Humanities
Mr. Kelly & Mr. Waterman
Name ________________
DBQ – The Crusades
Introduction:
After the death of Charlemagne in 814, Christian Europe felt itself to be under attack
from the forces of Islam. Pope Urban II, in a speech at Clermont in France in November,
1095, called for a great Christian expedition or crusade to free Jerusalem from the
Seljuk Turks, a new Muslim power that had recently begun harassing Christian pilgrims
traveling to Jerusalem. The first Crusade by Western European Christians to recapture
the Holy Land from the Muslims was undertaken in 1096 and the last in the late 13th
century. The Crusades are an important early part of the story of European expansion
and colonialism, as feudal states were established in the Near East. For the first time
Western Christianity commenced a military initiative far from home, and for the first time
significant numbers of people left to carry their culture and religion abroad.
Read excerpts fro Evolution of Crusader Privileges, 1095-1270 and answer the
following questions:
1. What privileges did Pope Urban grant to crusaders at the Council of Clermont in
1095?
2. In 1146, what privileges did Pope Eugenius add to those given by Pope Urban?
3. Phillip II Augustus added greatly to the financial benefits granted to a crusader. What
authority did he have to grant these privileges and how did his position as Augustus
(Holy Roman Emperor) play a part in his decree?
4. The list of privileges gets much longer as the crusades drag on. Why do you think
as time progressed that Popes and monarchs increased the number of incentives
offered to crusading pilgrims?
Now read Ekkehard of Aurach’s account On the Opening of the First Crusade and
answer the following questions:
5. Why is the "especial purpose" for which Ekkehard says he is writing this work?
6. Ekkehard states that although the crusaders ".. .were all under one king, Christ, the
several peoples nevertheless were led by their several leaders." What did the Pope
do regarding this situation? Why do you think he did this?
7. According to Ekkehard, why did the Franks want to travel on the crusade?
8. According to Ekkehard, why were the Germans hesitant at first to join the Crusades?
9. Give examples of some of the "signs in the sun and the wonders" that impelled
individuals to join the Crusades.
Finally, read Annales Herbipolenses’, s.a. 1147: A Hostile View of the Crusade:
10. What does this author accuse the "pseudo prophets" of doing?
11. According to the author, what were some of the reasons people joined the Crusades?
List at least three of these reasons.
12. At the end of this piece, the author claims that "a few could, with difficulty, be found
who had not bowed their knees to Baal, who were directed by a holy and wholesome
purpose, and who were kindled by love of the divine majesty to fight earnestly and
even to shed their blood for the holy of holies." Restate this sentence in your own
words, and briefly explain the point you think the author is trying to make here.
13. Based on what you've read in the three primary source documents in this lesson, do
you think most people joined the Crusades out of a sincere desire to "liberate" the
Holy Land, or were most motivated by other desires? Support your conclusion.
Evolution of Crusader Privileges, 1095-1270
The "Crusade" did not spring into being fully formed. Many of the characteristics of the
Crusade - the vow, taking the cross, etc. - evolved over time. This selection of texts
shows the evolution of the religious legal status of the Crusader between 1095 and
1270.
1. PRIVILEGE GRANTED BY URBAN AT THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT, 1095
If any one through devotion alone, and not for the sake of honor or gain, goes to
Jerusalem to free the church of God, the journey itself shall take the place of all
penance.
2. PRIVILEGE GRANTED BY POPE EUGENIUS III, 1146
Moreover, by the authority vested by God in us, we who with paternal care provide for
your safety and the needs of the church, have promised and granted to those who from
a spirit of devotion have decided to enter upon and accomplish such a holy and
necessary undertaking and task, that remission of sins which our predecessor Pope
Urban instituted. We have also commanded that their wives and children, their property
and possessions, shall be under the protection of the holy church, of ourselves, of the
archbishops, bishops and other prelates of the church of God. Moreover, we ordain by
our apostolic authority that until their return or death is fully proven, no law suit shall be
instituted hereafter in regard to any property of which they were in peaceful possession
when they took the cross.
Those who with pure hearts enter upon such a sacred journey and who are in debt shall
pay no interest. And if they or others for them are bound by oath or promise to pay
interest, we free them by our apostolic authority. And after they have sought aid of their
relatives or lords of whom they hold their fiefs, and the latter are unable or unwilling to
advance them money, we allow them freely to mortgage their lands and other
possessions to churches, ecclesiastics or other Christians, and their lords shall have no
redress.
