Armies of Heaven

by Jay Rubenstein

  12 On these details, see Lambert, Annales, an. 1065, pp. 94–95.

  13 The Vita Altmanni 4, p. 230, relates the story of the abbess, not specifying when it happened, though it would make sense only as placed in the narrative here. On the date and the priests’ counsel, see Lambert, Annales, an. 1065, p. 96.

  14 Lambert, Annales, an. 1065, pp. 97–98; Annales Altahenses maiores, MGH SS 20, an. 1065, pp. 815–816.

  15 Vita Altmanni 4, p. 230.

  16 AA 1, 2–5, pp. 4–9. As another example of Peter as the originator of the crusade, the German author of the Annales Brunwilarenses (MGH SS 1, an. 1096, p. 100) writes simply, “In this year (1096) an expedition to the Holy Land was undertaken at the instigation of Peter the Hermit. The pilgrims captured Jerusalem, Antioch, Nicea, and other royal cities.” Anna Comnena makes Peter the inventor of the crusade, too: Alexiad 10, 5, p. 309; as does the normally well-respected late-twelfth-century historian William of Tyre: WT 1, 13–14, pp. 129–130. See also HBS, “Prologue,” pp. 169–170.

  17 Peter’s usual reputation is that of a demagogue who corrupted Urban’s message and deceitfully claimed it as his own. See, for example, Riley-Smith (1986), pp. 34–35; and, more generally, Henrich Hagenmeyer, Peter der Ermite (Leipzig, Germany: O. Harrassowitz, 1879). There have been some attempts to rehabilitate him, notably Flori (1999); and E. O. Blake and Collin Morris, “A Hermit Goes to War: Peter and the Origins of the First Crusade,” Studies in Church History 22 (1985): 79–107, who place Peter in the context of eleventh- and twelfth-century spirituality, particularly of better-respected figures like Norbert of Xanten and Robert of Arbrissel. The descriptions of Peter’s appearance and his entourage here are taken from GN 2, 8, p. 171 ; and RtM 1, 5, p. 731.

  18 Annales Rosenveldenses, MGH SS 16, an. 1096, pp. 101–102. On letters from heaven, see Alphandéry and Dupront, pp. 54–55. HBS, “Prologue,” pp. 169–170, tells how shocked Peter was to see the Temple of the Lord turned into a Mahomerie. See also Luke 21:24.

  19 Monodies 2, 5, pp. 246–249. It is unclear whether Peter himself preached an anti-Jewish message, though there appears to me no reason to think he did not. At the very least, the tenor of his message inspired listeners to anger against the Jews, as I have argued in “How, or How Much, to Reevaluate Peter the Hermit,” in The Medieval Crusade, ed. Susan J. Ridyard (London: Boydell, 2004), pp. 22–41. Annales Hildesheimnenses, MGH SS 3, an. 1096, p. 106, draws a direct connection between the pogroms and the followers of Peter.

  20 Frutolf, an. 1096, p. 106.

  21 Thirty years later another German writer would use a similar turn of phrase, but for exactly the opposite end. In a German translation of the Book of Exodus, he would describe a plague of flies as being like “God’s knights.” In the 1090s supernatural plagues had been a way to describe the crusaders. By 1130 the crusade had become an image for making Old Testament plagues comprehensible. D. H. Green, The Millstatter Exodus: A Crusading Epic (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1966), pp. 273–279. The chronicle description of the flying worms appears in Frutolf, an. 1091, p. 104.

  Chapter 2

  1 The connections between crusading and the Gregorian reform movement have been treated extensively, most notably in the classic work of Erdmann, Origin (see esp. pp. 118–147). The events and personalities involved are examined in H. E. J. Cowdrey, Pope Gregory VII (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999). FC 1, 7, 2–3, pp. 164–166, describes the situation in St. Peter’s in 1096 and also calls Clement a blockhead.

  2 Alfons Becker, “Le voyage d’Urbain II en France,” in École Française (1997), pp. 127–140.

  3 WT 1, 9, p. 121. Another less sensationalist account of the emperor’s imprisonment appears in Michael Psellus, Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, trans. E. R. A. Sewter (London: Penguin Classics, 1966), pp. 357–358 and 365–366, on his blinding. Richard W. Southern gives a concise narrative of the schism in his Western Church and Society in the Middle Ages (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1970), pp. 67–72.

  4 All these plans are outlined at Gregory VII, Das Register Gregors VII, MGH Epistolae Selecta 2, 2 vols., ed. Erich Caspar (Berlin: Weidmanschen Buchhandlung, 1920, 1923), 1, 46, pp. 69–71; 1, 49, pp. 75–76 (quote at p. 75); 2, 3, pp. 126–128; 2, 31, 166–168 (quote at pp. 166–167); and 2, 37, pp. 172–173.

