born knights) and caballeros
villanos (common-born knights).5 It is suggested, therefore, that until at least
the late thirteenth century, in much of Europe knighthood was a relatively
open class, with the same social code influencing various sub-groups and
merit able to compete to a certain extent with kinship.
Although not formally codified, by the thirteenth-century the core values
of chivalry were already notable in chansons and other exemplars. Keen
asserts that medieval romances attributed a number of qualities to a good and
valiant knight: prousse, loyaut, largesse, courtoisie, and franchise. To these
4

Keen, Chivalry, p.1.

R. Stacy, Nobles and Knights, The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. V, c.1198-c.1300,
ed. D. Abulafia (Cambridge, 1999), pp.23-5.
5

he adds piety, to define chivalry as an ethos or way of life in which martial,

aristocratic and Christian elements were fused together.6 Richard Kauper
considers that prowess in battle, combined with the honour it brought, was a
core virtue of chivalry.7 John France suggests that the pagan opponents of a
crusade fell outside the code of chivalry, but, as shall be shown here, primary
accounts depict numerous occasions when Muslim enemies were treated as
chivalric equals. Instead this paper follows Philippe Contamines view that
crusading and chivalry developed simultaneously and influenced each other.8
The focus here is on military culture rather than the measurement of
the relative merits of various arms. Whilst Matthew Bennett has demonstrated
that heavy horse did not enjoy overwhelming tactical superiority on medieval
battlefields as presented by traditional accounts, he supports Malcolm Vales
argument that chivalry was in the mainstream of medieval warfare. 9 Chivalry
heavily influenced European culture both military and civil. It also permeated
religious life through the establishment of military orders such as the Templars
and close ties of kinship between many clerics and knights. 10 Moreover, it is
argued here, that participation in religiously sanctioned warfare was at the

Keen, Chivalry, p.2.

R.W. Kaepuer, Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe (Oxford, 1999), pp.135-49.
8
France, Western Warfare, pp.11, 204-29; P. Contamine, War in the Middle Ages, trans. M.
Jones (Oxford, 1984), pp.270-80.
9
M. Bennett, The Myth of the Supremacy of Knightly Cavalry, Armies, Chivalry and Warfare
in Medieval Britain and France, ed. M. Strickland (Stamford, 1998), pp.304-16; M. Vale, War
and Chivalry (Oxford, 1981).
10
Keen, Chivalry; see also G. Constable, Crusaders and Crusading in the Twelfth Century
(Farnham, 2008), pp.143-64; Contamine, War in the Middle Ages; France, Western Warfare;
Kauper, Chivalry and Violence; R.C. Smail, Crusading Warfare, 1097-1193, Second Edition
(Cambridge, 1995); and, J.F. Verbruggan, The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the
Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340, trans. S. Willard & S.C.M. Southern
(Amsterdam, 1977).
7

core of chivalry even if, as Helen Nicholson argues, a knight could serve God
without fighting in defence of Christendom.11

CHIVALRY AND ITS REPRESENTATION

The importance of belonging is arguably a cultural constant and to belong
people seek a socially shared understanding. 12 David Crouch asserts that
although the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries had no self-conscious
codification of noble behaviour, it had a shared expectation of behaviour that
operated in the same way as a code. This he calls the noble habitus which
he draws from the ideas of the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu. A habitus
is the environment of behavioural and material expectations that all societies
and classes generate. It is the all-important explanation of how a mental
construct like society can act on the people within it. The expectations habitus
imposed could be very powerful, but it is not written down and members were
expected to acquire their understanding of it through their upbringing and
social contacts, and the norms can themselves slowly or abruptly shift. 13
Social norms are the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate
values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour.14 Crouch focuses on the role of the
preudomme in imposing uniformity of behaviour within the noble habitus. It is
a frame within which one could argue that the works of Joinville and James I
acted as exemplars for chivalric conduct, where the performance of deeds
11

Nicholson, Medieval Warfare, p.27.