Following the institution of our predecessor, and through the authority of omnipotent
God and of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles - which is vested in us by God - we grant
absolution and remission of sins, so that those who devoutly undertake and accomplish
such a holy journey, or who die by the way, shall obtain absolution for all their sins
which they confess with humble and contrite heart, and shall receive from the
Remunerator of all the reward of eternal life.
Granted at Vetralle on the Kalends of December.
3. DECREE OF KING PHILIP AUGUSTUS OF FRANCE CONCERNING THE DEBTS
OF CRUSADERS, 1188
In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, Amen. It has been decided by lord Philip,
king of the Franks, by the advice of the archbishops, bishops and barons of his land:
1. That bishops, prelates, and clerks of the conventual churches, and knights who have
taken the cross, shall have a respite of two years - dating from the first feast of All
Saints after the departure of the king - in paying the debts which they owed to Jews
or Christians before the king took the cross; that is, on the first feast of All Saints the
creditors shall have a third of the debt, and on the following feast of All Saints a
second third of the debt, and on the third feast of All Saints the last third of the debt.
Also, for each one, from the day on which he takes the cross, interest on debts
previously contracted shall cease.
2. If a knight, who is the legitimate heir, son, or son-in-law of a knight not taking the
cross, or of a widow, and who is under the jurisdiction of his father or mother, takes
the cross, his father or mother shall have a respite from their debts, in accordance
with the above ordinance.
3. If, however, their son or son-in-law, who has taken the cross, is no longer under their
jurisdiction, or, if he is not a knight, or, if he has not taken the cross, they shall not
enjoy a respite through this decree.
4. Also, within a fortnight after the next feast of St. John the Baptist, those debtors who
have lands and revenues, shall through the lords in whose territory the lands are,
assign the lands and revenues to their creditors; in order that from these the
creditors may collect their debts at the aforesaid times and according to the
aforesaid form. The lords shall not be able to prevent those assignments, unless
they themselves settle with the creditor for the debt.
5. Those who do not have sufficient lands or revenues to make an assignment for their
debts, shall give their creditors sureties or bail that they will pay their debts at the
dates fixed. And unless they give security, as has been arranged, through
assignment of lands, or sureties, or bail if they have no lands, within a fortnight after
the next feast of St. John the Baptist, they shall not have the respite which is granted
to others.
6. If any crusader, who is a clerk or knight, is in debt to a crusader, who is a clerk or
knight, he shall have a respite from is debt until the next feast of All Saints - provided,
however, that he furnishes good security for paying his debt at the time indicated.
7. If any one of those, who have taken the cross, shall have assigned to any one gold,
silver, grain, or any other personal property, a week before the Purification of the
Blessed Mary or after that time, the creditor shall not be compelled to give him a
respite on that account.
8. If any one buys from another, who has not taken the cross, the usufruct of his lands
for one year at a fixed price, the bargain shall stand.
9. If any knight or clerk shall have mortgaged his lands or revenues to a citizen, who is
also a crusader, or to a clerk or knight, who is not a crusader, or shall have assigned
them for a period of years, the debtor this year shall receive the produce of the lands
or the revenues; and the creditors, as a recompense for this year, shall hold the
property for one year after the completion of the years for which the mortgage or
assignment ought to continue. However, if the creditor shall have cultivated the
mortgaged lands or vineyards, be shall have one-half the grain this year for his labor.
10. All bargains made a week before the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, or after that
date, shall hold good.
11. For all debts on which he obtains a respite, the debtor must give as good security as,
or better than, he had previously given. If a dispute arises about the security, the
council of the lord of the creditor shall demand as good security as, or better than,
before. And if the security is not fixed by that lord, it shall be fixed by he council of
the prince of the land.
12. If any lord or prince under whose jurisdiction the said creditors or debtors shall be,
shall not wish to observe, or shall not cause to be observed, this decree concerning
the respite for debts or the assignments, he shall be warned by his metropolitan or
bishop; if be shall not make amends within forty days, he may be placed by the
same under a sentence of excommunication. Nevertheless, as long as the lord or
prince shall be willing to prove, in the presence of his metropolitan or bishop, that in
this respect he has not failed in his duty to either creditor or debtor, and that be is
prepared to comply with the decree, the metropolitan or bishop shall not have the
power to excommunicate him.
