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Propaganda for War the Dissemination of the Crusading Ideal in the Twelfth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Colin Morris
Colin Morris*
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
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Extract

It was accepted in western Europe, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that there was an obligation upon the military classes, and indeed on Christians generally, to take up arms in defence of the Holy Sepulchre, or to participate in other expeditions authorised by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. War ceased to be, for Christians, a regrettable necessity, and became a virtue, and armies were summoned by the trumpet-blasts of the Prince of Peace. There has been a great deal of work by historians in recent decades on the transformation of earlier Christian ideology, and we now understand much more about the origins of crusading ideas, the discussion of warfare by theologians and canon lawyers, and the profound changes in spirituality which accompanied the rise of militarism. There is however a technical aspect of the subject which is less often considered: the actual methods by which the new ideals were communicated to western society generally. By any standards, it was a remarkably successful exercise in publicity. It was also, in the first instance, very rapid. Urban II announced the expedition to Jerusalem at the Council of Clermont in November 1095, and he fixed the date of departure as 15 August 1096. The summons was heard by groups far wider than the princes and their households, and by Easter 1096 an army led by Peter the Hermit had already arrived in Cologne on its way from northern France. Within a few months, therefore, and well in advance of the papal deadline, the message had spread to all levels of society over a wide geographical area. A system of communication as effective as this deserves our respect and study. It would be a mistake to conclude from the total absence of modern technology that the control of opinion was unimportant in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 20: The Church and War , 1983 , pp. 79 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1983

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References

1 The best survey of the communication of ideas at the time is Benzinger, J., ‘Zum Wesen und zu den Formen von Kommunikationen und Publizistik im Mittelalter’. Publizistik 15 (1970) pp 295–318 Google Scholar. There are brief discussions of particular aspects by Haskins, C.H., ‘The spread of ideas in the Middle Ages’, Speculum 1 (1926) pp 19–30 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Duby, G., ‘The diffusion of cultural patterns in feudal society’, Past and Present 39 (1968) pp 3–10 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Morris, C., Medieval Media. Mass Communication in the Making of Europe (Southampton 1972).Google Scholar

2 Baudri, [Historia Jerosolimitana] prol. (RHC, Occ IV p 9, citing John iii. 8).

3 Robert [Historia lherosolimitana] i.3 (RHC, Occ III p 730, citing Wisdom of Sol i.7).

4 Similar themes appear on an altar-piece commissioned about 1150 by abbot Wibald of Stavelot, now in the Musée de Cluny at Paris; and in the mosaics of one of the great domes at S. Mark’s, Venice.

5 Baudri i. 4 (BHC, Occ IV p 15). So also the Fleury narrative (RHC, Occ V p 356).

6 Modern historians have discerned some signs of it in operation, which on investigation are not completely convincing. Thus Ordericus Vitális, in the account which he gives of the origins of the first crusade, reported the return of bishops from Clermont to Normandy, and the holding of a synod at Rouen to promulgate the decrees. His account of the synod, however, contains no mention of the crusade; Ecclesiastical History ix 3, ed M. Chibnall V (Oxford 1975) pp 18-25. Ekkehard of Aura commented that the eastern Franks, because of the schism, were slow to hear of the expedition, but that is not necessarily a specific comment about the absence of episcopal preaching; Hierosolymita 9 (RHC, Occ V pp 17-18).

7 Guibcrt [of Nogent, Gesta Dei per Francos] i.l.ii, 6 (RHC, Occ IV pp 124, 140). So Baudri i 6 (ibid p 16): ‘Praeiicabant episcopi, et voce liberiori jam illud idem vociferabantur bici . . .; alti alìos cohortabantur et in angulis et in compitis, inde singuli sermocinabantur

8 Robert i 5 (RHC, Occ III p 731).

9 Guibert ii 8 (RHC, Occ IV p 142).

10 Anna Comnena attributed the origin of the movement to Peter, and it is reasonable to suggest that this was what she heard from the crusaders themselves. The story that Peter was in possession of a heavenly letter was in circulation in Germany shortly after 1100; there are grounds for believing that the vision of Peter at Jerusalem was recorded in a ‘Lorraine chronicle’ composed shortly after 1099; and the earlier section of the chronicle of Albert of Aachen, which preserves the story, may have been written soon after the First Crusade. See the discussions by Hagenmeyer, [H.], Peter [Jer Eremite] (Leipzig 1879)Google Scholar and Knoch, P., Studien zu Albert von Aachen (Stuttgart 1966).Google Scholar

