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 2OO THE IIIIDDLE ACES

SECONDARYSOURCES
The Great Significance
of the Crusades
Henri Pirenne
In termsof rescuinglerusalemfrorn Islaniclnnds,the crusacles
ucereat bestoriu te,npo-
rarily successful
But asplrt of a Europeanetpansion rSeahg a neu.strength i'n
parisonto cornpetingcioili:atiors,
thefm cttsadehadgreotsignifcance. "o,n-
Itiore than
mosthistorians,
HenriPirennehasfoctsedon thebroadrrlrnritint betweenIsl^an and,
medieo-alEyrope.In thefollouing selectionhe stresses
the impo.rtance
of thefm cntsad.e
and relatedeoentsof theeboenthcentury.

considen Thes-ignif,cance
of the frct mtsadefor thebalanceof potuerbetween
Christianitgond Islam.

Before the counter-attackof christianity, Islam thus gaveway little by little. The
launchingof&e First crusade(10g6)markedtts defrni-terecoii.In l0g7 a Genoese
fleet sailedtowardsAntioch,bri"g*g to the crusadersreinforcementsand sup-
qli.es Tyo yearslater Pisa sent out vessels"under the orders of the pope" io
delver Jerusalem.From that time on the whole Me&terraneanwas op"ried, o,
rather reopened,to westernshipping.fu in the Romanera,cornmunications were
reestablishedfrom one end to the other of that essentiallyEuropeansea.
The Empire of Islam,in so far as the seawas concerned,cuiie to an end. To
be sure, thepoliucal andreligious results of the crusade were ephemeral.The
hngdom of ferusalemand the principdities of Edessaand Antio;h rvere recon-
quered by the Moslemsin the twelfth centurr. But the searemainedin the hands
of the ch-ristians-They were the ones who held undisputedeconomicmastery
over iL e" shipping in the ports of the Levant came gradually under their
4
control. Their co'r,'mercialestablishmentsmultipLiedwith surprisingrapidity in
the ports of syria, Egypt and the islesof the Ionian sea. The .onqu"it of coiti""
(1091),of sardinia(1022)and of sicily (t0s&-1090)took a-ay froin the saracens
the basesof operationswhich, sincethe ninth century,had enabledthem to keep
the west in a stateof blockade.The shipsof Genoaand pisa kept the sea routes
patronizedthe marketsof the east,whither camethe productsof Asia,
$!n.Jhey
loth by canvan and by the ships of the Red sea and the persian Gulf, and
ftequented in their turn the greit por-t of Blzantium. The capture of .a.malfiby
the Normans(1073),in putting an ind to thl commerceof that city, freed them
frorn her rir"lry.
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I
 J. J. SAUNDER S

T H E C R U S A D E SA S H OLY W AR
The themesstruckby Urban ll in his speechat Clermontindicatethat religious
,aspirationsprovideda majorforcein unleashing Europe'smilitaryforcesagainstthe
:
East.Not a few modern scholarsare convincedthat religionmust be viewed as the
majorcauseof the crusadingmovement.The followingselectionsuppliesa brief,
'.concisesummaryof that approachto the Crusades.lt was written by J.J.Saunders,-a
lecturerin historyat the Universityof Canterburyin New Zealand.lt is especially
. importantto'nbtewhereSaunders placesthe responsibility
for moldingthe religious
:,,drives
that found expressionin holy war.

, Of the threegreatworld-religions, Christiancould lawfully serve in an army whose

lslam is the only
'one which was born militant. When Muhammad emperor was worshipped as a god; and a strong
'.was driven from his native Mecca to seekrefugein anti-militarist sentimentpervadedthe early Church
,:therival city of Medina,it was not unnaturalthathe and even after the conversionof Constantine,St
:should use the enmity between the two towns to Basil of Cappadociarecommendsthe soldierwho
overcomehis pagan foes by force. The victory of haskilledhis enemyin war to abstainfor threeyears
,lslam in Arabia was largelyaccomplishedby the from holy cosrmunion.Yet in face of the exampleof
.,,sword,and circumstancesinduced the Prophefs the Hebrewsin the Old Testament,war could not be
: heirsto employ the armiesof tribesmenat their dis- condemnedas immoralper se,and St. Augustine,in
posal in the propagationof the new faith in the The City oi Cod, concedesthat it may be waged 'by
, world beyond. The aim of the iihad, or holy war, commandof Cod.'The Cerman scholarErdmann,
', (1935),1
was to enlargethe domain of lslam until the entirein his EntstehungdesKreuzzilgsgedan&ens
', globe had been subdued, but this did not imply holdsthatthe earlyChristianswere essentiallypaci-
,foreibleconversion:on the contrary,the Peoplesof fist, and that militarizationcame in with the Ger-
mans, to whom war was a naturaland continual
: the Book (thatis, nationswith holy scripturesof their
!:own) were to be assuredof freedomof worship,and activity: one recalls the story of Clovis, who after
i-thus under the Caliphs,Christiansand Jewsall en- listening to a recital of the passionand death of
1iovedtoleration- Christ,exclaimed:"Had I been presentwith my
brave Franks,I would have avengedhis injuries!"
i Buddhismand Christianity,unlike lslam,grew up The primitive and barbarous society of the Cer-
. within the frameworkof orderedand civilized soci- manic West was thoroughlywar-minded:by con-
eties and did not possessthe rneans,even if they trast the civilized Byzantinestreated war as a re-
, had had the will, to conquerthe world in the name
oi theit iounders.ln the dap when Romewas still tThis work is the most thorough study of the religious
pagan, Christiantheologiansdoubted if a faithful aspecuof the crusadingmovement.[Editor'r note]

. N. Zeal.,I 961),pp. t'7 - I I . Reprintedby permissionof the Publications

(Christchurch,
Fromt. l. Saundea.Aspecrsoi dre Crusades
CommiRee.Universityof Canterbury.