A.P. and S.T. Fiske, Social Relationships in Our Species and Cultures, Handbook of
Cultural Psychology, ed. S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (New York, 2007), pp.284-5.
13
D. Crouch, The Birth of Nobility: Constructing Aristocracy in England and France, 900-1300
(London, 2005), pp.52-7.
14
S.N. Durlauf and L.E. Blume, New Palgave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition (London,
2008).
12

was an injunctive and explicit norm. Moreover, crusading was both a suitable
backdrop for deeds and a deed in itself.
It is probable that Joinville wrote the Vie de Saint Louis in two parts.
The crusading chronicle that formed the core of the work may have been
dictated in the early 1270s with the framing sections produced around 1309,
some twelve years after Louis canonisation. 15 Unlike fellow biographer,
William of Chartres, Joinville did not join Louis on the crusade of 1270, so the
crusading section, the focus of this study, was concerned with Louis as a
military leader in the crusade against Ayyubid Egypt in 1248. 16 In comparison
to the limited time Louis spent crusading, James I the Conqueror of Aragon
spent much of his life at war with his Muslim neighbours, and was arguably
one of the most charismatic yet controversial crusaders. Whilst contributing to
the reconquest of Iberia through the liberation of the Balearic Islands,
Valencia and Murcia, and a patron of the arts, he was also a renowned
womaniser and had to accommodate the aspirations of a number of
illegitimate children.17 Unlike Louis IX, James was certainly not a realistic
candidate for canonisation, but, as Robert Burns demonstrates, that is not to
say that he did not have a spiritual life and he clearly perceived knightly
virtues as spiritual ones.18 Ferran Soldevilla argues convincing that the Llibre
15

Joinville, Louis, pp.xxxv-xxxvi. See also C. Smith, Crusading in the Age of Joinville
(Aldershot, 2006), pp.48-58; M.C. Gaposchkin, The Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity,
and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages (Ithaca, 2008), pp.182-85.
16
A number of other contemporary biographies exist on Louis, such as those written by his
chaplain, William of Chartres, his confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, William of Nangis, an
anonymous monk of Saint-Denis and William of Saint-Pathus, confessor to Louis wife,
Margaret. See Smith, Crusading, p.41.
17
For a comprehensive bibliography see F. Soldevila, Vida de Jaume I el conqueror, 2nd
Edition (Barcelona, 1969); for older, standard biographies see E.D. Swift, The Life and Times
of James the First, the Conqueror, King of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca, Count of Barcelona
and Urgel, Lord of Montpellier (Oxford, 1894); and, C.R. Beazley, James the First of Aragon
(Oxford, 1890).
18
R.I. Burns, The Spiritual Life of James the Conqueror: King of Arago-Catalonia, 1208-1276:
Portrait and Self-Portrait, The Catholic Historical Review, vol.62 (1976), pp.5-6, 17.

dels Fets was dictated by James I at various stages in his own life, which
makes it one of the very few autobiographical accounts of a medieval
monarch.19 Louis and James stood astride thirteenth century Europe as
influential

and,

sometimes,

competing

figures;

applauded

for

their

development of universities, public finance, law and administration. 20

However, this paper will focus on specific events in the texts that represent
the relationship between chivalric deeds and themes that can be directly
linked to crusading: faith and the role of God; service, suffering and sacrifice;
lineage, kinship and the past; and, the representation of the military orders as
chivalric exemplars.
That deeds were of inherent value was highlighted by both authors,
indeed they are the focus of their works with Joinville writing in praise of Louis
and James designed as an exemplar for his successors. 21 In his prologue,
Joinville stated that the second part of his book concerned Louis
distinguished knightly deeds and his great acts of bravery. James showed
equal candour, but he offered only a selection so that the book will not be too
greatly lengthened; nethertheless, we do wish to treat and speak of those
matters which were great and good. 22 As well as being central, deeds were
deeply linked to the status of a preudomme and a sense of honour, which
even to contemporaries could drift into recklessness. Ideally, the knight should
19

F. Soldevila, Les quatre grans crniques (Barcelona, 1971), pp.36-7; see also Burns,
Spiritual Life, pp.5-6; Batlle Gallart, C., and Busqueta Riu, J., La Renovacin de la Historia
Poltica de la Corona Aragn, Medievalismo: Boletn de la Sociedad Espaola de Estudios
Medievales, n.4 (1994), p.164.
20
Richard, J., Saint Louis: Crusader King of France, ed. S. Lloyd (Cambridge, 1992); Burns,
James the Conqueror, pp.1-2.
21
R.I. Burns, How to End a Crusade: Techniques for Making Peace in the Thirteenth-Century
Kingdom of Valencia, Military Affairs, vol.35, n.4 (1971), p.142.
22
Joinville, Louis, p.142 [6]; James, Llibre, pp.223 [270], 270 [358], 281 [376], 296-8 [398,
400], 317 [440].