  5 Benzo of Alba, Ad Heinricum IV. Imperatorem libri VII, ed. Hans Seyffert, MGH in usum 65, 1,15, p. 144. The verses in this quote (indicated here with italics) are Isa. 49:23 and Isa.11:10. The last verse is referenced by RtM 9, 9, p. 869.

  6 On the military situation in Antatolia, see France (1994), pp. 152–155. On Piacenza, see Alfons Becker, Der Papst, die griechische Christenheit und der Kreuzzug. Papst Urban II (1088–1099), 2 (Stuttgart, Germany: Anton Hiersemann, 1988), pp. 377–379; Erdmann, Origin, pp. 325–330; and Mayer, Crusades, p. 7. Only the Lotharingian Ekkehard of Aura mentions letters from Alexius to the pope appealing for aid, but without a direct mention of the council that year: EA 5, pp. 14–15. A monastic historian from Poitiers mentions the council of Piacenza and says that Urban II actually first proclaimed the crusade there, but the account fails to mention a Byzantine plea for help. The text is the Historia monasterii novi Pictavensis, excerpted by I. M. Watterich in Pontificum Romanorum qui fuerunt inde ab exeunte saeculo IX usque ad finem seaculi XIII vitae ab aequalibus conscriptae, 2 vols. (Leipzig, Germany: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1862) 1, pp. 597–598. Riley-Smith (1986) p. 13, n. 3, cites this passage as the only instance where an annalist noted a connection between Clermont and Piacenza. Alexiad, 7, 6, p. 229, and 7, 7, p. 232, describes the connections between Robert the elder and Alexius.

  7 Erdmann argues that Urban II conceived of the crusade primarily as a way to help Byzantium and as part of a broader war against the Saracens. Jerusalem was at best peripheral to his message at Clermont: Erdmann, Origin, pp. 306–371 (e.g., Urban II’s “interest in pilgrimages as such surely was as slight as his interest in the city of Jerusalem”; at p. 316). His somewhat counterintuitive arguments are occasionally still cited as authoritative (e.g., in Mayer, Crusades, pp. 8–10, where he argues that Urban preferred to stress the plight of Eastern Christians at Clermont, but that with the passage of time he gave in to public demand and started to talk about Jerusalem). The weight of scholarly opinion, however, has shifted so strongly against this proposition that there seems to me no reason to revisit Erdmann’s argument in detail.

  8 On Durand’s death, see Hugh of Flavigny, Chronicon, ed. G. H. Pertz, MGH SS 8, p. 274, in an. 1095. The image of Durand’s moldering body is in an aside in Poèmes 1, Poem 22, pp. 43–44. Poem 51 gives the day of Durand’s death as the thirteenth before December. Depending on how one calculates dates, that would mean that he died either the day before the council began or else on November 18 itself, amid the opening ceremonies. The two epitaphs for Durand appear in Poèmes 1, 50–51, pp. 57–58 (the latter mentions the number of attendees at Clermont). Michel Aubrun gives a brief overview of Durand’s career in his article “La Diocèse de Clermont, de la fin du XIe au début du XIIe siècle,” in École Française (1997), pp. 24–32 (pp. 25–26).

  9 BB 1, p. 15. Before the sermon begins, Baudry uses similarly vague terminology, saying that Urban spoke “a sermon of this sort”: BB, p. 12. See also GN 2, 3, p. 111. RtM, “Apologeticus sermo,” p. 721, comes closest to claiming authenticity for his sermon, saying that he chose to rewrite GF because it did not include any details of Clermont and because he himself had attended the council. FC, 1, 3, pp. 131–138, appears to have based his report of Clermont on council decretals, though he famously fails to have Urban II mention Jerusalem.

  10 Passages taken from BB 1, 2, and 4, pp. 11–14, and 4, 13, p. 101. The latter passage is a sermon credited to an anonymous preacher on the eve of the battle for Jerusalem that echoes the language from Urban’s sermon. In addition to instar, which I have translated as “form of,” the passage includes the more theologically loaded forma, which I have attempted to invest with equal theological baggage through the
translation “image.” There has been some scholarly dispute as to whether crusade preachers might have inadvertently or deliberately confused the heavenly and earthly Jerusalems in the minds of their listeners. See, for example, Cohn (1957), pp. 64–65. The confusion, however, was built into the actual theology. On these points, see also Schein (2005), pp. 141–157; and Daniel F. Callahan, “Jerusalem in the Monastic Imagination of the Early Eleventh Century,” Haskins Society Journal 6 (1994): 119–127.