11 Baudri i 5, 8 (RHC, Occ IV pp 16-7).

12 Guibert ii 7 (RHC, Occ IV p 142), where the control by the authorities is stressed more than in Baudri. We hear of the gift of cross-badge and ring by the abbot of Cluny in a charter of 15 June 1100; Bernard, A. and Bruel, A., Recueil Jes chartes...Je Cluny (Paris 1876-)v p 89 Google Scholar. It has been suggested that the issue о crosses was a mechanism to prevent unwanted elements from enrolling: Mayer, H.E., The Crusades (Oxford 1972) p 42,Google Scholar but contemporary descriptions emphasise its spontaneous character. For the whole subject, see de Mély, F., ‘La croix des premiers croisés,’ supplement to Riant, P., Exuviae Sacrae Constantinopolitanae (Geneva 1904).Google Scholar

13 Baudri i. 8 (RHC, Occ IV p 17): ‘Nee tantummoJo populares citramontanos homines is rumor excivit, seJ palatinos cónsules et regios tyrannos civit.’

14 Robert ii. 4 (RHC, Occ III p 741).

15 We are also told that at Angers the pope authorised the preaching mission of Robert of Arbrissel, but it is not clear whether he was commissioned to preach the crusade. Conversely, it is unlikely that German preachers such as Gottschalk and Volkmar received any papal authorisation.

16 Guibert ii. 8 (RHC, Occ IV p 142): ‘urbes et municipia praedicationis obtentu circumire vidimus.’ Peter’s concern for prostitutes is further evidence of a city-based ministry. That is not to say that his recruits were mainly from the urban poor. There is some divergence in the sources about the social origins of his followers. Cf Hagenmeyer, Peter pp 108-28.

17 Contemporaries agreed on his sharp intelligence; Hagenmeyer, be. cit.. It is another matter whether he had ever studied or taught in a cathedral school, but it is interesting that the crowd was said to obey him ‘ac si magistro’: Guibert, loc. cit.

18 James, M.R., Catalogue of Manuscripts of Aberdeen (Cambridge 1932) p 36.Google Scholar

19 See Robinson, I.S., ‘The Friendship Network of Gregory VII,’ History 63 (1978) pp 1–22 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and, more generally, his excellent book Authority and Resistance in the Investiture Contest (Manchester 1978).

20 Text in j. Leclercq, [’L’encyclique de Bernard S. en faveur de la croisade’] RB 81 (1971) pp 299-300.Google Scholar

21 Baudri i. 3 (RHC, Oce IV p 12): ’Publicae praedicationis causa papa Romanus, Urbánus nomine, venit in Gallias, et prout erat disertus seminiverbius, verbum Dei passim seminaba’.

22 Hill, R., Cesia Francomm (Oxford 1979) p 74 Google Scholar. A very different view was expressed by Saint Andrew in a vision: ‘cur negliga episcopus predicare et commonere et cum cruce ąuam prefer! cotidie siınare popuìumì’. Q. H., and Hill, L.L., Le<Liber> de] Raymond [d’Aıuilers (Paris 1969)] p 69 Google Scholar.

23 Raymond pp 144-5.

24 The text, which appears incomplete, is printed in H. Pflaum, ‘A strange crusader’s song’ Speculum 10 (1935) pp 337-9.

25 The earliest four of these may conveniently be consulted in translation in L. and Riley-Smith, J., [The Crusades, Idea and Reality (London 1981)] pp 40–53 Google Scholar. The surviving sermons are surveyed in R. Röhricht, ‘Kreuzpredigten gegen den Islam’, ZKG 6 (1884) pp 550-72, an old article which is still of value.