The Crusades as Holy War t77

 grettablenecessity,to be avoided as far as possible Pyrenees,and with these polverful reinforcements,
by diplomacyand othermeans. Alfonso Vl of Castile rvas able to capture the old
Visigothiccapitalof Toledo in 1085.The influence
It has often been argued that the Crusadingspirit of Cluny is discerniblehere: the reformmovement
was born in the West in the time of Charlemagne, so intimatelylinked with the greatBenedictineab-
who was indeed representedin later legend as bey in Burgundy had stimulated,among other
fightingthe Saracens in Palestine:his wars against things,pilgrimages to the shrineof StJamesat Com-
the paganSaxonsand Avarsenlargedthe domainof postellain Calicia,and the monksof Cluny,if they
Christendom as well as the FrankishEmpire,and the did not actuallyorganizemilitaryexpeditions, man-
forced baptismsin which he indulgedare evidence aged the pilgrim-roadsacrossFrance into Spain. lt
of a new and startlingaggressive type of Christianity. was in the inns and hospicesalong theseroadsthat
Yet there is a big differencebetweenCharlemagne's there grew up the Chansonsde Ceste,which re-
campaignsand the laterCrusades.The formerwere flected the new spirit of a vigorous if brutal anti-
all fought in Europeand could be treatedas defen- Saracen religious patriotism. We have not yet
sive, as necessaryfor the protectionof Latin Chris- reachedthe chivalrousage of Arthur and the Holy
tendom: the latter were unmistakablyoffensiveop- Crail: we are still in the barbarizedworld of the
erationsconductedfar away acrossthe sea,and (this Song of Roland,which was in fact the world of
is the essentialpoin0 sponsoredand organizedby the FirstCrusade.
the Church for a purely religious lurpose, the re-
coveryof the Holy Placesin palestine.
Yet this Spanishfightingwas no true Crusade:the
Popesconcernedthemselves only indirectlywith it,
How did the LatinChurchcome to adoptwar as an
and a figurelike the Cid, who foughtindifferently for
instrurnent of ecclesiastical policy?lt has beensug-
Christianor Moor, would havebeenunthinkablein
gestedthat, paradoxically,Crusadingwarfare grew
the Palestineof the next generation.What was
out of the peace movementwhich the Church had
neededto bring into being the Holy War properwas
vigorously promoted from the late tenth century
that the Popes should proclaim universal peace
onwards in order to check the frightful evils of pri-
amongChristians and mobilizethe faithfulin a great
vate war waged,afterthe collapseof the Carolingian
offensiveagainst the enemies of the faith, not in
State,by irresponsible and unrestrainedfeudallords.
Spainor North Africa but in the very cradle of the
Partlyout of genuineidealism,partly out of a desire
Christianreligion.This could only be done in the
to protect its propertyin an age of wild licenceand peculiar
circumstancesof the late eleventhcentury.
political anarchy,the Church set out to mobilize
public opinion against lawlessbrigandsin high
places:missionswere preached,a Truceof Cod was First, the great reform movement,which aimed at
proclaimed,and crowdswere invitedto subscribeto freeing the Church from the corruptinggrip of the
a peace oath, the lead being taken by such sov- feudalizedmonarchiesand lordships,had been
ereignsas Robertthe Pious in Franceand the Em- driven to look to Romefor leadershipand to build
peror Henry lll in Cermany.The resultswere but up a new conceptionof papal supremacy.The tre-
meagre:to curb the fighting propensitiesof feudal- mendous conflict over lay investiture between
ism was beyondthe Church'spower,and clearlythe CregoryVll and Henry lV of Cermanyhad under-
most efiectivemeansof puttingdown the evil would lined this new role of the Papacyand preparedthe
be to come to termswith theseturbulentbaronsand way for Urban ll, in his famousspeechat Clermont
enlist them in campaignsabroad againstthe ene- in 1095,to seizethe moral masteryof Europe.
miesof Christendom.
Secondly,the breachbetweenthe Creek and Latin
Spainofiereda promisingfield. Afterthe collapseof Churches,which had been steadilywidening,im-
t he O ma y y a dC a l i p h a te
i n 1 0 3 1 ,Mu s l i mS pai nhad pelledthe HildebrandinePapacyto seeka restora-
lapsedinto chaos,thus invitingChristianinterven- tion of Christianunity.We knorvnow .
- . that the
tion for the recoveryof what was after all a lost schismof 1054was not in factfinal and definitive:it
province of the Latin Church; and in 1063 pope came about almostaccidentally,
and relationsbe-
Alexanderll otreredan indulgenceto all rvhofought tween Rome and Constantinoplewere
not tvholly
for Christagainstthe Moors.This broughta crowd of brokenoff. The referencesin
Urban,sspeechto ,the
Frenchknightsand adventurersstreamingacrossthe churchesof the East' hint
do that a srand reunionof

