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Memorials of the Holy Places and Blessings from the East: Devotion to Jerusalem before the Crusades1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre and the liturgy of the Resurrection appear to be the origin of everything.’ Carol Heitz was emphatic about the significance of the Jerusalem ideal in shaping the liturgy and architecture of the Carolingian period. The question of how far this interest in Jerusalem lies behind the origin of the crusades has for a long time been the subject of discussion among historians. Their productivity on the subject has inevitably been increased by the occurrence of the ninth centenary of the preaching of the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095. It is agreed by almost all that there was a devotion to Jerusalem in Western Europe in the preceding centuries, but there are profoundly different views about its effect on the decision of Urban II to proclaim the crusade and on the response to his preaching. This paper does not attempt to add to this voluminous debate. It is concerned rather to explore the reasons for the reverence for the Holy Land, the forms which it took, and the changes which took place from the Carolingian period to the beginning of the crusade movement.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Studies in Church History , Volume 36: The Holy Land, Holy Lands, and Christian History , 2000 , pp. 90 - 109
- Copyright
- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2000
Footnotes
1
I am glad to express my thanks to the Leverhulme Trust for the award of an Emeritus Fellowship, which funded research on the continent, including visits to a number of the sites discussed in this paper.
References
2 Heitz, C., Recherches sur les rapports entre architecture et liturgie à l’époque carolingienne (Paris, 1963), p. 246 Google Scholar.
3 Apart from the enormous quantity of earlier literature, there are important recent discussions about the impact of ‘Jerusalem’ spirituality upon the origins of the First Crusade by France, J., ‘The destruction of Jerusalem and the First Crusade’, JEH, 47 (1996), pp. 1–17 Google Scholar, and ‘Les origines de la première croisade: un nouvel examen’, in M. Balard, ed., Autour de la première croisade (Paris, 1996), pp. 43-56; and by H. E. J. Cowdrey, ‘Pope Urban II and the idea of crusade’, Studi Medievali, 3rd ser., 36 (1995), pp. 721-42, and The reform papacy and the origin of the Crusades’, Le Concile de Clermont de 1095; et l’appel à la croisade, Collection École Française de Rome, 236 (Rome, 1997), esp. pp. 68-71.
4 France, J., ed., Rodulfi Glabri Historiarum Libri Quinque (Oxford, 1989)Google Scholar [hereafter, Glaber], iv, 6, pp. 199-201.
5 For this reference to Abbot Isembard of Blois, and other examples of the acceptance of the Jerusalem pilgrimage as a normal convention of the time, see J. Ebersolt, Orient et Occident, 2 vols (Paris and Brussels, 1928), 1, ch. 8.
6 Vita Lietberti episcopi Cameracensis, in MGH, Scriptores, XXX/ii (Hanover, 1934), c.41, p. 858; also c.33, p. 855.
7 B. S. Bachrach, The pilgrimages of Fulk Nerra, Count of the Angevins’, in T. F. X. Noble and J. J. Contreni, eds, Religion, Culture and Society in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of Richard E. Sullivan (Kalamazoo, MI, 1987), pp. 205-17; Bull, M., Knightly Piety and the Lay Response to the First Crusade (Oxford, 1993)Google Scholar, ch. 5; and E. Joranson, The great German pilgrimage of 1064-5’, in L. J. Paetow, ed., The Crusades and Other Historical Essays Presented to D. C. Munro (New York, 1928), pp. 3-44.
8 Glaber, iii, 2 (p. 97). See the discussion of routes by F. Micheau, ‘Les itinéraires maritimes et continentaux des pèlerinages vers Jérusalem’, Occident et orient au Xe siècle: Actes du IXe congrès de la Société des Historiens Médiévistes (Paris, 1979), pp. 79-104.
9 There is an enormous literature on the architectural history of this subject. For a brief but valuable introduction, see Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P., The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem Qerusalem, [1995])Google Scholar.
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11 William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Regum Anglorum, ed. W. Stubbs, RS, 2 vols (London, 1889), 2, p. 423. He refers to the account of the Easter fire by Bernard the Monk in 870, but evidently did not know about Caliph al-Hakim.
12 France, ‘Destruction’, p. 17.
13 See the remarks of Landes, R., Relics, Apocalypse and the Deceits of History: Ademar of Chabannes, 989-1034 (London, 1995), pp. 304–5 Google Scholar.
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15 Notitiae fundationis monasterii Bosonis-villae, in MGH, Scriptores, XV/ii (Hanover, 1888), pp. 977-8. This notice of the foundation of Bouzonville was written much later, but there is earlier confirmatory material.
