Armies of Heaven (52 page)

8
The details of the pogrom come from two sources: Glaber,
Histories
3, 7, 24–2 5, pp. 134–137; and Adémar,
Chronicon
, 3, 47, pp. 166–167. Adémar mentions the suicides. He places the beginning of anti-Jewish violence at Limoges shortly before the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher, thus implying the Jews' mission to Egypt was retaliation for their persecution. See also Richard Landes,
Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History: Ademar of Chabannes, 989–1034
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), pp. 40–46.

9
John France, “The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Crusade,”
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
47 (1996): 1–17, demonstrates how little mention the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher received in Western literature. Landes,
Relics, Apocalypse
, pp. 44–45, cites a twelfth-century chronicle that recalls apocalyptic fears in the year 1010. The historian ignorant of the Sepulcher's destruction is WM 3, 367, pp. 642–643. He does fear that Egyptians will try one day to destroy it: WM 3, 371, pp. 652–653.

10
The pilgrimage is described in Einar Joranson, “The Great German Pilgrimage of 1064–1065,” in
The Crusades and Other Historical Essays, Presented to Dana C. Munro by His Former Students
, ed. Louis J. Paetow (New York: F. S. Crofts, 1928), pp. 3–56. See also Morris (2005), pp. 139–146; France, “Destruction,” pp. 12–13; and Landes,
Relics, Apocalypse
, pp. 154–158, 320–327.

11
John France argues that the numbers are exaggerated, recalling that William of Normandy's army of 8,000 was enough to conquer England: John France, “Les origines de la Première Croisade: un nouvel examen,” in
Autour de la Croisade
, pp. 43–56. To compare an army of professional soldiers gathered by a single lord and a mass assembly of pilgrims is, however, not entirely fair. On the bishops in the army, see Lambert of Hersfeld,
Annales
, ed. O. Holder-Egger, MGH in usum 38, an. 1064, p. 92. On the apocalyptic significance of 1065, see
Vita Altmanni Episcopi Pataviensis
, MGH SS 12, p. 230. See also Landes (2000), pp. 126–127; and Bernard McGinn, “
Iter Sancti Sepulchri
: The Piety of the First Crusaders,” in
The Walter Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures: Essays on Medieval Civilization
, ed. Bede Karl Lackner and Kenneth Roy Philip (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1978), pp. 33–71 (p. 40).

12
On these details, see Lambert,
Annales
, an. 1065, pp. 94–95.

13
The
Vita Altmanni
4, p. 230, relates the story of the abbess, not specifying when it happened, though it would make sense only as placed in the narrative here. On the date and the priests' counsel, see Lambert,
Annales
, an. 1065, p. 96.

14
Lambert,
Annales
, an. 1065, pp. 97–98;
Annales Altahenses maiores
, MGH SS 20, an. 1065, pp. 815–816.

15
Vita Altmanni
4, p. 230.

16
AA 1, 2–5, pp. 4–9. As another example of Peter as the originator of the crusade, the German author of the
Annales Brunwilarenses
(MGH SS 1, an. 1096, p. 100) writes simply, “In this year (1096) an expedition to the Holy Land was undertaken at the instigation of Peter the Hermit. The pilgrims captured Jerusalem, Antioch, Nicea, and other royal cities.” Anna Comnena makes Peter the inventor of the crusade, too:
Alexiad
10, 5, p. 309; as does the normally well-respected late-twelfth-century historian William of Tyre: WT 1, 13–14, pp. 129–130. See also HBS, “Prologue,” pp. 169–170.

17
Peter's usual reputation is that of a demagogue who corrupted Urban's message and deceitfully claimed it as his own. See, for example, Riley-Smith (1986), pp. 34–35; and, more generally, Henrich Hagenmeyer,
Peter der Ermite
(Leipzig, Germany: O. Harrassowitz, 1879). There have been some attempts to rehabilitate him, notably Flori (1999); and E. O. Blake and Collin Morris, “A Hermit Goes to War: Peter and the Origins of the First Crusade,”
Studies in Church History
22 (1985): 79–107, who place Peter in the context of eleventh- and twelfth-century spirituality, particularly of better-respected figures like Norbert of Xanten and Robert of Arbrissel. The descriptions of Peter's appearance and his entourage here are taken from GN 2, 8, p. 171 ; and RtM 1, 5, p. 731.

18
Annales Rosenveldenses
, MGH SS 16, an. 1096, pp. 101–102. On letters from heaven, see Alphandéry and Dupront, pp. 54–55. HBS, “Prologue,” pp. 169–170, tells how shocked Peter was to see the Temple of the Lord turned into a Mahomerie. See also Luke 21:24.

