The Changing Crusades: How Non-Middle Eastern Crusades Affect Understanding of the

 

Word Crusade

 

A Paper by M. Rinn

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            The general understanding of the historical phenomenon known as the Crusades is viewed by many in the modern world as a series of medieval wars fought in the Holy Land.  However, this popular notion of crusade is undermined by the Wendish, Baltic and Albigensian crusades which were all fought around the same time period as the others, but took place in Western Europe rather than the Holy Land and led to the mass slaughter of those in Europe who were considered to be ‘enemies of Christ.’   These crusades demonstrate how the concept of a crusade evolved over time and began to transcend traditional boundaries, focusing on beliefs rather than on the sacredness of the geographic location. 

            The first crusade that was not concentrated in the Middle East was the crusade against the Wends.  Initially this war was not considered a holy war.  Instead, it was fought by the Saxons beginning in the 1140s who wanted to capture rich, fertile land in Wagria, a small patch of land north east of Saxony.  The indigenous population was a group of pagan Slavs who primarily farmed.  The fighting began when groups of Saxons came into Wagria and began to take over the Slavs’ land, either by pushing them out of the way or by killing them.  It was common to allow the Wends to be baptized and to submit to the rule of the Saxons, who taxed them heavily and began to live very well off of their land.   This pattern was repeated as necessary as the Saxons headed deeper into Wendish territory.

            In 1145 the second crusade began to be preached by various clerics including Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.   When he reached the land of the Saxons, he continued to preach the crusade, but was soon asked to change his message.  He was approached by Count Adolph, who had been leading the fighting against the Wends, who asked instead that Bernard preach a crusade against the Wends, which would allow the Saxons to continue fighting in Wagria instead of going off to the Holy Land.  After all, the Wends were pagan and therefore could fall under the heading ‘enemies of God’ which had been used to justify the first crusade against the Muslims.  Bernard consented and wrote an appeal for a crusade against the Wends.

            Bernard’s letter demonstrates a very clear and specific understanding of the idea of a Crusade and how it is to be fought.  Although this fight is not occurring in the holy land, he clearly states that all of the same rules apply, saying:

“We utterly forbid that for any reason whatsoever a truce should be made with these peoples, either for the sake of money or for the sake of tribute, until such time as, by God’s help, they shall either be converted or wiped out.” (St. Bernard, Appeal for Crusaders to Fight the Slavs)

This statement demonstrates that Bernard saw no reason to make any exceptions regarding how this crusade was to be carried out despite a difference in location.  Moreover, his warning against making a treaty for “the sake of money or…tribute” demonstrates that prior to this appeal; the fight against the Wends was primarily a land grab rather than a Holy War.  Bernard also places an emphasis that on the fact that those who go on the crusade against the Wends “will obtain the same spiritual privileges” as those travelling to the Holy Land, suggesting that he sees these two wars on an equal level despite the difference in location, and that by granting these spiritual privileges the war is no longer focused on the obtaining of land.  He also mentions the appearance of the army fighting the Wends, saying that they will have the same uniforms as the armies in the Holy Land, since it carries the same privileges.  It is clear in this appeal for help against the Wends that to Saint Bernard, the guidelines of a crusade, such as the refusal to make any peace treaties and the attitude of convert the pagans or kill them.  This suggests that in the mid 12th century, the way warfare was carried out and who it was against was far more important than where the crusade took place. 

            The Wendish Crusade helped to set the scene for a series of wars against other pagan Slavs collectively known as the Baltic Crusade.  The movement began in about 1180 when a priest by the name of Meinhard travelled into the land of the Livonians with Germanic traders, who were making a profit from the resources in Livonia, such as their silver mines.  During the winter, Meinhard offered to help the Livonians build forts in exchange for their conversion to Christianity.  The Livonians agreed, but after the fortifications had been built and they had been baptized, they shrugged off the conversion and continued in their pagan ways.  In addition, they attacked one of the fellow missionaries in the area, and the clerics left soon after, causing the Livonians to become suspicious “that a Christian army would come upon them” (Lettus 28.)  Their worries are soon proven to be true when Meinhard sends Theodric, a fellow missionary, to the pope.  According to the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, the pope felt that the Livonians should continue to embrace the faith “which they had freely promised.  He granted, indeed, the remission of all sins to all those who would take the cross and go to restore that newly founded church” (Lettus 30), signifying the start of the second domestic crusade.

            Unlike the Wendish Crusade, which was a land grab turned into a Crusade by a letter from Saint Bernard, the Baltic Crusade began in a different manner.  As the Germans pushed through Slavic territories, many of which lacked any strong central authority, they would encounter local pagan groups like the Livonians and Lithuanians.  The two would make agreements with each other, often involving the conversion of the group in exchange for fortifications against other tribes of Slavs in the area or goods.  In short succession the pagans would break the agreement the two parties had made.  After that happened, the Germans would depart for a short while and then return with a large army of recruited crusaders who were more than willing to fight the pagans until they died or continued to live their new faith.  These fights were almost always bloody and intensely violent.  Moreover, they were repetitive in what led up to bloodshed, with the only change being the name of the group of people they were fighting against. 

In addition to this pattern, the Baltic Crusade challenged the traditional understanding of a Crusade because of its location.  Like the Wendish Crusade, there was no element of holiness in the area.  No passage from the Bible said that any major biblical event or person was related to Livonia, so justification for it was much, much harder.  While Saint Bernard primarily relied on associating the devil with the Wends, Henry of Livonia and other clerics began to associate the land with the Virgin Mary, as many churches in the area were dedicated to her.  Since all of these churches were built in her name, in a sense the area around the Baltic became ‘her’ land.  This concept offered a justification for the location of the Crusade, putting it on equal footing with the fighting in the Holy Land. 

