A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 34

[387] In the battle on the Unstrutt, June 8, 1075.

[388] Julian succeeded Constantine's son Constantius as head of the Roman Empire in 361. He was known as "the Apostate" because of his efforts to displace the Christian religion and to restore the old pagan wors.h.i.+p. He died in battle with the Persians in 363.

[389] Henry III., emperor from 1039 to 1056.

[390] The castle of Canossa stood on one of the northern spurs of the Apennines, about ten miles southwest of Reggio. Some remains of it may yet be seen.

[391] The German princes who were hostile to Henry had kept in close touch with the Pope. In the Council of Tribur a legate of Gregory took the most prominent part, and the members of that body had invited the Pope to come to Augsburg and aid in the settling of Henry's crown upon a successor.

[392] Revoked the ban of excommunication. The anathema was a solemn curse by an ecclesiastical authority.

[393] That is, the Emperor was to be allowed to invest the new bishop or abbot with the fiefs and secular powers by a touch of the scepter, but his old claim to the right of investment with the spiritual emblems of ring and crozier was denied.

[394] This means that the ecclesiastical prince--the bishop or abbot--in the capacity of a landholder was to render the ordinary feudal obligations to the Emperor.

[395] Burgundy and Italy.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CRUSADES

51. Speech of Pope Urban II. at the Council of Clermont (1095)

Within a short time after the death of Mohammed (632) the whole country of Syria, including Palestine, was overrun by the Arabs, and the Holy City of Jerusalem pa.s.sed out of Christian hands into the control of the infidels. The Arabs, however, shared the veneration of the Christians for the places a.s.sociated with the life of Christ and did not greatly interfere with the pilgrims who flocked thither from all parts of the Christian world. In the tenth century the strong emperors of the Macedonian dynasty at Constantinople succeeded in winning back all of Syria except the extreme south, and the prospect seemed fair for the permanent possession by a Christian power of all those portions of the Holy Land which were regarded as having a.s.sociations peculiarly sacred. This prospect might have been realized but for the invasions and conquests of the Seljuk Turks in the latter part of the eleventh century. These Turks came from central Asia and are to be carefully distinguished from the Ottoman Turks of more modern times. They had recently been converted to Mohammedanism and were now the fiercest and most formidable champions of that faith in its conflict with the Christian East. In 1071 Emperor Roma.n.u.s Diogenes was defeated at Manzikert, in Armenia, and taken prisoner by the sultan Alp Arslan, and as a result not only Asia Minor, but also Syria, was forever lost to the Empire. The Holy City of Jerusalem was definitely occupied in 1076. The invaders established a stronghold at Nicaea, less than a hundred miles across the Sea of Marmora from Constantinople, and even threatened the capital itself, although they did not finally succeed in taking it until 1453.

No sooner were the Turks in possession of Jerusalem and the approaches thither, than pilgrims returning to western Europe began to tell tales, not infrequently as true as they were terrifying, regarding insults and tortures suffered at the hand of the pitiless conquerors.

The Emperor Alexius Comnenus (1081-1118) put forth every effort to expel the intruders from Asia Minor, hoping to be able to regain the territories, including Syria, which they had stripped from the Empire; but his strength proved unequal to the task. Accordingly, in 1095, he sent an appeal to Pope Urban II. to enlist the Christian world in a united effort to save both the Empire and the Eastern Church. It used to be thought that Pope Sylvester II., about the year 1000, had suggested a crusade against the Mohammedans of the East, but it now appears that the first pope to advance such an idea was Gregory VII.

(1073-1085), who in response to an appeal of Alexius's predecessor in 1074, had actually a.s.sembled an army of 50,000 men for the aid of the Emperor and had been prevented from carrying out the project only by the severity of the invest.i.ture controversy with Henry IV. of Germany.

At any rate, it was not a difficult task for the amba.s.sadors of Alexius to convince Pope Urban that he ought to execute the plan of Gregory. The plea for aid was made at the Council of Piacenza in March, 1095, and during the next few months Urban thought out the best method of procedure.

At the Council of Clermont, held in November, 1095, the crusade was formally proclaimed through the famous speech which the Pope himself delivered after the regular business of the a.s.sembly had been transacted. Urban was a Frenchman and he knew how to appeal to the emotions and sympathies of his hearers. For the purpose of stirring up interest in the enterprise he dropped the Latin in which the work of the Council had been transacted and broke forth in his native tongue, much to the delight of his countrymen. There are four early versions of the speech, differing widely in contents, and none, of course, reproducing the exact words used by the speaker. The version given by Robert the Monk, a resident of Rheims, in the opening chapter of his history of the first crusade seems in most respects superior to the others. It was written nearly a quarter of a century after the Council of Clermont, but the writer in all probability had at least heard the speech which he was trying to reproduce; in any event we may take his version of it as a very satisfactory representation of the aspirations and spirit which impelled the first crusaders to their great enterprise. It has been well said that "many orations have been delivered with as much eloquence, and in as fiery words as the Pope used, but no other oration has ever been able to boast of as wonderful results."