accomplish them alone or with a modest retinue, such as when Walter of

Autrches rides out in Joinville. 23 Yet to be a preudomme took more than
valour, the texts and other sources indicate that it had a moral component: to
be wise, virtuous and to fear God. 24

FAITH AND THE ROLE OF GOD

Medieval warfare and a militant version of the Christian faith were closely
entwined. The bearing of relics, pre-battle masses and processions, and
prayer were all integral elements of preparation for and strength in combat.
They were as likely to be found on the battlefields of Europe as on a
crusade.25 The Llibre has James praying on the eve of the invasion of
Majorca, Lord, my Creator, help me, if You please, in this very great peril, so
that this very important deed which I have begun is not lost, taking mass
before an assault and has his companions, swear upon the Holy Gospels and
upon the cross of God not to turn back in battle. James represents religious
ritual as an integral part of his life and the hearing of mass appears regularly
throughout the Llibre both on and off crusade. When too sick to attend public
services, Joinvilles priest sings mass for him in his tent. 26

23

Joinville, Louis, pp.188 [174-5], 184 [155], 200 [220]. For an example of James
recklessness see his Llibre, p.85 [61].
24
P. Archambault, Seven French Chroniclers: Witnesses to History (New York, 1974), pp. 4851; J. Le Goff, Saint Louis, trans. G.E. Gollrad (Paris, 1996), pp.501-3. For examples of
preudommes see Joinville, Louis, pp.185 [162], 186 [168], 188 [173], 202 [229-32], 220
[302], 229 [339]. The term is used by Geoffrey of Villehardouins account of the Conquest of
Constantinople, Chronicles of the Crusades, trans. C. Smith (London, 2008), pp. 25, 55.
25
M., Strickland, War and Chivalry: The Conduct and Perception of War in England and
Normandy, 1066-1217 (Cambridge, 1996), pp.61-2.
26
James, Llibre, pp.81 [57], 87 [63], 104 [81], 106 [84]; Joinville, Louis, pp.220 [300].

Fear of God appears as a strong theme in both texts and sin seemingly
played on James mind, he attributed his Fathers defeat at the battle of Muret
to sin and claimed that it caused a Christian champion to be defeated outside
the walls of Valencia. So James kept his confessor close to hand least, there
was any sin that we had forgotten. At the council of Tarragona, James
recounts the count of Empries words, And recover it [our reputation] we will,
by doing this, if you, with our help, take a kingdom of the Saracens that is in
the sea. Indeed, we will lose all the evil reputation that we have had to bear,
and it will be the best deed that Christians have carried out in a hundred
years. That he believed that crusading would wash away his sins is also
clearly represented, we would free ourselves from mortal sin one way or the
other, and that we would serve God so well that day and in that conquest that
He would pardon us.27 In Joinvilles account, Gods judgment fell swiftly upon
his six knights who were discussing the fate of their companions wife the
night after his death. All six were either killed dead or mortally wounded
themselves the following day.28
Joinville and James represented themselves as pious men, but in
Joinville it is a piety that was more in accord with chansons than religious
tracts. His priest enjoyed some renown following a skirmish against the
Muslims and Joinville admired James of Castel, bishop of Soissons, for he
was not only a martyr, but who also spurred on his horse to attack the Turks
all alone.29 Here we see deeds completed by people who were the hybrid of
cleric and warrior like Turpin in the Song of Roland. In comparison, for
27

James, Llibre, pp.24 [9], 72 [49], 198 [224], 225 [273], 311 [426].
Joinville, Louis, p.219 [297].
29
Joinville, Louis, pp.210 [258], 242 [393].
28

