Geoffroy de Villehardouin was a French noble born in the middle of the twelfth century who participated in the Fourth Crusade. After the crusade he wrote Chronicles of the Crusades which covers not only the foundation of the Fourth Crusade and events up through the conquest of Constantinople, but the ensuing conflicts after as well. Prior to the crusade he was Marshal of Champagne, and while this did not give him direct experience in war he probably took part in disputes in Champagne. This position probably gave him an administrative and military focus which explains the general statesmanlike tone throughout the book, as well as his choice to describe strategies.
Throughout the book, Villehardouin makes his religiosity clear. This is hardly surprising considering the status of religion in the time period and the fact that Villehardouin is a crusader. The reverence for crusaders among European nobles likely also contributed to his values. Early on, he speaks in the typical vocabulary of the crusades by speaking of acting “in God's name” or “by God's Grace.” More interestingly, he repeatedly relates the days of their events to religious days. He observes that the day of the agreement between the Venetians and the envoys was in Lent, the day the siege of Zara began was Saint Martin's Day, the day of departure from Scutari was Saint John the Baptist's Day, the day Constantinople was taken was the Monday before Palm Sunday, and so on. This suggests the level of importance he attributes to the events of the Fourth Crusade. It is not merely a matter of conquest, personal pilgrimage, or military glory, but something deeply tied to the history and health of Christendom in the eyes of Villehardouin.
Additionally, the repeated use of r...
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...ious nobles, so that those noble families who read the chronicle may come to learn how their relative died in these events, as opposed to simply being missing in action.
Villehardouin's background as a French noble as well as his apparent admiration for French nobility probably lead him to write in a way that utilized religious and other imagery to sanctify the Fourth Crusade and its participants. The religious themes, glorious descriptions, and attention given towards nobles may explain a lot about both Villehardouin himself and the target audience of his book, which was likely the nobles of France.
Works Cited
Villehardouin, Geoffroy de and Jean de Joinville. Chronicles of the Crusades, translated and edited by M.R.B. Shaw. London: Penguin, 1963.
Madden, Thomas F. The New Concise History of the Crusades. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006.
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 42-43
Chronicle of the First Crusade is an excerpt from Gesta Francorum Jherusalem peregrinantium, written in three installments, 1101, 1106, and 1124–27, by Fulcher of Chartres, a French chaplain and chronicler of the First Crusade. Born in approximately 1059, and educated for the priesthood in Chartres, in what is now France, Fulcher attended the Council of Clermont, accompanying his overlord, Stephen of Blois, to southern Italy, Bulgaria, and Constantinople in 1096, following the call to action instigated by Pope Urban II as response to a request for assistance from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I. In June 1097, Fulcher became chaplain to Baldwin of Flanders, with whom he remained, traveling with him to Jerusalem in the winter of 1099. Fulcher, who remained in Jerusalem for the remainder of his life, dying there in approximately 1127, provides, as an eyewitness to the events, the Christian perspective of the Siege of Jerusalem.
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The First Crusade was called in 1096 by Pope Urban II. The reasons for the First Crusade was to help obtain Jerusalem known as the holy land. During this time period the Muslims were occupying Jerusalem. First Crusade contained peasants and knights’ whose ethnicities consist of Franks, Latin’s, and Celts which were all from the western part of Europe. To get peasants and knights to join Pope Urban II objectives in return of a spiritual reward called “remission of all their sins” which was to be redeemed of any sins the individual has committed. When sins are redeemed Crusaders believed that they will escape the torment of hell. When lords and knights joined the crusade they were known as military elites. Crusaders were known as soldiers of Christ.
The First Crusade was a widely appealing armed pilgrimage, and mobilized a vast conquering force at a time when the Christian Church was moving towards centralization and greater political influence in Europe. The Church gained a wider audience more accepting of its leadership, benefitted economically, and developed its own militarily force. These outcomes, along with the Church’s documented ambition to expand and its reversal of prior teachings, support the idea that the First Crusade was a deliberate political maneuver, intended to to expand and consolidate the authority of the
Urban’s decision to begin the Crusade was based on more than just the idea that he was doing the Lord’s will. The Christian idealism was mind over m...
