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
3 - Pilgrimage, Mimesis and the Holy Land, 1099–c.1149
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
Jerusalem Pilgrimage and the Legacy of the First Crusade, 1099–c.1149
The impact of the liberation of Jerusalem on western Christian mentalities was so profound that one contemporary even compared its significance to Christ's redemption of mankind on the cross. Although Pope Urban did not live to respond to the ultimate achievement of the First Crusade, his successor, Paschal II, was unequivocal in his praise of the militia Christiana: he portrayed the crusaders’ triumph as the fulfilment of scriptural prophecy and wondered at how ‘the eastern Church, after a long period of captivity, is now returned to the glory of its ancient liberty’. Paschal's reaction was indicative of the wider response of Christians across Europe, and the sheer volume of narrative histories that were produced to account for the crusade's success is in itself testimony to the effect that the renewed Christian custody of Jerusalem had on the western psyche. The significance of the Holy Land to the writers of these histories is unquestionable, and much of the language they used in their reports of Urban II's Clermont sermon is a reflection of the triumphalist mood of the early twelfth century. According to Baldric of Bourgueil, the pope had declared that:
We have deservedly called that land holy, in which there is not one footstep which is not glorified and sanctified by the body or the spirit of the Saviour, or by the glorious presence of the holy Mother of God, or the most beloved company of the apostles, or by the blood spilt by the martyrs.
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- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008