19
Monodies
2, 5, pp. 246–249. It is unclear whether Peter himself preached an anti-Jewish message, though there appears to me no reason to think he did not. At the very least, the tenor of his message inspired listeners to anger against the Jews, as I have argued in “How, or How Much, to Reevaluate Peter the Hermit,” in
The Medieval Crusade
, ed. Susan J. Ridyard (London: Boydell, 2004), pp. 22–41.
Annales Hildesheimnenses,
MGH SS 3, an. 1096, p. 106, draws a direct connection between the pogroms and the followers of Peter.

20
Frutolf, an. 1096, p. 106.

21
Thirty years later another German writer would use a similar turn of phrase, but for exactly the opposite end. In a German translation of the Book of Exodus, he would describe a plague of flies as being like “God's knights.” In the 1090s supernatural plagues had been a way to describe the crusaders. By 1130 the crusade had become an image for making Old Testament plagues comprehensible. D. H. Green,
The Millstatter Exodus: A Crusading Epic
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1966), pp. 273–279. The chronicle description of the flying worms appears in Frutolf, an. 1091, p. 104.

1
The connections between crusading and the Gregorian reform movement have been treated extensively, most notably in the classic work of Erdmann,
Origin
(see esp. pp. 118–147). The events and personalities involved are examined in H. E. J. Cowdrey,
Pope Gregory VII
(Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999). FC 1, 7, 2–3, pp. 164–166, describes the situation in St. Peter's in 1096 and also calls Clement a blockhead.

2
Alfons Becker, “Le voyage d'Urbain II en France,” in École Française (1997), pp. 127–140.

3
WT 1, 9, p. 121. Another less sensationalist account of the emperor's imprisonment appears in Michael Psellus,
Fourteen Byzantine Rulers
, trans. E. R. A. Sewter (London: Penguin Classics, 1966), pp. 357–358 and 365–366, on his blinding. Richard W. Southern gives a concise narrative of the schism in his
Western Church and Society in the Middle Ages
(Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1970), pp. 67–72.

4
All these plans are outlined at Gregory VII,
Das Register Gregors VII, MGH Epistolae Selecta
2, 2 vols., ed. Erich Caspar (Berlin: Weidmanschen Buchhandlung, 1920, 1923), 1, 46, pp. 69–71; 1, 49, pp. 75–76 (quote at p. 75); 2, 3, pp. 126–128; 2, 31, 166–168 (quote at pp. 166–167); and 2, 37, pp. 172–173.

5
Benzo of Alba,
Ad Heinricum IV. Imperatorem libri VII
, ed. Hans Seyffert, MGH in usum 65, 1,15, p. 144. The verses in this quote (indicated here with italics) are Isa. 49:23 and Isa.11:10. The last verse is referenced by RtM 9, 9, p. 869.

6
On the military situation in Antatolia, see France (1994), pp. 152–155. On Piacenza, see Alfons Becker,
Der Papst, die griechische Christenheit und der Kreuzzug. Papst Urban II (1088–1099)
, 2 (Stuttgart, Germany: Anton Hiersemann, 1988), pp. 377–379; Erdmann,
Origin
, pp. 325–330; and Mayer,
Crusades
, p. 7. Only the Lotharingian Ekkehard of Aura mentions letters from Alexius to the pope appealing for aid, but without a direct mention of the council that year: EA 5, pp. 14–15. A monastic historian from Poitiers mentions the council of Piacenza and says that Urban II actually first proclaimed the crusade there, but the account fails to mention a Byzantine plea for help. The text is the
Historia monasterii novi Pictavensis
, excerpted by I. M. Watterich in
Pontificum Romanorum qui fuerunt inde ab exeunte saeculo IX usque ad finem seaculi XIII vitae ab aequalibus conscriptae
, 2 vols. (Leipzig, Germany: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1862) 1, pp. 597–598. Riley-Smith (1986) p. 13, n. 3, cites this passage as the only instance where an annalist noted a connection between Clermont and Piacenza.
Alexiad
, 7, 6, p. 229, and 7, 7, p. 232, describes the connections between Robert the elder and Alexius.

7
Erdmann argues that Urban II conceived of the crusade primarily as a way to help Byzantium and as part of a broader war against the Saracens. Jerusalem was at best peripheral to his message at Clermont: Erdmann,
Origin
, pp. 306–371 (e.g., Urban II's “interest in pilgrimages as such surely was as slight as his interest in the city of Jerusalem”; at p. 316). His somewhat counterintuitive arguments are occasionally still cited as authoritative (e.g., in Mayer,
Crusades
, pp. 8–10, where he argues that Urban preferred to stress the plight of Eastern Christians at Clermont, but that with the passage of time he gave in to public demand and started to talk about Jerusalem). The weight of scholarly opinion, however, has shifted so strongly against this proposition that there seems to me no reason to revisit Erdmann's argument in detail.

