The Perception and Influence of Urban II's Protection Privilege

The focus of this chapter is the development of the papal protection privilege from 1123 to 1222, and the continued stress placed on that privilege within crusade appeals. After the return of First Crusaders such as Count Stephen of Blois and Count Robert of Flanders, the papal protection privilege remained important to Urban's successors. The long-term use of this privilege illustrates the enduring significance attached to both the protection and Pope Urban II. We will see that subsequent popes closely identified Urban II with the initiation of the protection established over crusaders and extended over their families and possessions, because they consistently invoked his memory when referring to this privilege. The uniformity with which popes in this period pointed to Urban II's influence when citing the protection demonstrates the overriding importance to them of establishing him as the architect of this new privileged status. In the light of the papal focus on establishing concrete links to the recent past of Urban II, a pertinent issue is whether or not the crusade bulls entered a period of stasis or consolidation following the publication of Eugenius III's crusade encyclical Quantum praedecessores in 1145. Thus, the chronological focus of this analysis extends from 1123 to 1222 to enable it to examine changes in canon law. This period saw distinct shifts in canon law in order to accommodate the inclusion of papal decretals and especially those of Innocent III. Equally, the marked increase in the number of appeals to the pope between 1145 and 1185; rising from 124.6 annual appeals under Eugenius III to 198.8 under Lucius III, gives insight into the changing dynamic between the papacy and medieval Europe; the crusade privileges developed at a time when the papacy was extending its authority and responsibility over secular society.

Following the First Crusade and the 1101 wave of this expedition, the next major campaign associated with crusading was Bohemond's expedition of 1107–8. Histo rians disagree on whether this was technically a crusade: for Rowe, Bohemond had perverted the idea of crusading by duping the pope into targeting Byzantium, while McQueen argued that Bohemond received papal backing and that Paschal was well aware of the destination of the 1107 expedition.