James deeds were not purely acts of chivalry, they were the military
equivalent of the works demanded by Scripture, My lord Saint James relates
that faith without good works is dead. Our Lord wished this saying to be
confirmed in our deeds. James leads his men to Majorca, in the faith of God
and for those that do not believe in Him, going against them for two reasons:
to convert them or to destroy them, and to return that kingdom to the Faith of
Our Lord. As we go in the name of God, we are confident that he will guide
us.30 Yet neither James nor Joinville represented the miraculous to any great
degree within their works. 31 These are accounts with their feet firmly on the
(battle)ground where deeds were the currency of knighthood.
Both sources also turned to their faith in time of trial, James praying as
his fleet is hit by a squall that God should, save me, and those who go with
me, from this danger and difficulty in which I find myself and Joinville
exhorting his men during an artillery bombardment to, get down on your
knees and elbows, and pray to Our Lord that he might protect us from this
danger.32 However, James considered that his military success was Godgiven, Our Lord had favoured us so greatly, that though there had been other
kings in our position who were as good or better than us, He had never
wished to concede that grace nor give to any of the others the victory that we
had gained [in Valencia].33 Given the tone of the text, one finds it hard to
disagree with Robert Burns who argues that, whilst some of James
30

James, Llibre, pp.15 [1], 79 [56].

There are only two mentions of miracles in Llibre, James recounts Majorcan claims of a
knight in white armour leading the Christian charge and the vision of a Franciscan friar. See
James, Llibre, pp.107 [84], 290-2 [389-90].
32
James, Llibre, p.81 [57]; Joinville, Louis, p.196 [204-5].
33
James, Llibre, p.236 [292]. Given the ambiguity of the campaign, Villehardouin is less keen
to invoke God, but he is still portrayed as the arbiter of victory or defeat, Conquest of
Constantinople, pp. 63, 87, 96, 127-8.
31

10

expressions match conventional pieties, many put James will on a level with
Gods. As James replied to rebel nobles when they said it would be as God
willed, God wills what we tell you. 34 Even with this last statement in mind, one
can see a perspective of God as testing the faith of his servants and their
proving their worth through deeds.

SERVICE, SUFFERING AND SACRIFICE

Caroline Smith argues that the association of crusade with pilgrimage
continued into the thirteenth century.35 However, neither author used an
overtly pilgrimage-type frame for their military activity. Rather, they seemed to
see themselves as fulfilling service to God, much as a knight owed service to
his liege lord and this is in accord with chansons of the time.36 At Tarragona,
James stated to his assembled nobles, first, that we may establish peace in
our land; second, that we may be able to serve Our Lord in this voyage that
we wish to make to the kingdom of Majorca and the other islands that pertain
to it; and third, that we may accomplish this action to the honour of God. The
response from the archbishop of Tarragona in turn left no doubt as to how
James saw service to ones liege lord, For if your courage and renown are
works of God, we have you for your own valour and renown. When lord
Josserand of Brancion succumbs to the wounds he suffered in a Muslim
attack on Louis camp, he died from his injury in the service of God. 37

34

Burns, James the Conqueror, p.9; James, Llibre, p.326 [460].

Smith, Crusading, pp.76-82.
36
See the works of Thibaut of Champagne and Rutebeuf cited in Smith, Crusading, p.84.
37
James, Llibre, pp.71 [48], 75 [52], 79 [56]; Joinville, Louis, pp.214-5 [275].
35

11

Jonathan Riley-Smith suggests that the dilution of crusading as an act

of personal penance into the idea that crusaders performed service-in-arms to
God is an indication of the influence of chivalry. 38 Potential crusaders were
told that they held their bodies and souls from God as a vassal holds a fief
from his liege lord, so James stated, it is a work of God, and he who carries
out his actions in Gods name cannot do them badly. 39 Moreover, when kings
such as Louis and James led a crusade, their men could follow them as
soldiers at once of God and of their earthly lords without difficulty.40
That is not to say that suffering did not feature in either account;
crusading is acknowledged as a perilous activity. Joinville was open about the
hazards physical, financial and spiritual the crusaders had faced, such as
the vicious injuries suffered by Joinvilles brothers-in-arms at Mansurah, the
camp sickness that resulted in the King having to cut away his hose, and
those knights that converted to Islam in the face of execution. 41 Robert Burns
argues that with variables like sin and intention, for James, waging war took
on the nature of a judicial ordeal, for battles are won quickly and God given
them to those whom he wishes. 42 However, arbitrary Gods judgment, a
valiant knight fought on, even when injured, such as when Joinville was
roused from his sick bed to repulse a Muslim attack and James laughs off a
wound to his face from a crossbow bolt outside Valencia. In Joinville, God has
the power to do all things and he attacked the wickedness of the belief that a