Source--Robertus Monachus, _Historia Iherosolimitana_ [Robert the Monk, "History of the Crusade to Jerusalem"], Bk. I., Chap. 1. Reprinted in _Recueildes Historiens des Croisades: Historiens Occidentaux_ (Paris, 1866), Vol. III., pp. 727-728.

Adapted from translation by Dana C. Munro in _Univ. of Pa.

Translations and Reprints_, Vol. I., No. 2, pp. 5-8.

[Sidenote: The Council of Clermont]

In the year of our Lord's Incarnation one thousand and ninety-five, a great council was convened within the bounds of Gaul, in Auvergne, in the city which is called Clermont. Over this Pope Urban II. presided, with the Roman bishops and cardinals. This council was a famous one on account of the concourse of both French and German bishops, and of princes as well. Having arranged the matters relating to the Church, the lord Pope went forth into a certain s.p.a.cious plain, for no building was large enough to hold all the people. The Pope then, with sweet and persuasive eloquence, addressed those present in words something like the following, saying:

[Sidenote: Pope Urban appeals to the French]

"Oh, race of Franks, race beyond the mountains [the Alps], race beloved and chosen by G.o.d (as is clear from many of your works), set apart from all other nations by the situation of your country, as well as by your Catholic faith and the honor you render to the holy Church: to you our discourse is addressed, and for you our exhortations are intended. We wish you to know what a serious matter has led us to your country, for it is the imminent peril threatening you and all the faithful that has brought us. .h.i.ther.

[Sidenote: The ravages of the Turks]

"From the confines of Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople a grievous report has gone forth and has been brought repeatedly to our ears; namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race wholly alienated from G.o.d, 'a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with G.o.d' [Ps., lxxviii. 8], has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by pillage and fire. They have led away a part of the captives into their own country, and a part they have killed by cruel tortures. They have either destroyed the churches of G.o.d or appropriated them for the rites of their own religion. They destroy the altars, after having defiled them with their uncleanness.... The kingdom of the Greeks [the Eastern Empire] is now dismembered by them and has been deprived of territory so vast in extent that it could not be traversed in two months' time.

[Sidenote: Urban recalls the zeal and valor of the earlier Franks]

"On whom, therefore, rests the labor of avenging these wrongs and of recovering this territory, if not upon you--you, upon whom, above all other nations, G.o.d has conferred remarkable glory in arms, great courage, bodily activity, and strength to humble the heads of those who resist you? Let the deeds of your ancestors encourage you and incite your minds to manly achievements--the glory and greatness of King Charlemagne, and of his son Louis [the Pious], and of your other monarchs, who have destroyed the kingdoms of the Turks[396] and have extended the sway of the holy Church over lands previously pagan. Let the holy sepulcher of our Lord and Saviour, which is possessed by the unclean nations, especially arouse you, and the holy places which are now treated with ignominy and irreverently polluted with the filth of the unclean. Oh most valiant soldiers and descendants of invincible ancestors, do not degenerate, but recall the valor of your ancestors.

[Sidenote: The crusade as a desirable remedy for over population]

"But if you are hindered by love of children, parents, or wife, remember what the Lord says in the Gospel, 'He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me' [Matt., x. 37]. 'Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life'

[Matt., xix. 29]. Let none of your possessions restrain you, nor anxiety for your family affairs. For this land which you inhabit, shut in on all sides by the seas and surrounded by the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large population; nor does it abound in wealth; and it furnishes scarcely food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder and devour one another, that you wage war, and that very many among you perish in civil strife.[397]

[Sidenote: Syria, a rich country]

"Let hatred, therefore, depart from among you; let your quarrels end; let wars cease; and let all dissensions and controversies slumber. Enter upon the road of the Holy Sepulcher; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves. That land which, as the Scripture says, 'floweth with milk and honey' [Num., xiii. 27] was given by G.o.d into the power of the children of Israel. Jerusalem is the center of the earth; the land is fruitful above all others, like another paradise of delights. This spot the Redeemer of mankind has made ill.u.s.trious by His advent, has beautified by His sojourn, has consecrated by His pa.s.sion, has redeemed by His death, has glorified by His burial.

"This royal city, however, situated at the center of the earth, is now held captive by the enemies of Christ and is subjected, by those who do not know G.o.d, to the wors.h.i.+p of the heathen. She seeks, therefore, and desires to be liberated, and ceases not to implore you to come to her aid. From you especially she asks succor, because, as we have already said, G.o.d has conferred upon you, above all other nations, great glory in arms. Accordingly, undertake this journey eagerly for the remission of your sins, with the a.s.surance of the reward of imperishable glory in the kingdom of heaven."