The Baltic Crusade also raises the question of land grabbing, like the Wendish Crusade before it.  While Henry’s Chronicle places an emphasis on the conversion and saving of the various pagan Slavs around the Baltic Sea, he does take time towards the end of the books to focus on the power struggle for trading and land between Germany and Denmark.  As the crusade continued wear on, new resources were exploited and taken advantage of by the Germans.  Denmark soon began to send their own missionaries into the area in order to take advantage of the resources as well, leading to disputes between the two countries.  Henry of Livonia was disgusted by the land grabbing aspect that the venture had taken on.  Priests were some of the first people in the area, so a religious atmosphere had always been predominant.  He rebuked them by employing the figure of Mary, whose lands they were destroying, by saying “The Blessed Virgin does not, indeed, delight in the great tribute which converts are accustomed to, nor does She wish to impose upon them a heavy burden…” (Lettus 200).  His statement echoes St. Bernard’s furious warning against making treaties with pagans in order to gain land during the Wendish Crusade, suggesting that the Western Crusades maintained an underlying focus on the acquisitions of land, instead of simply focusing on the conversion of pagans in the area. 

The Cathar Crusade in the south of France is one of the last crusades and serves to demonstrate just how far the concept of crusade had changed, even compared to the other non-middle eastern crusades.  The Cathars were a heretical sect, whose presence was reported to have been in France as early as 1145 when Saint Bernard was sent to preach against their beliefs and recruit for the second crusade.  The group was dualistic in world view, believing there to be two gods – a good one of spirit and a wicked one of matter, and rejected many aspects of traditional Catholicism including an almost complete disregards for the Old Testament.  Due to their emphasis on the spiritual rather than the worldly, they also rejected the Catholic Church’s authority openly, rumoured to have compared the institution to the whore of Babylon from the book of Revelation.  These beliefs, combined with the rejection of church authority led to many campaigns of preaching to the heretics from 1145 to 1208.  In his chronicle William of Puylaurens describes a debate between the archbishop of Alibi and one of the major Cathar leaders.  The debate described is very friendly, and concludes with the bishop telling the heretics that they must “go back to the beginning and read correctly what you have so far read incorrectly” (William 16).    However, gentle reprimands from the church and friendly debate and preaching failed to affect any change in the Cathars.  The group still maintained its beliefs and continued to reject the authority of the Catholic Church.  By 1208, Pope Innocent III called for a crusade in the South of France in order to wipe out the heretical sect.    He “promised indulgences” (William 29), and the crusade started in earnest.

Like the Baltic crusade, the crusade against the Cathars was extremely bloody, perhaps even more so.  Unlike in the Wendish and Baltic crusades, telling apart heretic from non-heretic was far more difficult, as there was no difference in appearance like with Muslims or with pagan Slavs who would at least dress differently.  In addition, non-Cathars were willing to protect the Cathars and take arms with them against the crusaders because these Cathars were friends, family and neighbours.  This loyalty led to a crusade that was far bloodier, crystallized in the incident at Beziers, France in 1209.  The event is described in chapter thirteen of William of Puylauren’s chronicle.  When the crusaders approached, both Cathar and Catholic holed up in the Church of the Blessed Mary Magdalene, evoking the law of sanctuary. The crusaders could either destroy the church or go in and ask every single person inside to outline their beliefs and to try and determine who was a Cathar and who was not.  The latter would have prevented much bloodshed, but also would have been time consuming and ineffective.  So, on 22 July 1209, the crusaders attacked the Church of the Blessed Mary Magdalene “and massacred many thousands of [people]” (William 33), not bothering to differentiate between the two groups.

It is hard to pinpoint where the Cathar Crusade ended.  Usually the debated upon dates are 1229 and 1244.  1229 marks the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which put the inquisition in control of dealing with heretics.  Although William of Puylaurens does not go into the details, saying “since many people have written versions in the common tongue” (William 80), but does explain that the treaty between the king and Count Raymond. Stipulations included the fact that Raymond would not be allowed to pass on his kingdom to his heirs; he would spend several years in Outremer, pay 27,000 silver marks and various other agreements.  Raymond’s daughter had earlier married the king’s brother as well, which gave the king of France footing in the south area of the country, which traditionally had very little royal interference before hand.  This treaty allowed the king of France to express his royal authority, expanding it greatly.  In addition, the inquisition was set up, decreasing the number of crusader knights needed to fight against the heretics.  While they were still met with fierce opposition, fighting overall decreased.  The date of 1244 is often given because of the siege of Montsegur, a Cathar stronghold where many of them fled. It was besieged in 1243 and stood until 1244.  Those atop Montsegur were offered the chance to convert or die.  Of the 200 or so men and women there, many “were invited to accept conversion, but they refused.  They were confined to an enclosure made of pales and stakes.  This was set on fire, they were burnt” (William 108).  At this point in time, the crusade had shifted back from the royal assertion of power back to the fighting of heretics, but not in as great numbers as before.

The Wendish, Baltic and Albigensian crusades challenge the popular notion of what defines a crusade by questioning the location, intent and underlying theme.  These three wars prove that crusades were not simply based on one geographic location, but took on a Euro-centric form, focusing on belief, starting with a focus on European pagans and ending with a focus on heretical sects within Catholicism.   This suggests that a crusade should not be narrowly defined or viewed as a concept with only one definition.  Instead, a crusade should be viewed as a phenomenon which evolved through the 11th until the 13th century, encompassing many different understandings of what defines an enemy of God, heresy and what makes a location sacred.