38

J.S.C. Riley-Smith, The First Crusaders, 1095-1131 (Cambridge, 1997), pp.6, 63-4.
Smith, Crusading, p.83; James, Llibre, p.74 [51].
40
Chanson dAspremont cited in Keen, Chivalry, p.51.
41
Joinville, Louis, pp.205 [239], 221 [306], 228 [334]. Louis confirmed the existence of
apostate knights in his letter of 1250, see Jackson, The Seventh Crusade, p.112.
42
Burns, James the Conqueror, p.10; James, Llibre, pp.49-50 [31].
39

12

mans day of death is preordained. 43 Whilst God might judge, knights had the
power to influence that decision through their deeds.
Unlike prevailing dogma, Joinville or James did not represent their
suffering as a means to relive Christs self-sacrifice on the Cross. 44 Not-withstanding his own trials, Joinville only explicitly linked Louis suffering with the
crucifixion, such as when his ship ran aground, during the period of captivity
and on the journey home. 45 It is not a theme one finds represented in the
Llibre. James understood that, He who does not give what grieves him, does
not get what he wants, but he wanted the suffering to fall elsewhere. 46
Moreover, in contrast to the view promoted by the Church, Joinville and
James both confer the status of martyr on those who fell in battle during a
crusade. In the prologue, Joinville regrets that Louis was not a martyred saint.
Similarly, Joinville represents the lord of Brancion praying to God to die in
your service, so that I may enter your kingdom in Paradise. 47 James reflects
this perspective, of the invasion of Majorca he had the bishop of Barcelona
say, those who die in this deed will do so in the name of Our Lord and they
will receive paradise, where they will have everlasting glory for all time.
During the conquest of Valencia, James persuaded his uncle to go to his
death, if you die in Gods service and in ours, you shall certainly obtain
paradise.48 It is a sentiment also found in other texts, such as the reaction of
Robert of Crsques when confronted by overwhelming odds described in
The Templar of Tyre, he had come across the sea in order to die for God in
43

Joinville, Louis, pp.209 [253], 210 [255], James, Llibre, p. 221 [266].
Smith, Crusading, p.106.
45
Joinville, Louis, pp.152 [39], 236 [367], 301 [622].
46
James, Llibre, p.211 [244].
47
Joinville, Louis, pp.142 [5], 215 [278].
48
James, Llibre, pp. 86 [62], 209 [241].
44

13

the Holy Land, and that he was going into battle no matter what. 49 In
presenting military service to God as the ultimate knightly duty and the value
of crusading martyrs, the texts reinforce the importance of crusading within
the chivalric code.

MILITARY ORDERS AS EXEMPLARS

James spent his formative years as a ward of the Templars and had members
of the military orders at the forefront of his narrative; acting as chivalric role
models both in their knowledge of war, its practice and the good reputation of
their respective orders such as during the conquest of Majorca. 50 Joinville
also gave them a prominent role, the Templars were to have led the advance
at Mansurah, they follow the impetuous count of Artois into the town to avoid
dishonour, and it is to a Templar tent that Joinville is carried wounded after the
battle. When the envoy of the Assassins comes before Louis, he found the
king seated with the master of the Hospital on one side of him and the master
of the Temple on the other and when Joinville wished for praise to be given to
Louis after Mansurah he used the Hospitaller provost, no king of France has
ever had such a great honour as has come to you. In both sources the
military orders were used to represent the chivalric ideal or to highlight the
worth of a deed, such as when Joinville has the master of the Temple join his
otherwise lone charge at the end of the battle of Mansurah. 51

49

Anon., The Templar of Tyre: part III of the Deeds of the Cypriots, trans P. Crawford
(Aldershot, 2003), pp.54-5.
50
James, Llebre, pp. 83 [60], 89 [64],116 [97], 129 [117].
51
Joinville, Louis, pp.199-200 [218-9], 206 [244-5], 209 [254], 257 [454].