178 The Middle Ages

 the Christianbody wasenvisaged as a consequence movementto politico-economic motives,have per_
of the defeatof the infidel. haps overstressedthe moral and spiritualelemens.
Thus PaulAlphandery,in his [a Chretienre et l,ldee
Thirdly,the irruptionof the SeljikTurksinto Western de Croisade(1954),seesthe Crusadeas a genuine
fuia, which endangered the ByzantineEmpireand expression of popularfaith, animatedby a kind of
interruptedthe pilgrim traffic to the Holy Land,sup collectivemysticismand risingup out oi an atmos_
pliedthe final stimulus.The lossto the Turksof cen- phereof visions,propheciesand miracles,typified
tral Anatolia,longthe chiefrecruiting-ground of the by the arfairof the Holy Lance at Antioch. Adolf
imperialarmies,and the threat to Constantinople Waas,also,in his Ceschrchte der Kreuzztge(1956),
itself,drove the Eyzantineemperorsto seekurgently appearsto trace its origin to an ideal of dedicated
for reinforcementsfrom the West. The appeal of knighthood,of feudalvassalage to Cod, which goes
MichaelVll to PopeCregoryin 1073,and of Alexius back to Charlemagneand perhaps even to the
I to Count Robertof Flandersin 1091 could not go pre-Christian society of ancient Germany.This is
unanswered, and by 1095it may well haveseemed far-fetchedindeed: more prosaically we may say
to a shrewd statesmanlike Urban ll an excellent that.the Crusadesare the outcome of the Latin
opportunityto achieveat one blow severaldesirable Church"sattemptto tame feudal barbarismand har-
ends:the reliefof the ByzantineEmpirefrom Turkish nessit to the serviceof religion; an attemptwhich,
pressure,the reunionof the Church-es, and the res- as we might expect, was only half successful.
cue of the Holy Placesfrom the enemiesof Christ. Swashbucklingscoundrelslike Bohemundof Ta-
Civen the strongcurrentof religiousrevivalismthen ranto rubbed shoulderswith sincere idealiss like
sweepingover the Latin world in the wake of the Godfrey of Bouillon: the saying attributed to the
reform movement,this lastwould havethe strongest lafter,when he was offeredthe throne of
Jerusalem,
appeal. that he would not wear a crown of gold in the city
where his Saviour had worn a crown of thorns,
Thus the Holy War, the very conceptof which was whether authenticor not, remainsone of the sub-
unintelligible to the ChristianEast,was the cfeation limestphrasesof historyand reflectsthe noblestside
of the reformed HildebrandinePapacyseekingto of the Crusadingmovement.Certainlythe Crusades
make good its bold claimsto the overlordshipof a were the productof a feudal societyand could have
united Christendom. lt was no consciousimitation arisenout of no other:this is why they do not occur
of the Muslim jihad, for this aimed at expansion, in any other age or any other part of Christendom,
whereasthe Crusadesaimedat recovery,thoughthe and this is why the fastidiousand peace-lovingBy-
notion of fightingfor Cod and the Faithappearedin zantinescould never see the Frankishsoldiersof the
both. Recentwriters, reactingagainstthe tendency Crossas anythingbut coarseand bloodstainedbar-
of the last generationto ascribe every historic barians.

PAUL ROUSSET

TH E RE LIGIOU SA TMO S P HE RE
Professorsaunders'analysisof the crusadingmovementas a holy war raisesa
relatedissueof greatsignificance.What kind of religiousconvictionswere present
amongEuropeans that would makethe ideaof holy war appealing? Amongseveral
historianswho have addressedthemselvesto an assessment of the religioustemper
of the society that respondedenthusiasticallyto urban ll's appeal is the swiss
historianPaul Rousset.His major work, Lesorigineset /escaracteresde la premidre
Croisade(1945),providesa searchingquestfor the religiouspsychologyprevailing
in eleventh-century Europe.In anotherstudy,presentedas a paperbeforethe Tenth

The Religious Atmosphere 179

 lnternationalcongressof Historicalsciencesheld at Rome in 1955. he tried to
summarizethe fundamentalreligiousconcepm associatedwith the crusading
movement.That paperconstitutesthe next selection.The studentshould try to
identifythe popularreligiousaspirations that found expressionthrough participa-
tion in the crusadingventure.Thenhe may be in a betterpositionto comprehend
the real significance
of "holy war" and to evaluatereligionas a causativeforce in
the Crusades.

The Crusadewas not onty a major politicaleventof tions constitutedargumentscapableof persuading

the Middle Ages . . ; it was ilsoa visiblesignof thekni gh6....
the ephemeralunity of Europeand the expression
of Europe'sambitions and fervors. lt is therefore
interestingto studythe crusadingidea(ideede Croi- Theseextraordinary signsand the lessonswhich a
sade)held by thosewho told about it or sangabout simple people drew from them already justified a
it, and to see how the Crusadewas justified and new war. This war appearedas one differentfrom
describedby its direct and indirect witnesses. others,as an expeditionwhich earnedfor its partic_
ipantsthe approvalof the clergy and not their con-
demnations.The Church, preoccupiedfor a long
For severalreasonswe shall limit this studyto the
time by the problem of ,,fraternalwars,,' that is to
period which extendsfrom the end of the eleventh
say, wars among Christians, saw in the Crusadea
century to the middle of the twelfth century. .
meansto put an end, at leastfor a time, to the wars
Only the FirstCrusadeought to be consideredas a
which ravagedChristendom.At Clermont Urban tl
true and typical crusade. The sourcesfor our proposedto the knightsto turn their armsagainstthe
study will then be essentiallythoseof the Crusadeof
Muslimsand to substitutefor sinful combata worthy
1095: charters, annals,chronicles,and poemscom_ and meritoriouscombat. For the brutal and pious
piled from the end of the eleventhcenturyto about
feudallordsthe Crusadecame to be the just war, the
1140. . . .
combatwhich saved,the enterpriseof salvation.The
privilegeof indulgence-a new privilegein war_
We intend to show first how the chroniclersex_ would give to the Crusadea supplementaryjustifi_
plainedand justified the Crusade,specifiedits aims cation and would make of that enterprisea pious
and its forms. [We shall also show] how the cru_ work.
sader-that new man of the end of the eleventh
century-was designated. . . We shall describe
the interior characteristics The avowed aim of the Crusade-the liberationof
of the Crusade:belief in
divine election,biblical mentality,evangelism.Fi_ the Holy Sepulcher-likewise constituted a suffi_
nally we shall try to grasp what it was that truly cient justification. The chroniclers developed an
made the Crusadea war apart from other wars, an extensiveliteratureconcerningthe Holy Land,.leru_
event at one and the same time both old and new, salem,and the Holy Sepulcher.The Holy places,
an idea of greatinfluencein the historyof the West becausethey and they alone were the settingelected
in the eleventhand twelfth centuries. by Christ, were the land of the Incainationand
the Redemption,demandeddeliverancefrom Mus-
lim.subjugationand possession in full ownership.
ln prologue to his Historia Hierosolr,mitana,
_the Cuibertof Nogentsangof the glory of Jerusalem, the
Robertthe tulonkdeclaredthat the Crusadewas nor
holy city which deservedto attract to iself all the
a humanundertaking, but a divineone.Likewisefor Christiankingdoms.
OrdericusVitalisthe expediti6nto Jerusalemis the sourceof Re-
Jerusalem owed demption,the place of salvation,the head of the
its origin to a divine impulse.Many
chroniclers Church,the navel of the lvorld, the mostexcellent
recorded that prodigiesprecededthe
departureof land that nas like a secondparadise. The crusader
the crusaden:fallingstars,earthquakes,
and signsin fought for two kingdoms:he tought to securepos_
the sky.One can think that thesecosmic
,.nif"rt.- sessionof the terrestrialJerusalemin order that he
FromP' Rou;set'"L'id€ede-croisade'chez
riche' Vol' lll: Storu del reschroniqueuad'occident,'. Relazioni
derX congr65s lnzslnazionaredi Scienze5ro
'\tedioerorn""i..,lgt,;;.';;;:63. used by per;is;;;"ia. a. sansoni,Editore.Transrared
b* the editor.

