War and Violence in the Western Sources for the First Crusade

Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-90-04-69033-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 143, 424 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 717 g

Reihe: History of Warfare

Medieval Westerners accepted killing for religion and praised the outcome of the First Crusade (1096-1099). At the same time, their attitude to violence was ambivalent. Theologians shunned the practical use of force, while the warrior aristocracy valued the capacity for physical destruction. In the absence of theological doctrine on the practicalities of holy warfare, the first crusaders draw their ideas about killing from diverse and sometimes conflicting traditions.

This book answers questions about how religious violence was described, justified and remembered in the sources of the First Crusade. What was the relation between faith, convention, and action?

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kangas, Sini

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

1 Introduction

1 What Is Crusading All About?

2 Defining Violence

3 Sources

3.1 Eyewitnesses of the First Crusade: Gesta Francorum, Raymond of Aguilers, Fulcher of Chartres and Other Contemporary Chroniclers

3.2 Vernacular Chansons of the Crusades

3.3 Legal Sources

2 Canonical Theory

1 Greco-Roman and Judaic Origins of Just War Theory

2 The Question of Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence and the Concept of Crusade

2.1 The Canon Law Principles in the Framework of the First Crusade

2.2 Parallel Phenomena

3 Conclusions

3 Military Tradition

1 Practice of Warfare

2 Laws of War and Homicide

2.1 Restriction of Private War

2.2 Hostage-Taking and Captivity

3 The Great Encounter

3.1 Crusader Hero

3.2 Vengeance

3.3 Knight and Church

3.4 The Great Encounter against a Noble Enemy

3.5 Categories of Crusader Violence in the Gesta Francorum

4 The Cleric in Holy War

4.1 Clerics on the First Crusade

4.2 Forced Conversion

5 Conclusions

4 Crusader Belief

1 Papal Launch of the First Crusade

2 Sin

2.1 Cruelty

2.2 Avarice

2.3 Lasciviousness

3 Remedy

3.1 A Violent God

3.2 Cleansing the Temple

4 The Adversary

4.1 Guibert of Nogent on Saracens

4.2 The Darker Side of the Mirror Image

5 Conclusions

5 Afterword

Appendix: Timeline of the First Crusade

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Sini Kangas, Ph.D (1973), Tampere University, is a Researcher of the Crusades and Christian ideological warfare. She has published many articles on the history of the Crusades and edited monographs, including Authorities in the Middle Ages: Influence, Legitimacy, and Power in Medieval Society (with Mia Korpiola and Tuija Ainonen, Walter deGruyter, 2013).