The Crusades 1095-1197

by Jonathan Phillips

  If you consider that you ought to take great pains to make a pilgrimage to the graves of the apostles (in Rome) or to the shrines of any other saints, what expense of spirit can you refuse in order to rescue, and make a pilgrimage to, the cross, the blood, the Sepulchre? Until now you have fought unjust wars: you have often savagely brandished your spears at each other in mutual carnage only out of greed and pride, for which you deserve eternal destruction and the certain ruin of damnation! Now we are proposing that you should fight wars which contain the glorious reward of martyrdom, in which you can gain the title of present and eternal glory.

  If, therefore, you stir yourselves to the exercise of holy battles, so that you may repay Jerusalem the debt you owe her for the grace which she has lent you — it is from her that you have received the first implantations of the knowledge of God — and so that through you the Catholic name, which will resist the perfidy of Antichrist and the Antichristians, may be spread, who cannot but infer that God, who surpasses the hope of all in the superabundance of his power, will burn up through your spark such thickets of paganism that he will spread the rudiments of his law throughout Egypt.

  Dearest brethren, these times will perhaps only be fulfilled when through you, with God working with you, the powers of the pagans will be thrust back. And the end of the world is already near, although the gentiles have not been converted to the Lord: according to the apostle Paul there must be a revolt from the faith. . . . Think, I beseech you, of the hearts giving birth to such rejoicing when we see the Holy City revived by your assistance and the prophetic, nay rather divine, predictions fulfilled in our own times.

  Consider those who go on pilgrimage and travel across the Mediterranean. How many payments, how much violence are the richer subjected to, being forced to pay tolls for almost every mile they go and taxes; at which city gates, entrances of churches and temples they have to pay fees; how they have to journey from one place to the next, accused of having done something; how it is the habit of the governors of the gentiles to force them savagely with blows to pay for their release when they have refused to pay a bribe!

  . . . But since this pious intent [the protection of liberty] is not in the souls of everyone, and instead the desire of having [i.e. material greed] spreads through everyone’s hearts, God has, in our time, instituted holy warfare in order that the arms-bearers and the wandering masses, who in the fashion of the ancient pagans were engaged in mutual slaughters, might find a new way of obtaining salvation; so that they might not be obliged to leave the world completely, as used to be the case, by adopting the monastic way of life or any form of professed calling, but might attain some measure of God’s grace while enjoying their usual freedom and dress. . . .

  (iii) The account of Baldric of Bourgueil (written c. 1108)

  Christian blood, which has been redeemed by the blood of Christ, is spilled and Christian flesh, flesh of Christ’s flesh, is delivered up to execrable abuses and appalling servitude.

  Until now we have, as it were, disguised the fact that we have been speaking of holy Jerusalem, brethren, because we have been ashamed and embarrassed to talk about her; for that very city in which, as you know, Christ himself suffered for us, since our sins demanded it, has been overwhelmed by the filth of the pagans and, I say it to our shame, led away from the service of God. . . . To what use now is put the church of Blessed Mary, where her own body was buried in the valley of Josaphat? What of the Temple of Solomon, not to mention the fact that it is the Lord’s, in which the barbaric races worship their idols, which they have placed there against the law and against religion? We will not recall the Lord’s Sepulchre, because some of you have seen with your own eyes to what abomination it has been handed over. . . . Yet in that place — I am only saying what everyone knows — God was laid to rest; there he died for us; there he was buried. How precious is that place of the Lord’s burial, how desirable, a place beyond compare! Indeed God does not let a year go by without performing a miracle there; when the lamps in the Sepulchre and in the church around it have been put out at Passiontide, they are relighted by divine command. Whose stony heart could remain unmoved, brethren, by so great a miracle?

  What are we saying, brothers? Listen and understand. You have strapped on the belt of knighthood and strut around with pride in your eye. You butcher your brothers and create factions among yourselves. This, which scatters the sheepfold of the Redeemer, is not the knighthood of Christ. The Holy Church keeps for herself an army to come to the aid of her people, but you pervert it to knavery. . . . You oppressors of orphans, you robbers of widows, you homicides, you blasphemers, you plunderers of others’ rights; you hope for the rewards of brigands for the shedding of Christian blood and just as vultures nose corpses you watch and follow wars from afar. Certainly this is the worst course to follow because it is utterly removed from God. And if you want to take counsel for your souls you must either cast off as quickly as possible the belt of this sort of knighthood or go forward boldly as knights of Christ, hurrying swiftly to defend the eastern Church.

  It ought to be a beautiful ideal for you to die for Christ in that city where Christ died for you, but if it should happen that you should die here, you may be sure that it will be as if you had died on the way, provided, that is, Christ finds you in his company of knights. . . . Do not worry about the coming journey: remember that nothing is impossible for those who fear God, nor for those who truly love him. . . . Gird thy sword, each man of you, upon thy thigh, Oh thou most mighty. Gird yourselves, I say, and act like mighty sons, because it is better for you to die in battle than to tolerate the abuse of your race and your Holy Places.