180
The Middle Ages
 might ultimately possessthe cele:tial Jerusalem graphicaland spiritualaim of recoveringthe Holy
rvherehe would live eternalli-. Land,the exaltationof Christendom:all thesechar-
actefisiicsexplainand justify in the eyesof the cru-
All theseexpressions . . . of the chroniclers refleci sadingchroniclersthe expeditionto Jerusalem. And
the thoughtof the clergy,but they should not be they give to the crusadingidea,originatingin a dis-
separatedfrom the thought of most men. These tant pastand recentlydeveloped,a meaningthat is
expressions are not formulasempty of meaning; at once i ntel l ectual and emoti onal l.t i s an expl ana-
they faithfullyreproduce the thoughtancjthe stateof tion and a justificaiionthai is insufficientin the eyes
feelingof an epoch.Moreover,thislanguage, which of modernhistorians,but it was satisfactory to the
is the languageof the pilgrim,shorvsforcefullythat chroniclerwho did not feel the need to go far back
the Crusadeis the war-likeextensionof the pilgrim- in time (the very notion of time escapedhim) to
age to Jerusalem,the brutal realizationof that discoverthe firstoriginsof the Crusade.
pilgrimage.lt is lvithout doubt that for many the
Crusadepreachedby Urban ll signifiedthis firstof
In fact, it appearscertaintlrat the chroniclersfelt no
all: to make free the routeto the Holy Sepulcher,to
.of which
recover the territory and the places which by need to seek the origins the expedition
they recounted. What struck them was the novel
right . . . belongedto the Christianworld.
characterof the expeditionand the changeswhich it
Nogent sees
The crusadingidea in the form in which it devel- brought to life in the West. Cuibert of
in the Crusade a new mode of life, a new social
oped around the year 1100 can be graspedhere in
order. When Bernard of Clairvaux composed a
its originalpurityand in all ia livingforce.As a gi-
ganticpilgrimagethe Crusadeinheritedthe charac- panegyric for the Order of the Temple, he made
teristicsof traditionalpilgrimages. lt was a journey conspicuous the nelvnessof the institution:"l speak
of a nelv kind of soldier." The Tenrplars, declared
toward a precise point, a long and difficult
the abbot of Clai-rvaux, were occupied in a dual
trip which demanded daily efforts and which
was spiritual and temporal.The war
brought about purification.Formerlypacific, the combat that
pilgrimageto Jerusalemwas transformedlittle by which they fought-a war of defenseagainstthe
Muslimsof the Holy Land-did not condemnthern
little . . into a militarypilgrimage.A psychology
but savedthem; if victorywas beneficial,deathwas
of fear wa3 born and a hostilityever more violent
an even greater benefit. The pages in which Ber-
fortifiedthe pilgrims.To the spiritof pilgrimagewas
nard eulogized the Templar, the soldier of Christ,
addedin the crusader-pilgrim the spiritof war with
the warrior of the new age, constitutean important
all thatthat impliesin termsof violenceand hate.In
witnessshowingthe transformationof war and of the
epic poetrywhich was spreadingat that moment-
warrior in the West. War, for so long carriedon by
and especiallyin the Chansonde Roland-there is
the knightsagainstthe common people,was hence-
eloquenttestimonyof that spiritof implacablewar-
forth to be directed againstthe Muslims, and the
fare.
knight,known as a criminalwhen he wagedwar in
the landsof Christendom,benefitedfrom ecclesias-
The crusaderalready saw h.isundertakingjustified
tical favorswhen he battledthe Muslimsin the Holy
by the reasonswhich we have discussed.Beyond
Land.
that, he was persuadedthat the new war would
permithim to exaltthe name of Christand expand
Christendom.Theie was confusion between the Many chroniclerstook pleasurein making known
temporalorderand the spiritualorder. . . Forthe the importanceof the change brought to the West
crusadingleadersthe crusadingidea was confused by the Crusade,that is to say, by the transformation
with the missionaryidea. . . The expansionof of the knight,a warrior by professionand habits,into
Christendom,by establishingrulership over Syria a crusader.For many the Crusade was bound to
from this time forward.constitutedfor the crusaders appearfirst of all as the liberationof the West. By
a supplementary justification:it was not only a quitting Europe to deliver the Holy Places the
mafterof defendingChristianterritories;it was nec- knights freed Christendomfrom its endemic wars.
essaryto enlargethe Christianworld. From that point of view the Crusadewas a form of
anti-war; it was peace, the peace of Cod finally
A divinework, a privilegedwar thanksto the sum- realized;it was the final resultof the evolutionof
mons of the pope and to the indulgence,the geo- the institutions of peace.