13. No crusader, whether clerk, knight, or any one else, shall be obliged to defend
himself in a law suit, concerning the land of which he was tenant, from the day on
which he takes the cross until be returns from his undertaking, unless the suit had
been brought against him before he had taken the cross.
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Source:
Dana C. Munro, "Urban and the Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the Original
Sources of European History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1895),
12-18
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Ekkehard of Aurach:
On the Opening of the First Crusade
Ekkehard, a well-known German historian had completed a history of the world in the
year 1101 when he determined to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem On his return he
entirely rewrote the particulars of his history relating to the First Crusade, and finally
issued it as a little separate volume called Hierosolymita. His work is regarded by
historical scholars as remarkably painstaking and temperate.
After mentioning the capture of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon and his fellowcrusaders in 1099, Ekkehard continues:
[Some declare the crusade inexpedient] Here I am very anxious to add certain details
concerning these military undertakings, which are due to divine rather than human
inspiration. This I do for the especial purpose of refuting those imprudent - or, better,
impudent - critics. who, bound by prejudice, take it upon themselves with insolent lips to
blame this novel enterprise, so necessary to a world that is growing old and nearing its
end. They, like the Epicureans, prefer the broad way of pleasure to the narrow way of
God's service. To them love of the world wisdom and those who despise it are fools....I,
however, since I trust in the Lord and strive not for present but for future things, would,
although only as an idle spectator yet a kindly well-wisher, exalt the glorious men of our
time who have overcome the kingdoms of this world and who, for the sake of the
blessed Shepherd who sought the hundredth sheep that was lost, have left wife and
child, principalities and riches, and have taken their lives in their hands...
The many peoples who took part in the First Crusade.
[After Urban had aroused the spirits of all by the promise of forgiveness to those who
undertook the expedition with single-hearted devotion,] toward one hundred thousand
men were appointed to the immediate service of God from Aquitaine and Normandy,
England, Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Galicia, Gascony, France, Flanders, Lorraine, and
from other Christian peoples, whose names I no longer retain. It was truly an army of
"crusaders," for they bore the sign of the cross on their garments as a reminder that
they should mortify the flesh, and in the hope that they would in this way triumph over
the enemies of the cross of Christ, as it had once come to pass in the case of the great
Constantine. Thus, through the +marvelous and unexampled working of divine
dispensation, all these members of Christ, so different in speech, origin, and nationality,
were suddenly brought together as one body through their love of Christ.
While they were all under one king, Christ, the several peoples nevertheless were led
by their several leaders, namely Godfrey of Lorraine and his brothers Baldwin and
Eustace, Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy, Count Regimund of St. Gilles, Hugh,
brother of King Philip of France, and other warriors of similar energy, rank, and bravery.
Over alll of these the above-mentioned pope placed Bishop Hademar a man of
venerable holiness and wisdom. To him the pope granted the right to exercise in his
stead the power transmitted by St. Peter to the Roman see of binding and loosing....
The West Franks were easily induced to leave their fields, since France had, during
several years, been terribly visited now by civil war, now by famine, and again by
sickness....Among the other nations, the common people, as well as those of higher
rank, related that, aside from the apostolic summons, they had in some- instances been
called to the land of promise by certain prophets who had appeared among them, or
through heavenly signs and revelations. Others confessed that they had been induced
to pledge themselves by some misfortune. A great part of them started forth with wife
and child and laden with their entire household equipment.
The Germans at first regard the crusaders as madmen.
The summons, however, failed altogether to reach the East Franks, Saxons,
Thuringians, Bavarians, and Alemannians. This was due especially to the division
between the civil government and the priesthood, which from the time of Pope
Alexander [II] to the present day has, alas, made us as hated and offensive to the
Romans as the Romans are to us. So it came about that almost the whole German
people were, at the beginning of the expedition, quite unacquainted with the reasons for
it. Consequently the many legions of horsemen who passed through their land, the
hosts of people on foot, the crowds of country people, women and children, were
viewed by them with contempt as persons who had altogether lost their wits.
Those bound for the Holy Land seemed to them to be leaving the land of their birth and
sacrificing what they already had for a vain hope. The promised land offered no
certainty but danger, yet they deserted their own possessions in a greedy struggle for
those of others. Nevertheless, although our people are far more arrogant than others,
the fury of the Teutons finally gave way in view of the divine mercy, and after they had
thoroughly discussed the matter with the multitude of pilgrims, they too inclined their
hearts.
