The Narrative of the Second Crusade: An Alteration of the Traditional Life Cycle
“At last the day long desired by the king was at hand. So, too, the abbot, endowed with the papal authorization and his own holiness, and the huge multitude of those who had been summoned were at hand at the appointed time and place.”
Odo of Deuil, De Profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem: the Journey of Louis VII to the East, trans. by Virginia Gingerick Berry (New York: Columbia University Press, 1948), 9.
Introduction
Supporting the papacy and monarchs’ scheme, court historians of the Second Crusade (c. 1145-1150) portrayed this expedition as an epic story of martyrdom. Unlike the stories of the First Crusade that describe heroic battles and victories, the stories of the Second Crusade, a military failure, depict the electrifying atmosphere at the instigation of the expedition in Europe, drawing attention away from the crusaders' defeats. European monarchs and Church officials redefined the traditional medieval life cycle highlighting stages and characteristics of a new life cycle: joining a new family, rebirth, youth, brotherhood, and manhood. This new life cycle narrative was used to protect the legacies of the instigators of the Second Crusade insuring their continued control, as well as laying the groundwork for further crusades effectively perpetuating violence; it is therefore crucial to study such narratives and their impact over time.
Contemporary scholarship in the past two decades has shifted away from mining Crusade chronicles for empirical facts and toward examining these sources for insight into cultural values and the use of narrative. Scholars such as Marcus Bull, Jonathan Phillips, and Nicholas Paul have examined some of the distinctive elements of how crusader life was depicted and how these depictions were in turn used to further recruitment. It is clear from Second Crusade chronicles that crusaders were also offered an opportunity to enter into new families and operate based on a separate concept of the life cycle. Moreover, this new life cycle was used not only to motivate new recruits, but also to encourage already-recruited crusaders at key moments (e.g. before a battle).
The new life cycle narrative created for the recruitment of second crusaders altered the typical medieval life cycle that existed outside of the crusading enterprise. This new life cycle included a biological-theological division of the different life stages such as conception, birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, old age, death, and afterlife. This is exemplified in art, such as the Ten Ages of Man in the De Lisle Psalter (c.1310-1320), and in much other medical and theological literature. Monarchs and Church officials modified the typical life cycle in order to accomplish their political goals. This included alterations of the features of sacred pilgrimages to fit the Second Crusade, turning the traditional pilgrim journey into an armed expedition exclusive to crusaders.
Drawing a connection between second crusaders and first crusaders was crucial to the recruitment of second crusaders. As Nicholas Paul argues, papal letters issued during the Second Crusade emphasized kinship to first crusaders and created an obligation, especially on aristocratic descendants of first crusaders, to participate in the Second Crusade. This paper adds to Paul’s argument that institutions connecting second crusaders to first crusaders was not only for recruitment prior to the expedition, but also to incite troops before battles. Local bishops and noble crusaders linked first and second crusaders in their speeches and sermons given to recruited soldiers appealing to their most fundamental feelings: their desire to belong to an exclusive group and their yearning to return to their families.
The sources I examine in depth include The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa by Otto of Freising (d.1158), The Journey of Louis VII to the East by Odo of Deuil (d.1162), and The Conquest of Lisbon, a piece loosely associated with an individual named Osbernus. Written and published in the aftermath of military failures, these primary sources describe the excitement of soldiers before battles to encourage new recruits to join future crusades. Local Church officials and noble crusaders might have recycled the propaganda that was spread all over Western Europe during the instigation of the Second Crusade. It is impossible to know whether these quoted orations are accurate—nonetheless, the orations are valuable for historical analysis and may have been written to lay propagandist foundations for future crusades.