8
On Durand's death, see Hugh of Flavigny,
Chronicon,
ed. G. H. Pertz, MGH SS 8, p. 274, in an. 1095. The image of Durand's moldering body is in an aside in
Poèmes
1, Poem 22, pp. 43–44. Poem 51 gives the day of Durand's death as the thirteenth before December. Depending on how one calculates dates, that would mean that he died either the day before the council began or else on November 18 itself, amid the opening ceremonies. The two epitaphs for Durand appear in
Poèmes
1, 50–51, pp. 57–58 (the latter mentions the number of attendees at Clermont). Michel Aubrun gives a brief overview of Durand's career in his article “La Diocèse de Clermont, de la fin du XIe au début du XIIe siècle,” in École Française (1997), pp. 24–32 (pp. 25–26).

9
BB 1, p. 15. Before the sermon begins, Baudry uses similarly vague terminology, saying that Urban spoke “a sermon of this sort”: BB, p. 12. See also GN 2, 3, p. 111. RtM, “Apologeticus sermo,” p. 721, comes closest to claiming authenticity for his sermon, saying that he chose to rewrite GF because it did not include any details of Clermont and because he himself had attended the council. FC, 1, 3, pp. 131–138,
appears to have based his report of Clermont on council decretals, though he famously fails to have Urban II mention Jerusalem.

10
Passages taken from BB 1, 2, and 4, pp. 11–14, and 4, 13, p. 101. The latter passage is a sermon credited to an anonymous preacher on the eve of the battle for Jerusalem that echoes the language from Urban's sermon. In addition to
instar
, which I have translated as “form of,” the passage includes the more theologically loaded
forma
, which I have attempted to invest with equal theological baggage through the translation “image.” There has been some scholarly dispute as to whether crusade preachers might have inadvertently or deliberately confused the heavenly and earthly Jerusalems in the minds of their listeners. See, for example, Cohn (1957), pp. 64–65. The confusion, however, was built into the actual theology. On these points, see also Schein (2005), pp. 141–157; and Daniel F. Callahan, “Jerusalem in the Monastic Imagination of the Early Eleventh Century,”
Haskins Society Journal
6 (1994): 119–127.

11
RtM 9, 26, p. 882. A fine introduction to the peace movement can be found in the essays edited by Thomas Head and Richard Landes,
The Peace of God: Social Violence and Religious Response in France Around the Year 1000
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992).

12
The text of the indulgence reads, “
Quicumque pro sola devotione, non pro hon-oris vel pecunie adeptione, ad liberandam ecclesiam Dei Hierusalem profectus fuerit, iter illud pro omni penitentia ei reputetur
”: Somerville,
Councils
, 2, p. 74. This passage is from a set of conciliar decrees collected by Bishop Lambert of Arras. It is one of sixty-one decrees, most of which deal with issues of church reform. On the place of knighthood and violence in the eleventh century, I am indebted to the work of Dominique Barthélemy. The best introduction in English to his approach is
The Serf, the Knight, and the Historian
, trans. Graham Robert Edwards (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009), esp. pp. 176–236. See also Dominique Barthélemy,
Chevaliers et miracles: La violence et la sacré dans la société féodale
(Paris: Armand Colin, 2004).

13
Such outbursts must have been fairly common at a church council. Earlier in the week, when the pope had proclaimed that anyone who attacked a bishop should no longer be allowed to carry weapons, he received an acclamation of “Let it happen! Let it happen!” Somerville,
Councils
30, p. 81. The crowd did so perhaps because Bishop Lambert of Arras had been taken prisoner on his way to the council: Becker, “Le voyage d'Urbain II,” in École Française (1997), p. 131. RtM 1, 2, p. 729, describes Urban's reaction to the chants. The argument presented here, about the combination of pilgrimage and warfare, is essentially that of Erdmann,
Origin
.

14
The most eloquent exponents of the role of penance in driving warriors to join the crusade are Bull (1993); and Riley-Smith (1997), pp. 60–72. Bull's work is especially important, based on a detailed analysis of monastic charters (grants of land made to churches by knights before they departed for Jerusalem). The charters purport to explain the thinking of knights as they hand over the property, usually emphasizing a desire to attain forgiveness for sins. That is, however, the usual justification
for granting land to monasteries, regardless of whether the donor was going on crusade. Because most knights on crusade had to pay their own way, the need for financing more than for forgiveness was probably the most immediate grounds for donating land. The tendency to drift into caricature when writing of fearful and superstitious crusaders can mar even otherwise fine books, such as Thomas Asbridge,
The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
(New York: HarperCollins, 2010), p. 38, in which he writes, “Bred upon a vision of religious faith that emphasised the overbearing threat of sin and damnation, the Latins of the West were enmeshed in a desperate, lifelong spiritual struggle to purge the taint of corruption from their souls.” Such a description fails to do justice to the complexity of a Frankish warrior's worldview, not to mention his soul.