The Crusades: Part 4

A Calling from God

“… the Crusades were only acts of faith. To cause the law of God to triumph… these brave men quitted their homes to undergo hunger and privation in a far-distant land, to die miserable, alone, with their expiring eyes turned towards Jerusalem, calling on the name of Jesus. These men believed in God, and died for him, hoping for a humble place among the saints and angels.”

Léon Gautier, Chivalry: The Everyday Life of the Medieval Knight

Continuing on the motivators of the previous articles, Crusaders generally did not see themselves as aggressors. Instead, they acted on behalf of defenseless pilgrims, the Eastern Church, and others suffering from injustices. They self-sacrificingly gave up their own comforts, lands, wealth, and so on to travel long distances to protect and help those in need.

Pope Urban II and other Crusader preachers focused on the biblical passage that read, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Urban said “we ought to endure much suffering for the name of Christ – misery, poverty, nakedness, persecution, want, illness, hunger, thirst, and other (ills) of this kind.”^[1] They made it clear that money and power were not what would result; instead, they wanted devout believers, and the leaders recruiting volunteers were transparent about the journey’s dangers. Urban reported to his audience that pilgrims and native Eastern Christians were gruesomely tortured, robbed, and sold into slavery. Churches were being destroyed, altars, holy places and relics desecrated. Urban told them it would not be an easy journey and that they would face significant discomfort. It was clearly a sacrifice to take the cross.^[2]

Those who chose to take vows expected death as the most likely outcome.^[3] Urban referred to it as a “holy pilgrimage” that required participants to be martyrdom.^[4] Urban did not promise victory; instead, he spoke of death, saying, “If you are conquered, you will have the glory of dying in the very same place as Jesus Christ.”^[5]

The Crusaders had to travel great distances at significant cost, risking their lives and enduring sickness, hunger, and the dangers of combat to regain control of the Holy Land and help their persecuted brothers. Pope Eugene referred to crusading as a “work and labor.”^[6] Very few survived the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Many died before reaching the Holy Land, and the risk was known. Fulcher of Chartres gives an account of a departure and is worth quoting at length:

“Oh, how great was the grief, how deep the sighs, what weeping, what lamentations among the friends, when the husband left the wife so dear to him, his children also, and all his possessions of any kind, father, mother, brethren, or kindred! And yet in spite of the floods of tears which those who remained shed for their friends about to depart, and in their very presence, the latter did not suffer their courage to fail, and, out of love for the Lord, in no way hesitated to leave all that they held most precious, believing without doubt that they would gain an hundred-fold in receiving the recompense which God has promised to those who love Him. Then the husband confided to his wife the time of his return and assured her that, if he lived, by God’s grace he would return to her. He commended her to the Lord, gave her a kiss, and, weeping, promised to return. But the latter, who feared that she would never see him again, overcome with grief, was unable to stand, fell as if lifeless to the ground, and wept over her dear one whom she was losing in life, as if he were already dead.”^[7]

In 1187, Pope Gregory VIII underscored that nothing, including loss of life or money, should hinder the efforts to liberate Christians under persecution.^[8] He praised the Maccabees, who were on fire with zeal for the divine law, for risking their lives to save their brothers. Nothing should prevent help from being sent. Knowing they would likely perish, Baldric of Bourgueil wrote, “It is better for you to die in battle than to tolerate the abuse of your race and your holy places. Do not let the seductive lures of your women and possessions persuade you not to go.”^[9] They were willing to endure suffering and death for the sake of others who were oppressed.

Matthew Flannagan and Paul Copan wrote, “The biblical texts cited to justify participation in the Crusades were predominantly the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament – references of love, humility, self-sacrifice for the good of one’s neighbor, and so on. The Crusades were understood as an act of humble, loving service in which people risked their lives to liberate Eastern Christians from the threat of Muslim invasion of Christianized lands as well as Muslim attacks and actions of humiliation against Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land.”^[10]

Medieval historian Thomas Madden described the act of crusading, as understood by those who took the cross, as an act of mercy to correct the evil done to their Eastern Christian neighbors. They believed that they were acting out of love. He quotes Pope Innocent III, who wrote to the Knights Templar, “You carry out in deeds the words of the Gospel, ‘Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends.'”^[11]

Bible passages, such as Abraham’s call in Genesis 12, were also used to support the Crusades. Preachers used these to portray the difficulty and danger of extended travel, the economic uncertainties and distance from family, as well as other examples of Biblical characters who were willing to take risks and suffer for their faith, even to the point of death. Another often-used example concerns the Maccabees, who restored and liberated captured holy sites from oppressive forces. Around 1100, Gilbert of Nogent wrote, “if the Maccabees in the days of old were renowned for their piety because they fought for the sacred rituals and the temple, then you too, Christian soldiers, may justly defend the freedom of the fatherland by the exercise of arms.”^[12] Numbers 21 and 24 were also commonly used to justify defensive war after the expansion of Islam.^[13]

The Crusade preachers often used love and sacrifice to inspire the faithful, citing the gospels as motivation.^[14] Many Crusaders took the vows and the opportunity for spiritual reflection, devotion, and sacrifice. They were inspired by verses such as Luke 9:23 and Matthew 16:24, where Jesus urged his followers to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. This is why Crusaders wore the cross on their clothes and carried crosses and banners – to symbolize the importance of self-denial and carrying one’s burden.