As primary sources point out, the Second Crusade was instigated as a political initiative that was embraced and intensified by Church officials. Otto of Freising provides details about the unrest that took place between European regimes prior to the Second Crusade. The mutual agreement to embark on an armed expedition, he argues, rapidly eased the tension between monarchs: “Suddenly almost the entire West became so still that not only the waging of war but even the carrying of arms in public was considered wrong.” Otto of Freising also specifies the personal motivation of King Louis VII (d.1180) for the Second Crusade: “Louis [VII] was impelled by a secret desire to go to Jerusalem because his brother Philip has bound himself by the same vow but had been prevented by death.” It is tempting to speculate that the motivations of King Louis VII in instigating the Second Crusade were an intriguing mystery to most, and therefore, the writer fabricates the King’s motivations and protects himself from corroboration by claiming secrecy. King Louis VII then delivered his proposal to the famous abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (d.1153) who forwarded the request to Pope Eugenius III (d.1153) who authorized the plan. Odo of Deuil presents a similar storyline: “meanwhile the king [Henry VII] was ever active in the undertaking, sent messengers concerning it to pope Eugenius at Rome. They were received gladly and sent home glad, bearing letters sweeter than any honey comb.” After Pope Eugenius III and Bernard of Clairvaux instigated the expedition, German, French, Norman, Scottish, and English crusaders set foot in Iberia, Jerusalem, and the Baltic region. Here, they battled with different Turkish armies and were confronted by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I (d.1180) and his forces. Despite being a military failure on most fronts, the Second Crusade was extraordinary in its geographical scope and in the numbers of recruited soldiers, nobles, and monarchs.
The New Life Cycle
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Across chronicles, Church officials and nobles proclaimed that second crusaders were of noble descent, adding crusaders to a new type of family unit. Osbernus wrote about this propaganda as it appeared in a speech given by Hervey de Glanvill, a Norman noble, to second crusaders in the city of Porto, where he referred to previous crusaders as ancestors: “Recalling the virtues of our ancestors, we ought to strive to increase the honor and glory of our race.” In addition, Osbernus described a sermon given by a local bishop linking second crusaders to the biblical people of Israel: “Certainly the Children of Israel waged war against the Amorites when they were refused a peaceful passage. And you therefore, being people of Israel, sons of Christ, and servants of the cross, shall it be permitted to the adversaries of the cross to insult you with impunity?”
Furthermore, he quoted Church officials calling God the father and Church the mother of the crusaders. Church officials used this idea of a father and mother to provoke second crusaders before battles: “To you the mother Church, as if it were with her arms cut off and her face disfigured, appeals for help; she seeks vengeance at your hands for the blood of her sons.” In a different case, Otto of Freising quoted a letter by Bernard of Clairvaux depicting second crusaders as the sons of the first crusaders: “For it is evident that it will be the greatest proof of nobility and integrity if that which the might of the fathers won is mightily defended by you, their sons.” By calling first crusaders fathers and connecting second crusaders to early Christian generations and the people of Israel, the second crusaders were added to a larger family unit of noble, heroic fighters chosen by God.
In order to join a crusading family, second crusaders were required to leave their original families. Wills from that time clarify that crusaders were aware of the prospect that they may never return. Phillips brings forth a will written by William VI of Montpellier (d.1149), who joined the Second Crusade and listed valuable belongings and rights of lands to his family. Second Crusade preachers were well aware that crusaders were leaving their families, lifestyles, and possessions behind. In The Conquest of Lisbon, Osbernus recaleds a speech he and crusaders arriving at the city of Porto had heard from a local bishop, who gave a sermon praising the second crusaders by stating what they had left behind: “alluring affection of wives, the tender kisses of suckling infants at the breast, the even more delightful pledges of grown-up children…consolation of relatives and friends—all these they have left behind to follow Christ. An early example of crusaders leaving their families can be seen in Bernard of Clairvaux’s text as well. The author described how the Knights Templar live gladly without their family: “They live as brothers in joyful and sober company, without wives or children.” In contrast to Osbernus, Bernard of Clairvaux presented separation from an original family as an opportunity for soldiers to create a new family, alleviating the burden of separation from their families, land, and friends.