26 The case for treating this composition as ‘un modèle de style oral’ is stated by Leclercq, J., [’Pour l’histoire de l’encyclique de saint Bernard sur la croisade’, Études de Civilisation médiéval. Mélanges offerts à E-R] Lahande (Poitiers n.d.) pp 479-90Google Scholar. The versions of the text are discussed by Leclercq, J., RB 81 (1971) pp 282-308Google Scholar.

27 For the texts, see Chroust, [A.] [ed, Quellen zur Geschichte des Kreuzzuges Kaiser Friedrichs I, MGH SRC ns 5 (Berlin 1928)] pp 123-4Google Scholar; and Günther of Pairis [in Riant, P., Exuviae Sacrae Conslantinopolitanae I (Geneva 1877)] pp 61-4Google Scholar, of which there is a translation in L. and J. Riley-Smith, pp 69-71.

28 ‘De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi’ [in Stubbs, W., Itinerarium Peregrinorum, RS 38 (London 1864)] pp cxlii-clxxxii Google Scholar; tr. by C.W. David (New York 1933). See the discussion in E.- Hehl, D., Kirche und Krieg im 12 Jahrhundert (Stuttgart 1980) pp 137-40, 259-61Google Scholar. In addition, there is a sermon preached at Jerusalem in the early twelfth century printed by Kohler, C., ‘Un sermon commémoratíf de la prise de Jérusalem par les croisés, attribué à Foucher de Chartres’, Revue de l’Orient Latin 8 (1900/1) pp 158-64.Google Scholar

29 Röhricht, [R.], ‘Ordinano [de Predicatione S. Crucis in Anglia’, in his Quinti Belli Sacri Scriptores Minores (Société de l’Orient Latin 1879 Google Scholar)]. I am grateful to Dr E.O. Blake for drawing my attention to the particular interest of the so-called ‘Ordinatio’.

30 Wolfram, G., [’Kreuzpredigt und Kreuzlied’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum n.f. 18 (1886)] pp 89-132Google Scholar. The Standard work on the encyclicals is Schwerin, U., Die Aufrufe der Päpste zur Befreiung des Heiligen Landes (Berlin 1937)Google Scholar.

31 Thus Alexander III in 1181: ‘Hueras ... universis faciatis ecclesiis publice legi, et exponatis earum tenorem’, PL 200, 1297 A; [Waitz, G. ed, Ottonis et Rahewini] Gesta Friderici [I Imperatoris, MGH SRC (Hanover 1912)] i.42 p 60 Google Scholar.

32 The differences are examined by Leclerq, J., Labande pp 479-90, and Constable, G., ‘The second crusade as seen by contemporaries’, Traditio 9 (1953) pp 247 Google Scholar seq. There is no way in the twelfth century of validating the statement that ‘ein vergleich der überlieferten stücke mit den kreuzzugsbullen ergibt dass die prediger im wesentlichen mit denselben argumenten und in derselber form zu wirken suchen.’ (Wolfram pp 89-90). The comparison might arguably be more valid for the thirteenth century, when the control of preachers was tighter, and their briefing more thorough.

33 Berry, V.G. ed and tr, Odo of Deuil: De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem (Columbia 1948) pp 6-7 Google Scholar; Gesta Friderici i. 42 p 60.

34 Günther p 61, cf Gesta Friderici, loc, cit.: ‘cunctis qui aderant, ex priori rumore excitatis’.

35 Similarly at the sermon of the bishop of Oporto the Lisbon crusaders, being too numerous to get into the cathedral, assembled in the coemiterium episcopii. Robert i. 1 (RHC, Occ III p 727); Odo pp 8-9; De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi p cxlvii. The open-air sermon at Clermont, in late November, should be regarded with some suspicion, since it is doubtful whether there really was a large lay attendance there.

36 Gesta Friderici, loc. cit.: ‘missarum ex more sollempnia celebrans’; De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi, p. clii: ‘completo sermone, post expletionem missae’; Röhricht, ‘Ordinano’ p 10.

37 De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi p clxxv.

38 Gerald of Wales, Itinerarium Cambriani. 5, ed Dimock, J.F., G’iralli Cambrensis Opera VI, RS 21 (London 1868) p 55 Google Scholar. Sometimes a team of interpreters might be needed, as when the bishop of Oporto preached to the Anglo-Flemish crusade: ‘episcopus sermonem coram omnibus lingua Latina habuit, ut per interpretes cujusque linguae sermo ejus omnibus manifestaretur’ De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi, p cxlvii.