Personal Devotion to God

The First Crusade was referred to as “the pilgrimage for Christ” by William of Tyre, a 12th-century Archbishop and historian of the Latin States.^[15] Before embarking on their journey, Crusaders frequently underwent religious purification and dedicated themselves to their faith. The oath to take the cross was an oath to God. Public displays of faith, such as fasting, almsgiving, confession, and repentance, were standard in the pilgrims’ experience and so it was with both the leaders, and rank and file Crusaders.^[16] Scholar Jonathan Riley-Smith referred to the Crusades as “penitential war -pilgrimages” where participants “considered themselves to be performing an act of penance.”^[17] He observed, “The Crusaders regarded themselves as pilgrims, and while on Crusade, they engaged in characteristic devotional and liturgical exercises.”^[18]

The Fourth Lateran Council declared that clergy who went on a Crusade must be committed to spiritual warfare, fasting and prayer, and keeping Crusaders from stumbling into sin while being quick to repent. The goal was to form a holy army that “feared God.”

Professor Thomas Madden wrote, “most noblemen who joined the Crusade did so from a simple and sincere love of God.”^[19] Historian Dorsey Armstrong said “In the majority of circumstances, a heartfelt religious devotion seems to be the underlying motivation.”^[20] Scholar Thomas Asbridge wrote “Documentary evidence predating the conquest of Jerusalem, such as letters and charters, nonetheless confirms that most Crusaders were primarily inspired to set out for the Holy Land by personal Christian devotion…The evidence for the aristocratic response to the Crusade message, strongly suggests that spiritual concerns dominated the minds of Latin nobility as they took the cross.”^[21] The participants wrote about their devotion to God and their willingness to make sacrifices as their reason for crusading.

James of Vitry wrote “what greater almsgiving can there be than offering oneself and one’s belonging to God and risking one’s life to Christ, leaving behind one’s wife, children, relations and birthplace for the service of Christ, exposing oneself to dangers on land, dangers at sea, dangers from thieves, dangers from plunderers, the danger of battle for the love of the crucified.”^[22] Eudes of Châteauroux said “it is a sign that man loves God, when he casts aside the world. It is a sure sign that he burns with love for God and with zeal when for God’s sake he leaves his fatherland, possessions, houses, sons and wife to go across the sea in service of Jesus Christ.”^[23] Odo of Burgundy went as “a penance for my sins…. since divine mercy inspired me that owing to the enormity of my sins I should go to the sepulcher of our savior, in order that this offering of my devotion might be more acceptable in the sight of God.”^[24] Eudes of Châteauroux wrote “those who take the cross deny, that is to say renounce, themselves by exposing themselves to mortal danger, leaving behind their loved ones , using their goods, carrying their cross, so that afterwards, they may be carried to heaven by the cross.”^[25] Urban II at Clermont stated “it ought to be a beautiful ideal for you to die for Christ in that city where Christ died for you.” Crusader knight Ingelbald said “considering that God has spared me, steeped in many and great sins, and has given me time for penance, and fearing that the weight of my sins will deprive me of a share in the heavenly kingdom, I Ingelbald, wish to seek that sepulcher from which our redemption, having overcome death, wished to rise”.^[26]  Another Crusader was “sustained by faith and determination, by the driving religious enthusiasm which was the motor of the Crusade”.^[27]The pilgrims left their families, homes, lands, wives, and children, Otto of St. Blasien tells us, “for the name of Christ and to take the cross and follow him across the sea.”^[28]

Abbot Ekkehard of Aura, who chronicled his journey with the Crusaders to the Holy Land, observed that those who refused to support the Crusades did so because they loved the worldly pleasures that this world had to offer. In contrast, he and others who sacrificed to travel with the Crusaders did so for the sake of the blessed Shepherd. They left behind their wives and children, their principalities and riches, and put their lives at risk. While they were on a Crusade, Christ was their only king.^[29]

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^[1] (“Urban II’s Speech”)

^[2] (“Urban II’s Speech”)

^[3] (Asbridge 2005 69, 89)

^[4] (Asbridge 2005 66)

^[5] (“Urban II’s Speech”)

^[6] Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University Doeberl, Monumenta Germania Selecta, Vol 4, p. 40, trans in Ernest F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (London: George Bell and Sons, 1910), pp. 333-336.

^[7] (OGG, A.M 1907, 291)

^[8] (Thomas et al. 30)

^[9] (Thomas et al. 29-30)

^[10] (Copan and Flannagan)

^[11] (Madden 2011)

^[12] (Thomas et al. 29)

^[13] (Thomas et al.)

^[14] (Thomas et al. 28)(Asbridge 2005 70)(Weidenkopf 2014 44)

^[15] (Barber 141)

^[16] (Weidenkopf 2014 189)

^[17] (Riley-Smith 13-14)

^[18] (Riley-Smith 35)

^[19] (Madden 2005 13)

^[20] (Armstrong, n.d. Piety, Politics, and Persecution)

^[21] (Asbridge)

^[22] (Weidenkopf 2014 46)

^[23] (Weidenkopf 2014 47)

^[24] (Weidenkopf 2014 47)

^[25] (Weidenkopf 2014 46

^[26] (Weidenkopf 2014 47)

^[27] (Weidenkopf 2014 69)

^[28] (Otto of St. Blasien)

^[29] (Ekkehard of Aura)