Tim Rayborn - The Violent Pilgrimage : Christians, Muslims and Holy Conflicts, 850–1150

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

Excerpts in English translation from Bernard of Clairvauxs De laude in chapter three are taken from In Praise of the New Knighthood (Cistercian Fathers Series, 19B), translated by Conrad Greenia ( 1977, 2000 by Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, MI), and reprinted with permission.

ISBN 978-0-7864-6845-4

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2013 Tim Rayborn. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,without permission in writing from the publisher.

Front cover: Crusaders embarking for the Holy Land (Photos.com/Thinkstock)

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
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Patrologia Cursus Completus, Series Latina. Ed. J.P. Migne. 222 vols. Paris: Garnier, 184464.

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This book is an updated revision of my doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Leeds, U.K., in 1999. Of course, during the years since much has changed, and as with many topics, scholars have produced numerous studies. Indeed, in conducting research, I was able to add more than 100 new bibliographic entries (including journal articles, books, and new primary sources), as well as something like 14,000 additional words.

The subject of this book is the development of Christian European attitudes about crusading and holy war, and changing views toward Islam, up until the mid-twelfth century, with a special emphasis on the turbulent period of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It focuses on French monastic writings, since these were arguably the most influential in both recording and bringing about these changes, though crusade chronicles, as well as papal works, and various Spanish texts are also considered in some detail. This was a crucial time in the establishment of a new European identity, and the events and ideas discussed were essential to those changes.

Many who approach this subject for the first time are curious about its potential links to issues in the modern world, an understandable situation. This is a controversial subject, and by no means a settled one. It is far too easy to oversimplify and look for direct relations between events then and now where there may in fact be none, or where many other factors in the intervening nine centuries may also be involved. I have avoided trying to draw parallels, and therefore I have confined the discussion to medieval events only.

I had always intended to publish this study in book form eventually, but years of work in the early music field (as a performer and in other capacities) often prevented me from being able to devote sufficient time to any writing, much less to such a detailed work. Im glad to have the opportunity now. On a personal level, I want to thank my dear Abby, for her patience and understanding when I spent long afternoons at the UC Berkeley Library, or sat late into the night at my computer, saying nothing for hours at a time, poring over the minutiae of chapter notes (among many other things) during the big push to revise it. And I would like to acknowledge Fanty the cat, without whose help this might have been finished a bit sooner.

On the morning of July 15, 1099, something remarkable and terrible happened at the ancient city of Jerusalem. A ragged army of Christian soldiers, clergy, and hangers-on, who had made the long, treacherous, and even deadly trek from Western Europe, took the city from its Muslim rulers after a week-long siege. The culmination of a four-year effort, preached by Pope Urban II and known to history as the First Crusade, it must surely have seemed miraculous in the eyes of the victorious. To the inhabitants of Jerusalem, however, it was the beginning of an episode of shocking brutality and horror.

Raymond of Aguilers, an eyewitness chronicler of the crusade, describes how after retaking the city, the invaders killed every Muslim inhabitant they could nd; to them However, no mercy was shown to children, the aged, or the defenseless. In the name of Christ, mass murder was committed as a sign of divine retribution and of justice prevailing over evil. It was the rst of many such horrid actions undertaken by both sides over the next two hundred years.

This book is not a history of the crusades, a chronicle of the crusaders journeys, or a discussion of the military aspects of those campaigns. There are numerous ne crusade histories available for the interested reader, and new work continues to be done in the eld at an astonishing rate. Many of these studies will be referenced in detail in the following chapters, particularly as sources for further information. Instead, the primary subjects of this book are the dramatic shift in thought in Christian attitudes toward war and violence, and the Churchs perceptions of its rival faith, Islam, between roughly 850 and 1150, with a special emphasis on the mid-eleventh through the mid-twelfth centuries. This period witnessed great struggles between the Holy Roman Emperor and the papacy for political supremacy over Europe (previously tilted toward the emperor, but shifting to the papacy), the discovery of a common European identity after centuries of factional struggles and small wars, a surge in popular spirituality (including heretical movements dangerous to the Churchs authority), and the resulting development of new monastic orders. There was a renaissance of learning, philosophy, and theological thinking, both in the monasteries and the new universities. Perhaps overshadowing all else, there was the momentous impact of the crusades. That fateful 1099 siege returned Jerusalem and the Holy Land to Christian hands for the rst time in nearly four centuries, and more importantly, gave control of those territories for the rst time to the Western Latin Church.

Those rst crusaders endured several years of hardship and suffering on their journey, discovering that their quest would not be an easy one. Sickness, hunger, thirst, travels through hostile territories, and the deaths of many along the way had taken their toll. More died along the journey than lived to see its end. Nevertheless, it had long been a Christian tradition to suffer for the faith, and these armed pilgrims at the very least believed themselves to be doing just that. Who went to the Holy Land? Why did they go? What could possibly have made them decide to abandon everything for land that they had never seen, and knew nothing about?