  Louise and Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: Idea and Reality, 1095-1270

  Edward Arnold, London, 1981, pp. 37, 42-53, except the last section of extract ii,

  tr. Jonathan Phillips from: Guibert of Nogent, Dei gesta per Francos, ed.

  Robert Huygens, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Medievalis 127A,

  Brepols, Turnhout, 1996, p. 87.

  DOCUMENT 2 LETTERS OF POPE URBAN II, 1095-99

  Pope Urban wrote numerous letters to elicit support for the campaign in the East. Letters are an important source because, unlike many narratives, they are contemporary compositions by key players. Document (i) is significant because it is dated so soon after the Council of Clermont and is a statement in Urban’s own words of the purpose of the crusade. Document (ii) is useful in revealing the attraction of the crusade to those fighting in Spain and Urban’s willingness to offer the reward of martyrdom to those fighting the holy war in Iberia and his portrayal of the campaign there as of equal merit as the crusade to the Holy Land.

  (i) Urban to all the faithful in Flanders, December 1095

  We believe that you, brethren, learned long ago from many reports the deplorable news that the barbarians in their frenzy have invaded and ravaged the churches of God in the eastern regions. Worse still, they have seized the Holy City of Christ, embellished by his passion and resurrection, and — it is blasphemy to say it — they have sold her and her churches into abominable slavery.

  (ii) Urban to the counts of Besalu, Empurias, Roussillon and Cerdana and their knights, c. January 1096-29 July 1099

  If the knights of other provinces have decided with one mind to go to the aid of the Asian Church and to liberate their brothers from the tyranny of the Saracens, so ought you with one mind and with our encouragement to work with greater endurance to help a church so near you resist the invasions of the Saracens. No one must doubt that if he dies on this expedition for the love of God and his brothers his sins will surely be forgiven and he will gain a share of eternal life through the most compassionate mercy of our God. So if any of you has made up his mind to go to Asia, it is here instead that he should try to fulfil his vow, because it is no virtue to rescue Christians from the Saracens in one place, only to expose them to the tyranny and oppression of the Saracens in another.

  Louise and Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades:
Idea and Reality, 1095-1270, Edward Arnold, London, 1981, pp. 38, 40.

  DOCUMENT 3 CHARTERS FROM THE FIRST CRUSADE

  Charters have emerged as a vital form of contemporary evidence in revealing the motives, financial arrangements and other practical aspects of going on crusade. This material is discussed in more detail in the Introduction, but here are extracts from several charters to show such activities.

  (i) The brothers Bernard and Odo’s agreement with the abbey of Cluny shows an awareness of the dangers of the crusade and also reveals the precision with which items of property are listed. Note also the malediction clause (a curse) at the end on those who try to upset the arrangement. The charter dates from 1096.

  May it be known to all gathered in the bosom of the church of the holy mother, both at present and in future, that we, Bernard and Odo, brothers, for the remission of our sins, setting out with all the others on the journey to Jerusalem, have made over for 100 solidi to Artald, deacon of Lordon, a manor known as Busart, which we were holding in the county of Macon, in the village of Flagiaco, with everything that pertains to that manor, namely, the houses, the buildings, fields, woods, vines, meadows, pasture, streams and the water channels that flow around them and the cultivated and uncultivated land. We are making this arrangement on the condition that if, in the course of the pilgrimage that we are undertaking, because we are mortal and may be taken by death, the manor, in its entirety, may remain under the control of St Peter and the monastery of Cluny, which is under the reverend father Hugh. But if we may have returned and come back to the manor, we may keep it in our lifetime, but after our death this may forestall a claim by any of our heirs, and it will pass in its entirety, without objection, to St Peter and to Cluny, for our well being and that of all our relatives, living or deceased, and be the place of our burial. The boundaries of this manor are the public road and, on three sides, the land of St Peter [Cluny’s land]. If, however, another lays claim to this gift, not only is it protected from that which is sought, but may he suffer every curse [malediction] and perpetual excommunication from God and the holy apostles for his sins, unless he recovers his senses. Signed by Bernard and Odo who made this donation and gift; Humbert Ungri, Ili of Craia, his brother Hugh of Merule, who has a sister, and many others.

  Translated by Jonathan Phillips from: Recueil des chartes de l’abbaye de Cluny, eds Auguste Bernard and Alexandre Bruel, 6 vols, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1876-1903, vol. 5, pp. 51-2, 59.

  (ii) Charters might express a crusader’s motivation and might also reflect a general feeling across the wider society, as in this case.

  (a) Be it known to the faithful of Christ, now and in the future, that I, Achard of Montmerle, knight, of the castle that is called Montmerle, and son of William who is himself called of Montmerle; I, excited by the same intention as this great and enormous upheaval of the Christian people wanting to go to fight for God against the pagans and the Saracens; and, to enable this to take place, and desiring to go there armed, have made an agreement of this kind with lord Hugh, venerable abbot of Cluny and his monks. . . . [Details of the transaction follow.] Dated 12 April 1096.

