Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Map of Western Europe, the Mediterranean and the Latin East (c.1145)
- Introduction
- 1 The Monastic Response to the First Crusade
- 2 The Foundations of Crusading Spirituality, 1095–c.1110
- 3 Pilgrimage, Mimesis and the Holy Land, 1099–c.1149
- 4 The Cistercian Influence on Crusading Spirituality, c.1128–1187
- 5 The Introduction of Crusading to Iberia, 1096–c.1134
- 6 The Development of Crusading Spirituality in Iberia, c.1130–c.1150
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - The Foundations of Crusading Spirituality, 1095–c.1110
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Map of Western Europe, the Mediterranean and the Latin East (c.1145)
- Introduction
- 1 The Monastic Response to the First Crusade
- 2 The Foundations of Crusading Spirituality, 1095–c.1110
- 3 Pilgrimage, Mimesis and the Holy Land, 1099–c.1149
- 4 The Cistercian Influence on Crusading Spirituality, c.1128–1187
- 5 The Introduction of Crusading to Iberia, 1096–c.1134
- 6 The Development of Crusading Spirituality in Iberia, c.1130–c.1150
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The First Crusaders as Imitators of Christ
The anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum, who was writing shortly after the liberation of Jerusalem in 1099, began his eyewitness narrative of the First Crusade by describing the reaction to Pope Urban II's proclamation of war in 1095:
When now that time drew nigh, to which the Lord Jesus points out to his faithful every day, especially in the Gospel where he says If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, there was a great stirring throughout all the regions of Gaul, so that if anyone with a pure heart and mind zealously desired to follow God, and faithfully wished to bear the cross after him, he could make no delay in speedily taking the road to the Holy Sepulchre.
It is unnecessary to subject this passage to a detailed analysis, for the words of the Gesta's author are clear enough: as he saw it, it was the spirituality of imitatio Christi and the idea of Jerusalem pilgrimage that inspired the positive response of Christians across Europe to the preaching of the First Crusade. Reference has already been made in the previous chapter to the fact that the crusade's appeal was by no means limited to the laity, and in the light of this passage from the Gesta Francorum (which was probably the work of a cleric), the attraction of crusading for a monastic audience is brought into an even sharper focus.
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- Information
- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008