16 De invetttione et translatione sanguinis Dei, in MGH, Scriptores, XV/ii, pp. 921-2, and there is a near-contemporary mention in Herimanni Augiensis chronicon under year 1048, in MGH, Scriptores, V (Hanover, 1844), pp. 127-8. With one or two minor mistakes, the writer of the record shows himself well informed about the contemporary situation. For the earlier, and later, history of the Holy Blood at Mantua, see M. Heinlen, ‘An early image of a mass of St Gregory and devotion to the Holy Blood at Weingarten abbey’, Gesta, 37 (1998), pp. 55-62.
17 D. de Bruyne, ‘Le plus ancien catalogue des reliques d’Oviedo’, AnBoII, 45 (1927), pp. 93-6. The charter of Alfonso is edited by S. García Larragueta, Colección de Documentos de la Catedral de Oviedo (Oviedo, 1962), no. 72, p. 214; and the later narrative of the translation from Jerusalem is printed by C. Kohler, ‘Translation de reliques de Jérusalem à Oviedo, vii-ixe siècle’, ROL, 5 (1897), pp. 1-21. For Trier, see recent studies by E. Aretz et al., eds, Der Heilige Rock zu Trier: Studien zur Geschichte und Verehrung der Tunika Christi (Trier, 1996), although the authors disagree about the significance of the excavations. See also H. Heinen, Friihchrislliches Trier: von den Anfangen bis zur Völkerwandenmg (Trier, 1996), and R. Fuchs, ‘La tradition apostolique et impériale à Treves’, in R. Favreau, ed., Epigraphie et iconographie (Poitiers, 1996), pp. 57-74.
18 See the articles by Cowdrey in n.3 above, with a list of the Lateran relics in, idem, ‘Pope Urban II’, pp. 740-2. The history of the relics of the Cross in S. Croce in Gerusalemme, where the Cross was honoured in stational processions, is not clear, but in all probability there was an important collection there in the eleventh century.
19 On this whole subject, see Constable, G., Three Studies in Medieval and Religious and Social Thought (Cambridge, 1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, section II.
20 H. Schlunk, ‘The crosses of Oviedo’, Art Bulletin, 32 (1950), pp. 91-114; Cahn, W., Romanesque Bible Illumination (New York, 1982), no. 38, p. 65 Google Scholar. This tradition of triumphal crosses with pendants is explored by A. Reinle, ‘Das >A Karls des Grossen< im Kirchenschatz von Conques’, in A. Reinle et al., eds, Variorum Munera Fiorimi: Festschrift für Hans F. Haefele (Sigmaringen, 1985) [hereafter Fs Haefele], pp. 129-40.
21 A. Peroni, ‘Il crocefisso della badessa Raingarda a Pavia e il problema dell’arte ottomana in Italia’, Kolloquium über spätantike und frühmittelalterliche Skulptur, 2 (Heidelberg, 1970), pp. 75-109. On the Gero cross, see Haussherr, R., Der tote Christus am Kreuz: zur Ikonographie des Gerokreuzes (Bonn, 1963)Google Scholar; Mayr-Harting, H., Ottoman Book Illumination (London, 1991), pp. 133–8 Google Scholar; and, for the date, G. Binding, ‘Die Datierung des sogenannten Gero-Kruzifixes im Kölner Dom’, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 64 (1982), pp. 63-77.
22 Grimme, E. G., Goldschmiedekunst im Mittelalter (Cologne, 1972), pp. 41–2 Google Scholar and no. 16. For other evidence of Bernward’s devotion to the Cross, see H. Jakobs, ‘Anmerkung zur Urkunde Benedikts VIII für Bernward von Hildesheim und zu den Anfangen von St Michael’, Niedersächsischen Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte, 66 (1994), pp. 199-214.
23 Another development of the eleventh century was the appearance of visions of Christ weeping on the Cross. Such visions were obviously connected with the wider use of the crucifix, but should be seen as messages about contemporary affairs rather than acts of devotion to the suffering Christ: see Landes, Ademar of Chabannes, ch. 14.
24 A. Wilmart, ed., ‘La légende de Ste Edith en prose et en vers par le moine Goscelin’, AnBoll, 56 (1938), iv.16, vii.20 (pp. 79, 87). For further references, see Raw, B., Anglo-Saxon Crucifixion Iconography (Cambridge, 1990), esp. pp. 24, 31, 56–8 Google Scholar.