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Joining the crusader army provided an opportunity for rebirth and the idea of this appeared in the early stages of the instigation of the Second Crusade. In his account, Odo of Deuil wrote that Pope Eugene III agreed to King Louis VII’s request to support an armed pilgrimage. This support included the promise to erase the sins of any Christian man who participated in the Second Crusade. This promise was corroborated by Otto of Freising and by Osbernus, who quoted a bishop giving a sermon to crusaders in the city of Porto before the first attack on Lisbon: “ dear sons, reborn of a new baptism of repentance, you have put on Christ once more, you have received again the garment of innocence to keep it stainless.” These second crusaders who heard this speech were on their way to battle and were aware of the danger awaiting them. The bishop’s declaration, supported by the pope, was a promise that crusaders would enter the afterlife sinless. The Church used the afterlife to abate fear of death in an attempt to create fearless soldiers.
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“Greatly to be lamented is the fate of these active youths who, midway in their course, encountered winged death instead of the enemy.” Odo of Deuil here described the battle between the Saxons and a Turkish army that lasted several days until the Turks defeated the Saxons. In a different battle, Odo of Deuil linked youth to bravery: “Then, taking the bows in hand, the seasoned youths began to leap down from the wall, so that they might either protect their own lives and those of their comrades or sell their lives dearly.” In these examples, Odo of Deuil underscores the theme of martyrdom and bravery of youth in battle. The writer highlighs the young age of these soldiers to praise the sacrifice they made by dying at a young age. The young age of the soldiers appeals to the emotions of the reader and to an extent excuses the defeat in battle.
Young men who did not die in battle were referenced the purpose of recruiting and glorifying crusaders. In Osbernus’ account, he described a sermon given by a local bishop to crusaders. Here, this bishop told a story about a young man who was sad to sell all of his belongings. The bishop then addressed the crowd: “How many are there among you here who are richer in possessions than this young man! How many who are higher in the rank of honor! … Yet it is a fact that they have exchanged all their honors and dignities for a blessed pilgrimage …”. Here rather that praising the sacrifice of young men, youth serves to elevate the great sacrifice of older crusaders that gave up established and honorable lives for the crusade. In his account, Odo of Deuil wrote that many crusaders converted to Islam due to the kind treatment they received from Turkish soldiers, as opposed to the Byzantines: “avoiding the fellow-believers [Byzantine] who were so cruel to them, the Franks went safely among the unbelievers who had compassion on them; and, we have heard, more than three thousand young men went with the Turks when they departed.” The writer described these crusaders as young in order to rationalize their grave sin and differentiate them from older knights and nobles. This assertion is supported by Osbernus, who describes youth as a stage inferior to knighthood.
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The culture of brotherhood in relation to crusaders appeared before the instigation of the Second Crusade. The influential Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux depicts the Knights Templar as bonded in “brotherly love.” At the beginning of the Second Crusade, the idea of brotherhood took the form of a bond between second crusaders and Christian populations. Otto of Freising quoted a letter by Bernard of Clairvaux, who Pope Eugene III had sent to call the crusaders in order to free Christian populations under Muslim rule: “rescue out of their hands the many thousands of captives, our brothers.” Later in the crusade, preachers promoted values of brotherhood in battles. In The Conquest of Lisbon, Osbernus discussed a long sermon delivered by a priest referring to second crusaders as brothers multiple times.
Crusading brotherhood consisted of a shared religion and collective memories, and this idea of brotherhood was one of the most crucial elements in the story of the Second Crusade. The second crusaders who set out from western Europe all acted under the banner of the Catholic Church. These soldiers perceived themselves as originating from the same race, despite coming from different countries across all of western Europe. Moreover, the soldiers and commanders of the Second Crusade grew up hearing the same stories and legacies of the First Crusade. These elements culminated in the distinctive phenomenon of crusading brotherhood and enabled the execution of such a complex international initiative. By joining the Second Crusade, soldiers were told that they could become brothers, even if they were not part of the Latin Church. The constant use of the idea of brotherhood gave soldiers and recruits a sense of belonging, responsibility for one another, and purpose for fighting.