39 Röhricht, ‘Ordinatio’ pp 24-5.

40 Chroust p 123.

41 Günther p 63.

42 Robert i. 1 (ЌFC, Oce lil p 728).

43 See the short but stimulating essay by Wentzlaff-Eggebert, F.-W., ‘Devono in der Kreuzzugspredigt des Mittelalters’, Festgabe für Kurt Wagner (Giessen 1960) 26–33.Google Scholar

44 The best collections are those by Bédier, J. and Aubry, P., Les chansons de croisade avec leurs mélodies (Paris 1909)Google Scholar and [U.] Müller, [Kreuzzugsdichtung (Tübingen 1969)], which consists mainly, but not exclusively, of German materials. Overwhelmingly the greatest part of the modern discussion of crusading lyrics is by German scholars, especially Wentzlaff-Eggebert, F.W., Kreuzzugsdichtung des MitteL•lters (Berlin 1960)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Spreckelmeyer, [G.], [Das Kreuzzugslied des lateinischen Mittelalters (Munich 1974)]Google Scholar; Schöber, [S.], [Die altfranzösische Kreuzzugslyrih des 12 Jahrhunderts, Dissertationen der Universität Saltzburg 7 (Vienna 1976)]Google Scholar and Hölzle, [P.], [Die Kreuzzüge in der okzitanischen and deutschen Lyrik des 12 Jahrhunderts (Göppingen 1980)]Google Scholar. The brief discussion in the text of this paper is indebted to all these works, and most notably to Schöber. In English there is a recent article by Crocker, R.L., ‘Early Crusade Songs’, in Murphy, T.P., Holy War (Ohio 1976) pp 78–98.Google Scholar Hughes, A., ‘La musique populaire médiévale, une question de tout ou rien’, La Culture populaire au Moyen- Age (Montreal 1979) pp 103–20 Google Scholar, does not deal with crusading songs, but has some important comments on the extent to which music was popularised.

45 Raymond p 57.

46 Landulf, Historia Mediolanensis c.4. (MGH SS XX) p 22.

47 Chromam S. Andreae iii 21 (MCH SS VII p 545). The precise meaning is not clear. It is fair to assume that the cantica are chansons de geste of the type of the Song of Antioch, but what were the carminai? The most likely explanation is that they were hymns and canticles for liturgical use, of which one or two, designed to celebrate the festival at the capture of the city of Jerusalem, survive. There is not much indication that any crusade produced lyrics, whether in the vernacular or Latin, which briefly recounted the past events; but for a different view see Schöber p 55.

48 Müller no. 7. The reference is to Ps.xl.3 (English style).

49 MCH lib; III p 431.

50 Müller no.8.

51 It is however probable that songs such as the one in the text were sung by a clerk or cantor, with the pilgrims joining in the Kyrie at the end. On this see Mettin, W., ‘Die ältesten deutschen Pilgerlieder’, Philologische Studien. Sievers, Festgabe E. (Halle 1896) pp 277–86.Google Scholar

52 Huon d’Oisi, Maugré tous sainz, Müller no 21, stanza III; discussed in Schöber pp 148-68.

53 The full text is in Schöber pp 72-5, and is discussed in detail there and by Gelzer, H., ‘Zum altfranzösischen Kreuzzugslied Chevalier, mull estes guariz ’, Zeilschrift für Romanische Philologie 48 (1928) pp 438-48Google Scholar. There is a recording of this song, and those quoted subsequently (although not with precisely the same text and interpretation as I have adopted) by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London, Music of the Crusades, Argo Stereo ZRG 673.

54 Fides cum Ydolatria, Müller no 9, stanza XII; discussed in Spreckelmeyer pp 119-31, and Hilka, A. and Schumann, O., Carmina Burana (Heidelberg 1930) ii pp 93–9.Google Scholar

55 Müller no.20; discussed in Schöber pp 106-26.

56 Full text and discussion in Schöber pp 173-84.