Prodigies announce the coming crusade
Moreover the signs in the sun and the wonders which appealed, both in the air and on
the earth, aroused many who had previously been indifferent. It seems to us useful to
interweave an account of a few of these signs, although it would carry us too far to
enumerate them all. For example we beheld a comet on the 7th of October to the south,
its brilliancy slanting down seemed like a sword...A few years ago a priest of honorable
reputation, by the name of Suigger, about the ninth hour of the day beheld two knights,
who met one another in the air and fought long, until one, who carried a great cross with
which he struck the other, finally overcame his enemy....Some were watching horses in
the fields reported that they had seen the image of a city in the air and had observed
various how troops from different directions, both on horseback and on foot, were
hastening thither.
Many, moreover, displayed, either on their clothing, or upon their forehead, or
elsewhere on their body, the sign of the cross, which had been divinely imprinted, and
they believed themselves on this account to have been destined to the service of God.
Others likewise were induced, through some sudden change of spirit or some nocturnal
vision, to sell all their property and possessions and to sew the sign of mortification on
their mantles. Among all these people who pressed into the churches in incredible
numbers, swords were distributed with the priestly benediction, according to new usage,
along with the pilgrim's staff and wallet.
I may also report that at this time a woman after two years gestation finally gave birth to
a boy who was able to talk,; and that a child with a double set of limbs, another with two
heads, and some lambs with two heads were also born; and that colts came into the
world with great teeth, which we ordinarily call horses' teeth and which nature only
grants to three-year old horses.
Bad men and women join the crusaders
While through these and similar signs the whole creation seemed to offer its services to
the Creator, the watchful enemy, who takes occasion when others sleep to sow his
tares amongst the good seed, raised up also false prophets and mixed false brethren
and degraded women among the Lord's host under the appearance of religion. In this
way the armies of Christ were defiled not only through hypocrisy and lies but through
shameless uncleanness, so that the prophecy of the Good Shepherd might be fulfilled,
that even the elect may be led astray.
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Source:
James Harvey Robinson, ed., Readings in European History: Vol. I: (Boston:: Ginn and
co., 1904), pp.316-318
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Annales Herbipolenses, s.a. 1147:
A Hostile View of the Crusade
[From Brundage] The fiasco at Damascus gave rise to great bitterness, as William of
Tyre noted, both among the Crusaders themselves, who suspected that treachery was
involved, and also in the West. After the withdrawal from Damascus, the grand alliance
was irrevocably shattered. Conrad of Germany at once set out for home by way of
Constantinople. King Louis of France lingered longer in Palestine, but finally left the
Holy Land in the summer of 1149 without having attempted any further military action.
The attitude of the West toward the Crusade and toward those who bad played a
prominent part in it was hostile and suspicious. The anonymous annalist of Würzburg
reflects the current Western attitude in his account of the Crusade:
God allowed the Western church, on account of its sins, to be cast down. There arose,
indeed, certain pseudo prophets, sons of Belial, and witnesses of anti-Christ, who
seduced the Christians with empty words. They constrained all sorts of men, by vain
preaching, to set out against the Saracens in order to liberate Jerusalem. The preaching
of these men was so enormously influential that the inhabitants of nearly every region,
by common vows, offered themselves freely for common destruction. Not only the
ordinary people, but kings, dukes, marquises, and other powerful men of this world as
well, believed that they thus showed their allegiance to God. The bishops, archbishops,
abbots, and other ministers and prelates of the church joined in this error, throwing
themselves headlong into it to the great peril of bodies and souls.... The intentions of the
various men were different. Some, indeed, lusted after novelties and went in order to
learn about new lands. Others there were who were driven by poverty, who were in hard
straits at home; these men went to fight, not only against the enemies of Christ's cross,
but even against the friends of the Christian name, wherever opportunity appeared, in
order to relieve their poverty. There were others who were oppressed by debts to other
men or who sought to escape the service due to their lords, or who were even awaiting
the punishment merited by their shameful deeds. Such men simulated a zeal for God
and hastened chiefly in order to escape from such troubles and anxieties. A few could,
with difficulty, be found who had not bowed their knees to Baal, who were directed by a
holy and wholesome purpose, and who were kindled by love of the divine majesty to
fight earnestly and even to shed their blood for the holy of holies.
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Source:
Annales Herbipolenses, s.a. 1147, in MGH, SS, XVI, 3, translated by James Brundage,
The Crusades: A Documentary History, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press,
1962), 115-121
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