14

As established exemplars, members of the military orders could also

be used to underpin the value of a crusade as a deed in itself. The masters of
the Temple and Hospital were represented as encouraging James to complete
further campaigns. Shortly after taking Majorca, the master of the Templars
encouraged James to invade Menorca and later the master of the Hospital
offered, since God has guided you so well in the conquest of Majorca and
those islands, might you and we not begin something over here, in this
kingdom of Valencia.52 These texts support the representation of members of
the military orders and crusaders as, what Maurice Keen calls, an exclusive
type of true chivalry in line with the vision of the Templars presented by St
Bernard of in De laude novae militiae. That they were both knightly exemplars
indicates the centrality of crusading to chivalry. Where the texts differ from St
Bernard was that whilst he saw the military orders as a narrow route to
salvation for the pure of mind for the supreme and true king, James and
Joinville allow crusaders to approach this ideal through their deeds. 53

LINEAGE, KINSHIP AND THE PAST

James and Joinvilles narratives both show a concern with lineage. Honour in
Joinville is not solely individual honour; it is also the honour of ones family
and lineage. Guy of Mauvoisins retinue causes envy in Joinville because it
was not composed of volunteers and hirelings, but from family and vassals. 54
Like Joinville, James frequently diverted from his narrative to list the noble

52

James, Llibre, pp.83 [66], 115 [95], 129 [117], 137 [127].
Keen, Chivalry, pp.5, 49.
54
Joinville, Louis, pp.207 [247], 213 [271]; Verbruggen, Art of Warfare, pp.65, 71.
53

15

lineage of a character. In addition, kin made demands on someones

allegiance with Don Nuns support expected because of familial ties and
because of the good works that you wish to do. 55
Importantly, whilst all aspects of lineage fascinated Joinville, his points
of reference were consistently those members of his family who had been
crusaders.56 In completing deeds, a knight could elevate his familys name
and it, thus, fulfilled a social function. Jonathon Riley-Smith and Marcus Bull
assert that notions of family honour and the feud led to crusading being linked
to a form of vendetta. Initially this was in revenge for wrongs committed
against fellow Christians, but by the thirteenth century a combination of
extensive kinship networks and two hundred years of crusading meant many
could refer back to wrongs committed against their families. 57 In line with the
chansons, both James and Joinville illustrate that crusaders were powerful
role models for the knightly class; enjoying equal status to the epic heroes of
old.58 This is a development from earlier crusader narratives that used heroes
of chansons as exemplars and indicates how crusading had become a central
feature of chivalric culture. Yet there are no signs of blind hate in either text
and bravery was recognised in friend and foe. Just as James described the
hopeless defence of a war machine by two of his knights at the siege of
Albarracin, so he dedicated a lengthy passage to an unhorsed Muslim knight,
who stood alone against the crusaders, ignoring their calls to surrender and
fighting to the death.59 The use of crusaders as powerful role models on a par
55

James, Llibre, pp.55 [34], 69 [47], 73 [50].

Joinville, Louis, pp.158 [184], 184 [158], 199 [217], 215 [277], 226 [326], 274 [516]; and,
Smith, Crusading, pp.126-31.
57
J.S.C Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, 2nd Edition (London,
2009), pp.48-9, 54-7; Bull, Knightly Piety, pp.8, 24-5, 64-5.
58
Smith, Crusading, pp.87-93.
59
James, Llibre, pp.32 [16], 84-5 [60], 222 [268].
56

16

with epic heroes, and the pride taken in having a crusading heritage
demonstrates that participation in a crusade was at the core of chivalry. Yet, it
was a code that placed value in merit so that even a pagan enemy who
performed a deed deserved recognition.

CONCLUSIONS
It is quite probable that there were well-understood conventions about the
representation of chivalric deeds and events may not have unfolded as
portrayed in the texts. Whether or not sources ever provide accurate
information about the events as they were actually experienced, they encode
well-understood conventions about displaying chivalric deeds in certain
settings. Battle was presented as a judicial ordeal in which deeds allowed the
valiant knight to influence the arbitrator of victory - God. Representations of
chivalric deeds were the product of systems of representation in which
crusading became the significant manifestation of divine will. As a crusader, a
knight performed service to God as he might serve his earthly liege lord, but
with the reassurance of martyrdom should he fall in battle or die as a result of
his wounds.
By the thirteenth century, crusading touched upon the extensive kinship
networks of the martial classes and the concepts of feud and family came into
play further drawing crusading into the centre of chivalric practice. Yet the
same forefathers also represented powerful role models who, along with
members of the military orders, came to challenge the influence of traditional
epic exemplars. In sponsoring military expeditions and dispensing spiritual
17

rewards to participants, through the Crusades, the Church facilitated the mix
of a warrior ethos that glorified individual violence with the ideal of selfsacrifice in defence of Christendom. By the thirteenth century, however,
knights had developed their own understanding of crusading and had
integrated it into their (chivalric) code of conduct.

18

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