The Religious At mosphere t8l

The Crusadewas a new war and the chroniclerdid martyrfor fallen heroes;a biblical mentality
not know how to designateits heroes.lt is strikingto and the spirit of poverty.
note that the terms "crusade" and "crusader" have
ho equivalentsin the Latin of the eleventhand Cod is immanentand His justiceis exercisedin the
twelfth centuries.The term crucesignatiused to world immediately, hereand now; He grantsHis aid
designate crusaders is rare. . . Thechroniclerscall to thosewho have a pure heart and He abandons
the Crusade"the Jerusalemjourney," "the Jerusa- those who abandonHim. Sinful conduct explains
lem expedition,""the pilgrimage,""the way of the the failureof any undertaking. This is the explana-
sepulcherof the Lord." This is the languageof the tion suppliedby [the chroniclers]forthe difficulties
pilgrimagewhich provesthat, in the mind of those of the siegeof Antioch: "Cod ordainedthat we suf-
who lived it and spokeof it, the Crusadecontinued fer this povertyand miseryon accountof our sins."
the traditionof pilgrimagesto the Holy Landandthat The expression"because of sins," which comes
it also constituteda new enterprisewhich did not yet constantlyfrom the pens of the chroniclers . , is
have a name.lt was thus somethingboth old and the universalexplanation(epic poetry expresses the
new. As for the crusaders,they were called "the samethought).For men of this time divinejusticeis
pilgrims of ferusalem,""the Hierosolimitani."They imminent,and eventsshow forth brilliantlyto the
are "the warriors of the Lord," "the soldiers of eyesof the good and the wicked the suddenfury of
Christ," "the fellow-workersof Cod," . . "the that justice. fu a consequence,history indicts or
people of Cod." They are markedby the signof the glorifiesmen, and at the sametime it reflectsdivine
Cross,cruce signati.. . . omnipotence.The title which Guibert of Nogent
gave to his history of the Crusade-Cesta Dei per
That new war . . allowed for certain characteri- Francos-issignificant;the greatexpeditionof 1099
zations which, if not always new, were at leastapt is not like any other expedition; is origin and its
in definingit and distinguishingit from other wars. aims recommendit to the eyesof Cod, make it His
Here again we see that for the man of the twelfth work par excellence, and the Franks have been
century the Crusadeappearedas a war apartfrom electedfor that sacredtask.Without doubt thereare
others,as an enterprisewith particularaspects. involved here . . . language and formulas which
are biblical and ecclesiasticaland which recallthe
religious impregnationof the minds of the writers.
The enumerationof the themesof the Crusadede-
But theseformulasand that impregnationare those
veloped by the chroniclersis meaningful.Someof
of the Crusadeand of the times which saw it born
therrr are themeswhich holy war had renderedfa-
and develop. All the historiographyof the eleventh
miliar and which usagehad sanctioned; othersare
and twelfth centuriespossesses an apologeticchar-
new or at least are presentedin a form which is
acter. EvenSt. Bernardhimself,when he was ques-
surprising.The crusadingidea . . . is at once old
tioned on the subject of the failure of the Second
and new, but the chroniclerstook pleasurein show-
Crusade,which he had preachedand put in motion,
ing first of all the new elements(in contrastto the
would respond by examples drawn from the Old
modern historian,preoccupiedprimarily with bind-
Testamentwhich demonstratedthe importanceof a
ing the presentto the past).
moral view in the events:the crusadersthemselves
were the causeof their own defeat,he says,because
To graspthe crusadingidea as contemporaries felt it, they had sinned.One seesthen that in the opinion
it is necessaryto describeits principal characteris- of contemporariesthe Crusadeadmitsof a meaning
tics, leaving aside the characteristicsintended as that surpassesthe Crusadeitself and which makes
meansof justificationand alreadytreatedabove. of it an act at once temporaland spiritual,a witness,
a sign.
A pilgrimageand an enterpriseof conquest,a holy
rvar and a penitentialexpedition,the Crusadein- A military pilgrimageand a war for salvation,the
volved multiple and contradictorycharacteristics. Crusadeofferedto its participantsimportantspiritual
Theseare the characteristicswhich define the Cru- favors: indulgenceand the death of the martyr.The
sadein i6 inner nature,in its soul: a persuasionto reading of cartulariesis significant in this respect:
defend a just cause;more generally,a conviction one seesthat the knightswho, upon their departure
that the friendsof God ought necessarilyto triumph for Jerusalem,ceded their lands, did this because
over His enemies;the prospectof the palm of the they thoughtthat this renunciationwould earnthem