[Sidenote: Response to the appeal]

When Pope Urban had skilfully said these and very many similar things, he so centered in one purpose the desires of all who were present that all cried out, "It is the will of G.o.d! It is the will of G.o.d!" When the venerable Roman pontiff heard that, with eyes uplifted to heaven, he gave thanks to G.o.d and, commanding silence with his hand, said:

[Sidenote: "Deus vult," the war cry]

"Most beloved brethren, to-day is manifest in you what the Lord says in the Gospel, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them' [Matt., xviii. 20]. For unless G.o.d had been present in your spirits, all of you would not have uttered the same cry; since, although the cry issued from numerous mouths, yet the origin of the cry was one. Therefore I say to you that G.o.d, who implanted this in your b.r.e.a.s.t.s, has drawn it forth from you. Let that, then, be your war cry in battle, because it is given to you by G.o.d. When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of G.o.d: 'It is the will of G.o.d! It is the will of G.o.d!'

[Sidenote: Who should go and who should remain]

"And we neither command nor advise that the old or feeble, or those incapable of bearing arms, undertake this journey. Nor ought women to set out at all without their husbands, or brothers, or legal guardians. For such are more of a hindrance than aid, more of a burden than an advantage. Let the rich aid the needy; and according to their wealth let them take with them experienced soldiers. The priests and other clerks [clergy], whether secular or regular, are not to go without the consent of their bishop; for this journey would profit them nothing if they went without permission. Also, it is not fitting that laymen should enter upon the pilgrimage without the blessing of their priests.

"Whoever, therefore, shall decide upon this holy pilgrimage, and shall make his vow to G.o.d to that effect, and shall offer himself to Him for sacrifice, as a living victim, holy and acceptable to G.o.d, shall wear the sign of the cross of the Lord on his forehead or on his breast. When he shall return from his journey, having fulfilled his vow, let him place the cross on his back between his shoulders. Thus shall ye, indeed, by this twofold action, fulfill the precept of the Lord, as He commands in the Gospel, 'He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me'"

[Luke, xiv. 27].

52. The Starting of the Crusaders (1096)

The appeals of Pope Urban at Clermont and elsewhere met with ready response, especially among the French, but also to a considerable extent among Italians, Germans, and even English. A great variety of people were attracted by the enterprise, and from an equal variety of motives. Men whose lives had been evil saw in the crusade an opportunity of doing penance; criminals who perhaps cared little for penance but much for their own personal safety saw in it an avenue of escape from justice; merchants discovered in it a chance to open up new and valuable trade; knights hailed it as an invitation to deeds of valor and glory surpa.s.sing any Europe had yet known; ordinary malcontents regarded it as a chance to mend their fortunes; and a very large number of people looked upon it as a great spiritual obligation laid upon them and necessary to be performed in order to insure salvation in the world to come. By reason of all these incentives, some of them weighing much more in the mediaeval mind than we can understand to-day, the crusade brought together men, women, and children from every part of Christendom. Both of the accounts given below of the a.s.sembling and starting of the crusaders are doubtless more or less exaggerated at certain points, yet in substance they represent what must have been pretty nearly the actual facts.

William of Malmesbury was an English monk who lived in the first half of the twelfth century and wrote a very valuable _Chronicle of the Kings of England_, which reached the opening of the reign of Stephen (1135). He thus had abundant opportunity to learn of the first crusade from people who had actually partic.i.p.ated in it. His rather humorous picture of the effects of Pope Urban's call is thus well worth reading. Better than it, however, is the account by the priest Fulcher of Chartres (1058-1124)--better because the writer himself took part in the crusade and so was a personal observer of most of the things he undertook to describe. Fulcher, in 1096, set out upon the crusade in the company of his lord, Etienne, count of Blois and Chartres, who was a man of importance in the army of Robert of Normandy. With the rest of Robert's crusaders he spent the winter in Italy and arrived at Durazzo in the spring of 1097. He had a part in the siege of Nicaea and in the battle of Dorylaeum, but not in the siege of Antioch. Before reaching Jerusalem, in 1099, he became chaplain to a brother of G.o.dfrey of Bouillon and was already making progress on his "history of the army of G.o.d."

Sources--(a) Guilielmus Monachi Malmesburiensis, _De gestis regum Anglorum_ [William of Malmesbury, "Chronicle of the Kings of England"], Bk. IV., Chap. 2. Adapted from translation by John Sharpe (London, 1815), p. 416.

(b) Fulcherius Carnotensis, _Historia Iherosolimitana: gesta Francorum Iherusalem peregrinantium_ [Fulcher of Chartres, "History of the Crusade to Jerusalem: the Deeds of the French Journeying Thither"], Chap. 6. Text in _Recueil des Historiens des Croisades: Historiens Occidentaux_ (Paris, 1866), Vol.

III., p. 328.

[Sidenote: Universal interest in the crusade]

(a)

Immediately the fame of this great event,[398] being spread through the universe, penetrated the minds of Christians with its mild breath, and wherever it blew there was no nation, however distant and obscure, that did not send some of its people. This zeal animated not only the provinces bordering on the Mediterranean, but all who had ever even heard of the name Christian in the most remote isles, and among barbarous nations. Then the Welshman abandoned his forests and neglected his hunting; the Scotchman deserted the fleas with which he is so familiar; the Dane ceased to swallow his intoxicating draughts; and the Norwegian turned his back upon his raw fish. The fields were left by the cultivators, and the houses by their inhabitants; all the cities were deserted.