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27 J. Hubert, ‘Le St-Sépulcre de Neuvy et les pèlerinages de Terre-Sainte au Xle siècle’, Bulletin Monumental, 90 (1931), pp. 91-100.
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29 For the subject of copies of the Sepulchre in general, see Dalman, G., Das Grab Christi in Deutschland (Leipzig, 1922)Google Scholar; R. Krautheimer, ‘Introduction to an iconography of medieval architecture’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauid Institutes, 5 (1942), pp. 1-33; D. Neri, II S. Sepolcro riprodotto in Occidente 0erusalem, 1971); G. Bresc-Bautier, ‘Les imitations du St-Sépulcre de Jérusalem: archéologie d’une dévotion’, Revue d’histoire de la spiritualité, 50 (1974), pp. 319-42; and Untermann, Zentralbau. On parallel developments in Spain, see F. E. Bertrán, ‘Massifs occidentaux dans l’architecture romane catalane’, Les Cahiers de St-Michel de Cuxa, 27 (1996), pp. 57-77.
30 ‘Il est à présupposer qu’il y a différence entre le monument et le sépulcre, combien que par deczà l’on n’y en mette poinct, toutesfoiz ilz diffèrent en ceste manière.’ In Greffin’s terminology, monument was the Tomb of Christ itself, and sépulcre the whole chapel of the rotunda which contained it. See J. Chavanon, ed., Relation de Terre Sainte (1533-4) par Greffin Affagart (Paris, 1902), p. 71.
31 S. Piussi, ‘Il santo sepolcro di Aquileia’, Antichità alto-adriatiche, 12 (1977), pp. 511-59.
32 See in particular P. Jezler, ‘Gab es in Konstanz ein ottonisches Osterspiel? Die Mauritius-Rotunde und ihre kultische Funktion als Sepulchrum Domini’, in Fs Haefele, pp. 91-128. Conrad’s project is briefly described in Oudalscalchi Vita Chounradi Episcopi, c.6, in MGH, Scriptores, IV (Hanover, 1841), p. 432. On Bologna see C. Morris, ‘Bringing the Holy Sepulchre to the West: S. Stefano, Bologna, from the fifth to the twentieth century’, SCH, 3 3 (1997), pp. 31-59, and references there.
33 On Paderborn, H. J. Brandt, ‘Die Jerusalemkirche des Bischofs Meinwerk von 1036: zur Bedeutung des Heilig-Grab-Kultes im Mittelalter’, in his Die Buszdorfkirche in Paderborn, 1036-1986 (Paderborn, 1986), pp. 173-95. On Neuvy, see above; on St Hubert, Untermann, Zentralbau, p. 69. Villeneuve d’Aveyron, after 1053, apparently had a rotunda in imitation of the Church at Jerusalem: see Péquignot, ‘L’église de Villeneuve d’Aveyron’, pp. 147-53.
34 A. Heyman, The representation of the Holy Sepulchre in Auvergnat Romanesque sculpture’, in Balard, Première croisade, pp. 633-48.
35 Symons, T., ed., Regularis Concordia (Edinburgh, 1953), c.46, pp. 44–5 Google Scholar and c.51, pp. 49-50.
36 See especially Jezler, ‘Osterspiel’, p. 107.
37 Amalarius, Liber officials, I, xiv, 7-8, in J. M. Hanssens, ed., Opera liturgica omnia, 2, Studi e Testi, 139 (Vatican City, 1948), p. 101, citing Jerome, Ep. 108,9 (PL 22, col. 84). On this whole section, see Raw, Anglo-Saxon Crucifixion Iconography, p. 55. The early history of the improperia is obscure.
38 Amalarius was identified as a source for later developments by Hardison, O. B., Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages (Baltimore, MD, 1965)Google Scholar. The relationship is, however, less direct than he suggested: see the valuable analysis by Flanigan, C. C., ‘Medieval Latin music-drama’, in Simon, E., ed., The Theatre of Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 21–41 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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Ad perennis vitae fontem,
mens sitit nunc arida,
claustra carnis praesto frangi
clausa quaerit anima,
gliscit, ambit, eluctatur
exsul frui patria.
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45 Above, pp. 100-4.
46 Cited by Untermann, Zentralbau, p. 61.
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49 This paper was written before the publication of M. Biddle, The Tomb of Christ (Stroud, 1999), which includes important material on Western copies of the Sepulchre, as well as proposing a new date for the Byzantine restoration of Constantine’s church in the eleventh century.