  (b) We wish it be made known to those present and to those of future generations that Duke Odo of Burgundy, fired by divine zeal and love of Christianity, wishes to go to Jerusalem with all the others of the Christians, but before setting out, it should be clearly known that if, at the end of his journey, his strength does not enable him to return with the multitude, then after his death, whenever it is known, he has granted to God and St Mary the village of Marcenay, to be held in hereditary possession. Namely, the cultivated and uncultivated land and all the rights of justice over it, just as he held the same village during his life and just as his brother lord Hugh, then most invincible duke, and later a monk of Cluny, did; this is conceded to the church of Molesme, to be held freely by the brothers after his death and taken possession of for their use in perpetuity afterwards. [Details of the transaction follow, dated c. 1100.]

  Cartulaires de l’abbaye de Molesme, ed. Jacques Laurent, 2 vols, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1907-11, vol. 2, p. 18.

  (iii) Spiritual, as well as practical, preparations were needed before setting out on the crusade. In another charter, Duke Odo wished to make good for the wrongs that he had committed against the monastery of St Benigne at Dijon.

  I entered the chapter of St Benigne of Dijon and, with the monks sitting round the room and many members of their household standing by, I corrected the injuries which I had, until now, been accustomed to inflict. I recognized my fault and, having sought mercy, I asked that I should be absolved, and I promised amendment in future if I should happen to return. . . . [Dated c. 1101.]

  Chartes et documents de Saint-Benique de Dijon, eds Gerard Chevrier and Marcel Chaume, 2 vols, Dijon, 1943-86, vol. 2, p. 175.

  DOCUMENT 4 THE POGROMS AGAINST THE JEWS, 1096-97

  The bulk of this powerful account of the attacks on the Jews of the Rhineland was written in Mainz c. 1140, with some later additions by anonymous contributors. The author’s main concern was to display the glorious martyrdom of the Jewish communities and not the pain of forced conversions or the success of the First Crusade at Jerusalem. Much of the chronicle is borne out by Christian sources, although they differ in emphasis and minor details of fact compared to this text. This extract reveals the coming of the crusaders, their motivation and their attack on Worms in May 1096.

  The Chronicle of Solomon bar Simson:

  At this time arrogant people, a people of strange speech, a nation bitter and impetuous, Frenchmen and Germans, set out for the Holy City, which had been desecrated by barbaric nations, there to seek their house of idolatry and banish the Ismaelites and other denizens of the land and conquer the land for themselves. They decorated themselves prominently with their signs, placing a profane symbol — a horizontal line over a vertical one — on the vestments of every man and woman whose heart yearned to go on the stray path to the grave of their Messiah. Their ranks swelled until the number of men, women and children exceeded a locust horde covering the earth; of them it was said: ‘The locusts have no king.’ Now it came to pass that as they passed through the towns where Jews dwelled, they said to one another: ‘Look now, we are going a long way to seek out the profane shrine and to avenge ourselves on the Ismaelites, when here, in our very midst, are the Jews — they whose forefathers murdered and crucified him for no reason. Let us first avenge ourselves on them from among the nations so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered, or let them adopt our faith and acknowledge the offspring of promiscuity.’

  When the Jewish communities became aware of their intentions, they resorted to the custom of our ancestors, repentance, prayer and charity. . . .

  On the twenty-third day of Iyar they [the crusaders] attacked the community of Worms. The community was then divided into two groups; some remained in their homes and others fled to the local bishop seeking refuge. Those who remained in their homes were set upon by the steppe-wolves who pillaged men, women and infants, children and old people. They pulled down the stairways and destroyed the houses, looting and plundering; and they took the Torah Scroll, trampled it in the mud, and tore and burned it. The enemy devoured the children of Israel with open maw.

  The Jews and the Crusaders: The Hebrew Chronicles of the First and Second Crusades, tr. and ed. Shlomo Eidelberg, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, 1977, pp. 21-3.

  DOCUMENT 5 THE MUSLIM REACTION TO THE FIRST CRUSADE

  To modern-day westerners poetry is often the preserve of the classroom alone, hut in the medieval Islamic world it was a common method of political comment and the ability to compose high-quality verse was greatly valued. These texts show the anger felt by some at the inaction of the Sunni Muslim leadership when the First Crusade reached the Levant and the need to respond and fight back. Text (iii) by al-Sulami is important because of its early date and because of his overview of the wider Christian-Muslim conflict.

  (i) A
nonymous Muslim poet concerning the First Crusade, early twelfth century.

  The unbelief of the infidels has declared it lawful to inflict harm on Islam, causing prolonged lamentation for the faith.

  What is right is null and void and what is forbidden is [now] made licit.

  The sword is cutting and blood is spilt.

  How many Muslim men have become booty?

  And how many Muslim women’s inviolability has been plundered?

  How many a mosque have they made into a church!

  The cross has been set up in the mihrab.

  The blood of the pig is suitable for it.

  Qurans have been burned under the guise of incense.

  Do you not owe an obligation to God and Islam,

  Defending thereby young men and old?

  Respond to God: woe on you! Respond!

  (ii) Ibn al-Khayyat (died c. 1125). An ode to his patron, a commander of the city of Damascus, early twelfth century (extracts).

  The polytheists have swelled in a torrent of terrifying extent.

  How long will this continue?

  Armies like mountains, coming again and again, have raged forth from the land of the Franks . . .