  11 RtM 9, 26, p. 882. A fine introduction to the peace movement can be found in the essays edited by Thomas Head and Richard Landes, The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France Around the Year 1000 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992).

  12 The text of the indulgence reads, “Quicumque pro sola devotione, non pro hon-oris vel pecunie adeptione, ad liberandam ecclesiam Dei Hierusalem profectus fuerit, iter illud pro omni penitentia ei reputetur”: Somerville, Councils, 2, p. 74. This passage is from a set of conciliar decrees collected by Bishop Lambert of Arras. It is one of sixty-one decrees, most of which deal with issues of church reform. On the place of knighthood and violence in the eleventh century, I am indebted to the work of Dominique Barthélemy. The best introduction in English to his approach is The Serf, the Knight, and the Historian, trans. Graham Robert Edwards (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009), esp. pp. 176–236. See also Dominique Barthélemy, Chevaliers et miracles: La violence et la sacré dans la société féodale (Paris: Armand Colin, 2004).

  13 Such outbursts must have been fairly common at a church council. Earlier in the week, when the pope had proclaimed that anyone who attacked a bishop should no longer be allowed to carry weapons, he received an acclamation of “Let it happen! Let it happen!” Somerville, Councils 30, p. 81. The crowd did so perhaps because Bishop Lambert of Arras had been taken prisoner on his way to the council: Becker, “Le voyage d’Urbain II,” in École Française (1997), p. 131. RtM 1, 2, p. 729, describes Urban’s reaction to the chants. The argument presented here, about the combination of pilgrimage and warfare, is essentially that of Erdmann, Origin.

  14 The most eloquent exponents of the role of penance in driving warriors to join the crusade are Bull (1993); and Riley-Smith (1997), pp. 60–72. Bull’s work is especially important, based on a detailed analysis of monastic charters (grants of land made to churches by knights before they departed for Jerusalem). The charters purport to explain the thinking of knights as they hand over the property, usually emphasizing a desire to attain forgiveness for sins. That is, however, the usual justification for granting land to monasteries, regardless of whether the donor was going on crusade. Because most knights on crusade had to pay their own way, the need for financing more than for forgiveness was probably the most immediate grounds for donating land. The tendency to drift into caricature when writing of fearful and superstitious crusaders can mar even otherwise fine books, such as Thomas Asbridge, The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), p. 38, in which he writes, “Bred upon a vision of religious faith that emphasised the overbearing threat of sin and damnation, the Latins of the West were enmeshed in a desperate, lifelong spiritual struggle to purge the taint of corruption from their souls.” Such a description fails to do justice to the complexity of a Frankish warrior’s worldview, not to mention his soul.

  15 BB 1, 4, p. 14, and 1, 3, p. 12. In line with these arguments, Andrew Jotischky, “The Christians of Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre, and the Origins of the First Crusade,” Crusades 7 (2008): 35–57, suggests that the sufferings of Christians and pilgrims in the East may have played a more direct role in inspiring the First Crusade than scholars have tended to acknowledge.

  16 RtM, 1, 1, pp. 727–728. The italicized passage is from Ps. 78:8 (Vulgate 77:8).

  17 The pun and the other charges (including “foully,” turpiter) appear in BB 1, 4, p. 13.

  18 The source for these charges is the letter attributed to Alexius Comnenus written to Count Robert of Flanders. It is probably a forgery or else a heavily redacted Latin translation of a Greek original, printed in Hagenmeyer, Epistulae 1, pp. 31–36. GN 1, 5, pp. 101–102, paraphrases the same letter. His phrase for violating the laws of humanity is solutis humanitatum legibus. As for violating the laws of nature, he argues that sodomy makes Saracens worse than beasts, because sex with women is at least within the course of nature.

  19 Hagenmeyer, Epistulae 2, p. 136.

  20 Otbert of Liège helped to finance the crusade of Godfrey of Bouillon. The reference appears in the edition of Urban’s letters in PL 151, col. 396C, D. My thanks to Matthew Gabriele for calling my attention to this passage.

  21 The writer of the apocalyptic sermon is GN 2, 4, pp. 113–114. The biblical passage concerning the conquest of three kings is Dan. 11:42–43: “And he will send his hand against the earth, the nation of Egypt shall not escape. And he will rule over the treasures of gold, silver, and all the valuable things of Egypt; through Libya and Ethiopia he will cross.” Guibert has substituted “Africa” for “Libya.”