182 The Middle Ages

spiritual merits. . . The Crusadepermitteda war-
rior who was today condemned and damned to
assurehis salvationand to saveChristendom.. .
The crusadersveneratedthe dead crusaders' '
and marveledbeforethe innumerablemartyrs'
Combatagainstthe Muslim offeredto the knightthe
fulfillment of heroic prowessand the glory of the
martyr.The Crusadewith ie spiritualfavorsextended
his domain,enlargedit over a new land;the crusader
was not only he who abandonedhis goodsand took
the road to Jerusalem,but he was firstof dll one who
foughtthe Muslim and defendedChristendom.Here
was an extensionand a deformationof the crusading
idea which bearswitnessto the force of that idea
and to its exactadaptionto the necessities of the age.
The crusadingidea had needto developa doctrinal
support,a written authority.That support and that
authoritycould only be scriptural.The Old and the
New Testamentscame to furnish to the chroniclers
the textsand the necessaryreferences for the expla-
nation and the justificationof their accounts.One
mustimmediatelynote the considerableimportance
of the Old Testamentin that scripturaldocumenta-
tion.
The clerical origin of most of the chroniclersex-
plains in large part these referencesand thesecita-
tions; it will not however suffice to explain the
willingnessainong the chroniclersto comparecon-
stantlytheir heroesto the Hebrewsand to seein the
Crusadea renewalof biblical history'The crusaders
are the chosen people, the new Hebrews,the true
children of lsrael. To them pertain the promises
made long ago to the Hebrews. . . ' The historyof
the Crusade,like the historyof the Hebrews,is filled
with miracles.The actionssf the crusaders are
even more grand than those of the Hebrews.Com-
parisonsbetween the Hebrews and the crusaders
flow in numbersfrom the pens of the chroniclers:
Adhemarof Monteil [bishop of Puy] and Raymond
of 5t. Cillesr are comparedto Mosesand Aaron; the
march of the crusadersto the Holy Land is com-
pared to the march of the Hebrews toward the
PromisedLand; the death of Adhemarone year be-
fore the captureof Jerusalernis likenedto the death
of Moseson the eve of his entranceinto the land of
Canaan.When describedin this fashion,the Cru-
sadeappearedas an imitation of the Hebrews,as a
rThese hvo figuresplayed a prominent role as leadersof the
FirstCrusade.[Editor'snote]
The Religious AtmosPhere
parallelhistorywhich the chroniclertransmittedin a
spirit of piety and of triumph. The poets were also
inspiredby the Old Testament; Charlemagne. . . is
represented as a biblical king. . . .
Theseinnumerablereferencesto the Old Testament,
this intimate knowledgeof the history of the He-
brews, this constantneed to rely on sacredexam-
ples, this parallelismestablishedbetween biblical
facts and the deeds of the crusaderspose for the
historianof the Crusadesa problem difficult to re-
solve. [One authority, P. Alphandery,] thinks that
these citations are "the outcroppingsof a subcon-
sciouswork of assimilationof contemporaryfactsto
biblical facts and traditions." This phenomenonof
assimilation. . . is not uniquewith the chroniclers
of the Crusade;it is an element of the mentalityof
the age which witnessedthe beginningand the de'
velopmentof the Crusade.For the Christiansof the
eleventhand welfth centuriesthe Old Testamentis
not old and outmoded,but real and living; and they
reliveib adventures and accomplishits prophecies'
The concept of time was badly comprehendedby
the feudal man who felt no need to statedatespre-
cisely,to fix time intervals;having abolishedtime,
he broughtback the past in the presenl
That explanationstill does not sufficeto accountfor
the extremeimportanceof the Old Testamentin the
thoughtof the chroniclesof the Crusade.lt rnustbe
extended by a complementary explanation. The
crusadingmen (and their historians)reveal a men-
tality which is often that of a childtike people.Their
reactions are often primitive, naive, childish, re-
fleaing a needto coverall, to explainand to realize
all things.To that primitive people there is need of
doctrinal support, of a justificative text: the Old
Testamentis that which answersto these reactions
(and which sometimesdeterminesthem) and which
is suitedto the needsof a simple soul,of the heartof
a chi l d.
The importantpart played by the Old Testamentin
the spiritualityof the Crusadeshould not causeone'
to neglectthe role of the New Testament,ot evan-
gelism,of the Cross;nor can one overlookthe role
which devolvedon the poor in the expedition'
The crusadingidea drew a considerablepart of its
force from the Cross,the distinctivesign of the new
wanior and the sign par excellenceof the Christian'
The Crosswas the standardof the army vr'hileon the
march toward Jerusalemand later of the knights
183
 \^,ho protectedthe Latin statesagainstMuslim as- the world to enter a monastery;here it rvasapplied
saults.lt groupedall the crusaders underthe same to profane and lvar-like acts. The Crusade had
sign, it sealedtheir unity, it was for each of them an causeda preceptwith a spiritual senseto be trans-
assurance of divine friendshipand an indicationof formedinto one with a materialsense(in the same
the contractbetweenthem and God. . . . The ban- fashion,the expression"soldier of Christ," com-
ner of the Crosswasa weapon;it was an elementof monly employedin the Middle Agesto designatea
the strategyof Holy War. . lt is not difficult to monk, took on the senseof a warrior occupiedin
recognizein this appealof the Cross,which regarded holy war, of the crusader).
it as a protectivesign and an assuranceof victory,
an ancientChristianbelief,the "resurgence"of an The evangelicalvalue of poverty was alludedto by
abolishedpractice.[One chronicler]went back to certainchroniclersof the FirstCrusade.The pres-
Constantineto explain the trustwhich the Crusaders ence of the poor gave the expedition its
had in the Cross. . . The Crusade,in givingagain spiritualvalue and furnishedto the warriorsmany
to the sacredsign the sensewhich it had long ago preciousprayers.One must note . the decisive
had,in reunitingwith a pastwhich still had not been part of the presenceof the poor, the common peo-
destroyedin memoriesand feelings,had discovered ple in the heart of the feudal army. . . At a deci-
a movingand strikingsymbol.. . . sive moment, when after the battle of Antioch the
nobleswere lost in feudaldisputesand delayedthe
The wordsof Christ."lf anyonewishesto come after final march on Jerusalem,it was the threat of the
me, let him renounceeverythingand take up his common people that served to force a depar-
cross and follow me," provided the occasion for ture. And the taking of Jerusalem(.l5 July
[one chronicler] to transfera sacredtext to the use 1099)signified-if not the triumphof poverry.
of the Crusade.Thereoccurredthen, he says,a great - at leastthe role that virtue never ceasedto enjoy
movementin all regionsof Caul, so that whoever in the final stageof the Crusadeand its share,along-
desired to follow the Lord and faithfully bear the side the spiritof gain and ambition,in the ideology
Crosswith Him, hastenedto take the road to Jerusa- of the expedition.
lem. Perhapsan interpretationof a preacher,cer-
tainly a clericalcommentarywhich showshow the The crusadingidea was never fixed. lt took its ori-
crusadingidea could graft.itself on a gospel text gins from the holy war practicedover the courseof
and take on an accent that was both messianic the centuries;it was born of the appealof Urban ll,
and prophetic. and, too soon, it was subjectedto transformations
and deformations. . The Crusade-theFirstCru-
The Crusade,so lived and understood,was an ac- sade-is unthinkableoutsidethe age which saw it
ceptanceof the appeal of Christ: to take His Cross come into being;it is a "child of the time"; but be-
and follow Him. This involved acceptanceat the causeit was a widely influentialidea,the Crusade
level of the warrior life and the transformationof a rapidlymodifiedinstitutions and conditions,and,by
pacific messageinto a war-like enterprise.The Cru- virtue of these modifications,was itself modified,
sade appearedthen as a giganticway of the Cross, and soon lost that which constitutedits essenceand
an unexpectedapplicationof a devotionalexercise its efficacy.Alreadythe SecondCrusade-an
expe-
which PeterDamien,a resoluteadversaryof all war, dition to aid-was not identicalwith the first. . . .
had preachedmore than five years earlier. The The FourthCrusade. is the tragic witnessof the
counselof Christ, "lf anyone wishesto come after deformationof the idea of the Crusade.
me .' relatedas a generalrule to thosewho left