The evolution of human society consists mainly of ineffective ruling regimes and oppressed peasants. Medieval Europe falls into this same pervasive cycle. Social and political hierarchies intertwine which creates a grossly inefficient system. Hereditary lineage determines nobility. Commoners possess no hope of social mobility. Every aspect of life is virtually preordained. These circumstances revolve around the figure Lanval by Mari de France. Mari de France introduces Lanval as a courteous and distinguished knight of King Arthur’s court. Lanval possesses the most moral nature of all of King Arthur’s knights, yet even so, the other knights of King Arthur’s round table despise him. The many knights neglect acknowledgment of his nature as does
This was enough to convince about 60,000 Europeans, many of them peasants to start on the First Crusade to the Holy Land ("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). Many of the soldiers who went on the Crusades also hoped to acquire land and riches and return a war hero. This was the first time the Catholic Church had seen penitential warfare- “warfare in the service and defense of the Church for the ‘remission of your sins’”("THE CRUSADES TO THE HOLY LAND”). The whole mentality of the Crusades was to destroy any other beliefs including paganism and Judaism, which lead to all kinds of violence and persecution, with Jews becoming a common target, even entire Jewish communities were slaughtered ("How Christianity Rose to Dominate Europe."). Even the Christians were not safe, as many were killed in settlements along the way. Pope Urban was the one who brought out this idea that it was okay to kill non-Christians, and, even beyond that, IF you went to the Holy Land on a Crusade, you received a free ticket to heaven even if you died there. Does this sound a little bit familiar? Perhaps a little like those who truly believe that they’re gaining salvation by blowing up a group of innocent people along with themselves? Or flying a plane full of passengers into building full of people? Well, the First Crusaders marched to Jerusalem leaving death and
The Crusades were one of the most prominent events in Western European history; they were not discrete and unimportant pilgrimages, but a continuous stream of marching Western armies (Crusaders) into the Muslim world, terminating in the creation and eventually the fall of the Islamic Kingdoms. The Crusades were a Holy War of Roman Christianity against Islam, but was it really a “holy war” or was it Western Europe fighting for more land and power? Through Pope Urban II and the Roman Catholic Church’s actions, their proposed motivations seem unclear, and even unchristian. Prior to the Crusades, Urban encouraged that Western Europe fight for their religion but throughout the crusades the real motivations shone though; the Crusaders were power hungry, land coveting people who fought with non Christian ideals and Morales.
Since this paper is my reflection, I will be honest by stating that I am nineteen years old, white, a male, and have been raised in a Catholic family just outside of Louisville, Kentucky. Now why is this important? This is important because the only viewpoint of the crusades that I have studied, prior to my experience with Maalouf, has been from the Christian point of view. Until now, I have yet to place myself in the shoes of those on the opposite end of the sword, shields, and Jihad. History is a touchy subject for me because I have come to learn there is always another side of the story to learn from. This fact leads to the first main thesis of Maalouf’s adventure.
God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark, will cause readers to question much of what they know about the Crusades, the Crusaders themselves, and the formidable Muslim forces they encountered along the way in liberation of the Holy Land. Stark gives compelling reasons for the Crusades, and argues that readers should not be too quick in following the lead of historians who cast the Crusaders in less than positive light. Stark makes his case supported by evidence that vindicates the valiant struggles of the Crusaders who accomplished the task of keeping Christianity alive through troubled times.
In 1095, Pope Urban II called the first crusade. Happening between 1096 and 1099, the first crusade was both a military expedition and a mass movement of people with the simple goal of reclaiming the Holy Lands taken by the Muslims in their conquests of the Levant. The crusade ended with the capture of Jerusalem in July 1099. However, there has been much debate about whether the First Crusade can be considered an ‘armed pilgrimage’ or whether it has to be considered as a holy war. This view is complicated due to the ways in which the Crusade was presented and how the penitential nature of it changed throughout the course of the Crusade.
In order for the crusades to begin, the Christians needed to gather an army to travel and fight the forces of Muslims. With all the power being held by monarchies at this time, the church needed to be cleaver in order to gain troops to put their lives on the line. To gain the support of these warriors and dedication of men, Pope Urban II (1088-1099) challenged those morals of men by telling them to grab their weapons and join the holy war to recover the land of Jerusalem. It was not the challenge that convinced men to take part in this war. The promise of “immediate remission of sins” attracted the men to stand up for their religion and beliefs while at the same time, promising them a trip to heaven when life comes to an end. With this statement, men instantly prepared for battle which in a very short period of time gave the church power which has been held by the monarchies. Men of rich and poor prepared for battle, some wearing ...
Contrary to many commonly held notions about the first crusade, in his book, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, Jonathan Riley-Smith sets out to explain how the idea of crusading thought evolved in the first crusade. In his book, Riley-Smith sets out five main arguments to show how these ideas of crusading evolved. Firstly, he argues that Pope Urban’s original message was conventional, secondly that a more positive reaction was drawn from the laity (due to the ideas surrounding Jerusalem), thirdly, that the original message of crusading had changed because of the horrible experiences of the first crusaders, fourth, that due to these experiences the crusaders developed their own concept of what a crusade was, and lastly, that these ideas were refined by (religious) writers and turned into an acceptable form of theology. Riley-Smith makes excellent points about the crusade; however, before one can delve directly into his argument, one must first understand the background surrounding the rise of the first crusade.
In the Historia Iberosolimitana he is best known for his speeches. These three speeches all center around the crusade and fulfilling God’s will for the crusaders to succeed in taking back the holy land. In his first speech found in chapter XVI of book II, he speaks to the gathered Franks on how they have now been reborn in a sense as soldiers so that they can go on this crusade. That before they were, “stained with the blood killing; now they are crowned with heavenly laurels.”(98). In his second speech he tries to bolster the moral of his men to keep their faith in the crusade alive. In the third speech he explains the workings of God to a man named Pirrus who saw the heavenly army of God come down and aid the crusaders. Bohemond is a vigorous orator willing to share the will of God with the crusaders and be strong point for moral. Robert portrays him as a good and fearless leader who when injured is loathed to retreat but does so anyway (149). Bohemond may not have been as righteous as Godfrey but he did hold the respect of his men and he did understand the importance of the crusade in a holy sense.