  22 The reconstruction of this scene follows BB 1, 5, pp. 15–16. It is notable that BB, before he begins describing this scene, mentions for the first time that he had attended the Council of Clermont. It is an important point: He does not vouch for the accuracy of his account of Urban’s sermon, but he does claim that his account of these activities after the sermon is reliable. On Adhémar’s career, see James A. Brundage, “Adhémar of Puy: The Bishop and His Critics,” Speculum 34 (1959): 201–212, a response to John Hugh Hill and Laurita L. Hill, “Contemporary Accounts and the Later Reputation of Adhémar, Bishop of Le Puy,” Medievalia et Humanistica 9 (1955): 30–38. See also Christian Lauranson-Rosaz, “Le Velay et la croisade,” in École Française (1997), pp. 33–64 (pp. 50–51 and 61–62).

  23 The Gospel reference is to Luke 14:27, long recognized as a key passage in crusade history and cited at the beginning of GF as the core of Urban II’s message. The best introduction to Raymond’s career (with some caution necessary about certain judgments) is Hill and Hill (1962); they discuss the rumor about the count’s missing eye on p. 30. On the fideles of St. Peter, see Erdmann, Origin, pp. 206–224.

  24 BB 1, 5, p. 16.

  25 BB 1, 5–6, p. 16; RtM 1, 3, p. 730.

  Chapter 3

  1 Details taken from Notitiae duae Lemovicenses de praedicatione crucis in Aquitania, RHC Oc. 5, pp. 350–353 (p. 352).

  2 Chroniques, pp. 234 and 237–238. George T. Beech, “Urban II, the Abbey of Saint-Florent of Saumur, and the First Crusade,” in Autour de la Croisade, pp. 57–69, notes a similar failure of Urban’s message. Riley-Smith (1997), p. 88.

  3 Riley-Smith (1986), p. 43; Norman Housley, Fighting for the Cross: Crusading to the Holy Land (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 162–170.

  4 The only English-language biography of Bohemond is R. B. Yewdale, Bohemond I, Prince of Antioch (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1924). There have been recent biographies in French and Italian: Jean Flori, Bohémond d’Anti-oche, Chevalier d’Aventure (Paris: Payot, 2007); and Luigi Russo, Boemondo, Figilio del Guiscardo e principe di Antiochia (Avellino, Italy: Elio Sellino, 2009). On these scenes, see Flori, Bohémond, pp. 61–78; and Russo, Boemondo, pp. 59–61. Flori suggests the likelihood that Bohemond knew of the crusade well before this near mythic encounter with Frankish soldiers. The description here is largely based on GF, pp. 7–8.

  5 C. W. David, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, Harvard Historical Studies 25 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920), pp. 86–96; C. Warren Hol-lister, Henry I (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001), pp. 76–97; WM 3, 277, pp. 504–507.

  6 Hagenmeyer, Epistulae 2, pp. 136–137 (the letter from Urban), and 7, pp. 142–143 (a charter issued from Robert’s wife two years after his departure, where she speaks of rage against the Persians). Robert recalls his good works in a charter issued before his departure, published by Fernand Vercauteren, ed., Actes des com
tes de Flandre, 1071–1128 (Brussels: Palais des Académies, 1938), pp. 62–63. M. M. Knap-pen, “Robert II of Flanders in the First Crusade,” in The Crusades and Other Historical Essays, Presented to Dana C. Munro by His Former Students, ed. Louis J. Paetow (New York: F. S. Crofts, 1928), pp. 79–100, verges on hagiography but is still useful.

  7 Lampert of Hersfeld, Annales MGH SS, an. 1076, p. 243; H. E. J. Cowdrey, Gregory VII, 1073–1085 (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1998), p. 142; John C. Andressohn, The Ancestry and Life of Godfrey of Bouillon (Bloomington: Indiana State University Press, 1947), pp. 16–20.

  8 Chronique de Saint-Hubert, dite Cantatorium, ed. Karl Hanquet (Brussels: Librairie Kiessling, 1906), 19, pp. 48–50. The statement in Asbridge (2004), p. 62, that Godfrey had “no particular reputation for personal piety, being a known despoiler of Church land,” is a bit of an overstatement.

  9 Chronique de Saint-Hubert, 82–83, pp. 203–208; Andressohn, The Ancestry and Life, pp. 27–46. On the financing of Godfrey’s army, see Alan V. Murray, “The Army of Godfrey of Bouillon, 1096–1099: Structure and Dynamics of a Contingent on the First Crusade,” Revue Belge de Philologie et d’histoire 70 (1992): 301–329; and H. Dorchy, “Godefrois de Bouillon, duc de Basse-Lotharingie,” Revue Belge de Philologie et d’histoire 26 (1948): 961–999 (p. 998).