184 The Middle Ages

distinguished from the uncertain-The connection
bet*eln Spainand the Orient hasbeen placedin its
proper light. The relation betweenthe crusadeand
ih"'i"rni-on of the churchesremainsuncertain,al-
thoughimportantcontributions havebeenmadeto a
bettei undersiandingof papal Byzantinepolicy'
Equally uncertain is Urban's attitude toward the
prospectivecrusaders'statesin the Levant'In view
of previous theories Erdmann'sopinion that the
pope plannedneithera church statenor a papalfief
also lend
in J"rus"le. is significant'His statements
suppoftto thosewho are not inclinedto view the
First Crusadeas a papal counterofiensivein the in'
vestiture struggle. Finally, while there has never
been any doubt as to Urban'sabilities,the breadth
of his statesmanship, his understanding of the man-
ifold interrelationsof Europeanand Mediterranean
politics and his capacity for coordinatingseparate
undertakingsare now more clear than ever before'
This remainstrue whether the First Crusadeis re'
gardedas merelythe culminati6nof a longdevelop-
ment or as a spectacular and originalachievement'

HIL MAR C. KR U E GE R

M A T E R IA L C ON C E R N S
Crusades'But even Urban ll
Piety and politics loomed large as factors causing the '
and he was not reluctant to
was aware of men's material urges and ambitions,
crusaders, as his speech at
suggest that valuabte rewards awaited the successful
the economic factors at play
Clli.nont reveals. lt is therefore impossible to overlook
of the University of cincin-
in the crusadingenterprise.ProfessorHilmar c- Krueger
history of medieval ltaly and
nati, a leading American expert on the economic
following selection. His remarks
especially cenoa. anatyzes these factors in the
make it obvious that many who participated in the Crusades stood to benefit from
remains for the student to
holy war..To what extent was that their prime motive? lt
been identified
place this aspect of the Crusades in relation to other forces that have
final answer may lie in one's view of
as causes for the assault on the East.The
human nature.
a great degree.thisgeneral
The Crusadeswere part of a pan-Europeanexpan- overseasexpansion.To
possibleand ac-
sionist movement that pushed into ail directions, developmentrnade the Crusades
continued
partially under the impeius or guise of Christianity. ceptabie.In all areasthe developments
the twelfth century'
ih" .onqu"rt of Englandby Ouke William of Nor- beyondthe end of
mandy,the foundationof anotherNormanKingdom
Crusadeswere as var-
in the Two Sicilies,the Spanishcampaignsof the The economic aspectsof the
participants. There is linle.needand no
christian knights of spain and France,and the ied as the
evaluatethe varied causesfor
Saxon Crusadeacrossthe Elbe, the expeditionsof method to weigh and
Admittedly' religious' po-
the Scandinaviansailorsinto the northernseasand this overseasexpansion'
in lcelandand Creenland, litical, and social forces existedin additionto the
the Christiansettlements
more material economic factors' Pope Urban ll ap-
the acceptanceof RomanChristianityby 5t. stephen
pealedsuccessfully to all interests.andby no means
and his Hungariansubjectswere all parts oi th.
the economic and materialaspects'
same expansionistmovement, some antecedent, did he overlook consider-
interestsinfluenced
others contemporary. to the *ore phenotenai That these economic
Europe and the Foundationsoi llodern
From Hilmar C. Krueger, "Economic Aspectsof ExpandingEurope," in Twelith'Ce.nturv
post and hou"rt geyiroias tir"Ji*n,'ntit.onsin: Univei;ity oi\{isconsin Press'l96l}' pP' 69-72'
Socieq, ed. tvlarshallcragger;,-Cainei
p"r-irtion--of tt\e copyright ou,ners,the Regens of the University of Wisconsin'
i*if riJ
",f,f,