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Manhood played a vital part in the story of the Second Crusade. In the account of Otto of Freising, it is apparent that Church officials often depicted second crusaders as “brave men.” In Bernard of Clairvaux's Second Crusade instigation letter, he associates being a crusader with manhood: “The more mighty and the noble, gird themselves manfully and strive thus to oppose the multitudes of the infidels.” It is without a doubt that this Church-directed narrative affected Otto of Freising’s portrayal of second crusaders as courageous men. In a candid instance, he mentioned the purpose of this rhetoric: “To extol the famous deeds of valiant men in order to incite the hearts of mankind to virtue.”
While second crusaders were portrayed as men, European men who did not join the Second Crusade were denied both their masculinity and also basic human features in western European primary sources. When Crusade chronicles allude to non-western Europeans, they often avoid attaching manhood or any life stage specifics. In the account of Odo of Deuil, the writer depicted orthodox Christian men becoming women: “And then the Greeks degenerated entirely into women; putting aside all manly vigor, both of words and of spirit, they lightly swore whatever they thought would please us, but they neither kept faith with us nor maintained respect for themselves.” It is in the account of Otto of Freising that we find perhaps the most explicit example of the dehumanization of non-Franks. This comes up in the writer’s description of the geography of Hungary, which was part of the second crusaders’ route: “They are barbarous and ferocious in their habits and language…I will not say men, but caricatures of men.” Otto of Freising also denied manhood to other non-crusader Europeans, and his description of Hungarians illuminated this as a deliberate method for dehumanization.
When describing Muslim soldiers, writers of the Second Crusade do not deny their enemies manhood the same way they do to non-crusader Europeans. In the writings of Osbernus, the writer quotes a sermon of a bishop to second crusaders in the battle of Lisbon, depicting Muslim warriors as men multiple times: “And he who puts wicked men to death is a servant of the Lord.” In this sermon, the bishop referred indirectly to Muslims as men, albeit wicked men. In a meeting between a Muslim delegation from the city of Lisbon and second crusaders, Osbernus portrayed some of the Muslim delegation as wise elders. In a more exceptional example, the writer compared second crusaders to their Muslim enemies during the battle of Lisbon: “almost all our men had gathered from the ships and were already so mixed up with the enemy in the city that they could hardly be recognized except by the difference in their weapons.” Osbernus was not the only writer who depicts his enemy differently when describing battle-related stories. Odo of Deuil associated Turkish soldiers with manhood several times, such as when discussing rumors about battles between German crusading forces and Turkish armies: “they [the Byzantine Empire] said that the Turks had assembled a huge army and that the Germans had killed 14,000 of these men without experiencing any loss.” The Muslim forces who the crusaders encountered were not a potential recruiting pool for the Church, and emphasizing them as men equal to crusaders serves to glorify the crusaders in triumph and minimize shame in defeat. Even the Muslim enemies were portrayed with more dignity than Europeans that did not join the Second Crusade, this served the purpose of glorifying those that did join and salvaging the one success of the second crusade, which is recruitment.
Conclusion
The writers of the Second Crusade chronicles, directed by the papacy and monarchs, repurposed the traditional medieval life cycle that touched upon many aspects of human life—biological, social, cultural, and religious. In doing so, they could glorify crusaders, recruit future crusaders, explain desertion of the crusade, dehumanize Europeans who did not join the crusade, and mask military failure. In doing so, they actively protected the crusading enterprise and fueled later crusades. It is imperative to look at later accounts to determine the impact of the narrative of the Second Crusade on future crusades. This could underscore the mechanisms used to convince populations to carry out violent expeditions and thus recognize modern narratives exploiting the same approach.
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