Concerns
,93
Material
 ably the activitiesof someof the crusadingelernents establishment of their own politicalauthorityalong
may be gatheredfrom the denunciations of them feudal lines which gave them the customaryeco-
when some of the crusadesfailed to reach the ex- nomic returnsin fees,services,finesand products.
pectationsof the more spirituallyminded. The lesserbarons generallybecame vassalsand
enjoyedsimilargains,but on a srnallerscale.Many
ln a measurethe Crusadeswere evidencethat the of the barons,who had nothing to return to in
Peaceof God and the Truce of Cod had failed.The westernEurope,establishedresidencein the Levant
varied accountsof Pope Urban's speechesrefer to and their descendants becamepart of the Frankish
bloody strife, plunderingand pilfering,homicide aristocracyof the East. Fulcher of Chartres ex-
and sacrilege,hatredsand dissensions. Theseac- claimed:"He who in Europeownednot so much as
tions were economic liabilitiesfor westernEurope a villageis lord of a whole city out here. He who
and any diminutionof them was of economicprofit was worth no more than a few pencenow disposes
to the comrnunitiesand groupsamongwhom they of a fortune. Why should we return to the West
existed. Urban's referencesto the actions were when we haveall we desirehere?,,
couchedin terms of religion,humanity,and social
conscience,but the economic lossesfrom war and While the feudal baronsformed the majority of the
plundercannot be deniedand the gainsfrom their fightingmen in the crusadingcampaigns, the ltalian
absencecannotbe overlooked. townsmen and merchantswere so essentialto the
whole movementthat it would havecollapsedwith-
To the feudalbarons,"aforetimerobbers"who were out their support.After the FirstCrusadeall western
to becomesoldiersof Christ,the pope gavepromise armiestravelledeastward,by
-5ea,and even in the
of material gains. He promised to the overseas First Crusadethe naval and military support of
crusaderswhat the bishopsand princesof the north Cenoaand Pisawas considerable.PopeUrbanll rec-
had offeredto the Saxoncolonistsand settlers."The ognizedthe importanceof the towns and merchants
possessions of the enemy will be yours, too, since for the movementand accordinglysent itinerant
you will make spoil of his treasures. . . ." "Wrest propagandists into the cities to preachthe crusades
that land from the wicked race, and subject it to or had local preachersperformthe job.
yourselves,that land which, as the scripturesays,
'floweth with milk and honey."' He obviously Since the ltalian rowns had been fightingthe Mos-
hoped to gain the support of the landlessor land- lems for severalcenturies,the papal preachershad
poor barony, who possessedlittle propertybecause no difficulty persuadingthe ltalian merchantsto
of'the rulesof inheritanceor the ill fortuneof the cociperate.The ltalians had fought the Arabs for
feudal wars. He knew, too, the inevitableresultof three hundredyearsbefore 1095, at firstdefensively,
increasingpopulation whose land ,,is too narrow then offensively. All the greatltaliancities,Naples,
. nor does it abound in wealth;and it furnishes Rome,Pisa,and Cenoa in the west,Bari,Ancona,
scarcelyenoughfood for its cultivators.,, and Venice on the Adriatic, had been attackedand
plunderedby the Arabs.In the early tenthcentury
The economic gains that were promisedto the feu- the south ltaliancitieshad wiped out
the lastArab
dal barons were also obtained by them. The great base in ltaly, and in the early eleventh
century
princesat the head of their feudal leviescarvedout Cenoa and Pisahad driven
the Arabsfrom the Tyr-
the largest estates,but lesser barons established rhenianSea.In 1082 a combinedforce
of ltalian
themselves as well. As thecrusadingarmiesmarched cities, under the leadershipof a papal legate,at-
southwardfrom Asia Minor into Syriaand palestine, tacked Mehdia in North Africa, plundered
a mer-
individual leadersconquered and claimed their chant suburb, gained compensation
for damages
personal principalities.ln that fashion Tancred done to their
ships by Arab pirates,and obtained
established himselfin Cilicia,Baldwinin the Counry free accessto the area for their merchants.The vic-
of Edessa, and Raymondof Toulousein the County tory clearedthe rvesternMediterraneanof Arab pi-
of Tripoli. They often quarreledrvith one anotherin ratesand competitors. To the ltaliancitiesthe call of
cornpletedisregardof the common causeand tne Pope Urban ll sounded
like an invitarionto help
Kingdomof Jerusalemand certainlynot in the in- clear the easternMediterranean
as well and to ob-
terestsof the Holy Sepulcherand the papal see. tain similarcommercialprivileges.
With them their orvn personal ambitions ranked
first, and they demanded before anything else the To the ltalian
merchantsthe Crusadesalrvaysap-

194 The Middle Ages

oearedto be extraordinaryeconomicopportunities. These promiseswere generally made.in private
From the very start the ttaliansgainedfinancial re-agreementsbetweenthe ltalian cities and the baro-
wards.Their ships carriedthe crusadersand their nial leaders,the kings of Franceand England,and
equipment,eventheir horses,to the Holy Land,and the kingsof Jerusalem.Often they were made under
then suppliedthe Crusaders pressureof the momentand then forgottenwhen the
with food, drink, and,
on occasion,with timber, manpower,and siege pressure was lifted.Horvever,the ltalians,especially
machinery.Cenoaand Pisacommandeered the Cenoese.established
all pos- themselves rvell engughto
sible ships in their domains for transport enjoy long-term rewards and profits. ln at least a
purposes
and ordered the constructionof more and larger dozen coastaltolvns of the Levantthe ltalians pos-
vessels.The transportserviceswere a sourceof sessedthroughout most of the twelfth century resi'
immediateincome for the communes,merchants, dential and commercialquarters,frorn which they
and shipor,r,ners.The Fourth Crusade is good gainedan incomefrom rentals,leases,harbordues,
evidence that financial return loomed large in and court fines. ln these centers the ltalian mer-
the aims of the shipownersand merchants.The chantscarriedon their trade with the Europeancol-
Crusadesgave to the ltalian cities much of the onists and feudal residents,with Arab traders,and
liquid capital that was needed in the capitalistic with their associatesand agentswho worked in the
developments area.The ltalian quartersof the Levantbdcame the
that were just beginning.Furthermore,
this capital came from sources unrelated to the ienters of exchange for Oriental and European
Italiantowns,from westernfeudalbaronsand kings. goods and marketsfor the westernimportsthat in-
It was money which the ltalians could not have creasedas the century wore on. The Oriental trade
obtainedotherwise. was highly profitableand anothersourceoi capital
in the new money economy of the period. The Cru-
In addition to these immediate monetary returns sades were the strongestinfluence on the develop-
Cenoa, Pisa, and Venice received promises of ment of medievaltrade and industry.
quartersin the coastaltowns of Syriaand Palestine.

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