Medieval Europe: Post-Carolingian Era and the Crusades
Medieval Universal History
Theme 1: Post-Carolingian Europe
1. End of Empire: Strife Among Heirs
After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the sons of Louis the Pious divided the empire into three parts: Charles the Bald kept West Francia, Louis got East Francia, and Lothair was left with the strip in the middle of the imperial territory (from Rome to the Netherlands). Lothair’s territory remained as future expansion territory for one of the domains of his brothers. When Lothair died in 870, Charles and Louis divided Lorraine by the Treaty of Meersen. New political structures were formed in Europe, like the France of Charles the Bald, Louis the German, and two new smaller kingdoms under the influence of the great kingdoms: Burgundy and Italy.
The kings of the east side focused on the internal struggles and conflicts arising from transgressions of those who believed they were entitled to power, while fighting against the Slavs, a barrier to communication and economic development of eastern Saxony and Thuringia. The victory over the Magyars or Hungarians allowed the entrenchment of the Ottonians, extended to the east, and got the Empire to Italy. The Magyars then created small states on the eastern border by exercising control over trade routes.
In the tenth century, what remained of the Carolingian Empire began to fade after the death of Louis IV, and the major divisions of Eastern Francia were: Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Lorraine, and Bavaria. They would shape Europe’s future policy. The noble class made up these states or boundaries in the struggle for power. But for the first time, you see a unified foreign policy against Magyars and Slavs.
In the late ninth century – early tenth century, the Magyars, Slavs, and Avars attacked Bavaria, Thuringia, Swabia, and Franconia. This led to the depopulation of the countryside and walled urban migration.
Conrad I, King of Germany and Duke of Franconia, was the most powerful of those nobles, but was chosen for his military skills against the Magyars. The Battle of the River Inn ended the Magyar danger (913), initiating a period of tranquility. He carried out the institutional organization of Germany with opposition from the other nobles, as Conrad I advocated the restoration of the rule to address the dangers of eastern France. Therefore, he sought the deal with the bishops and the Church to stop the political growth of other nobles. But he could configure the hereditability of the house of Franconia in front of Eastern France. Before he died, Conrad suggested his successor was Henry of Saxony, to whom he sent the royal insignia in recognition mode.
Henry I or Henry the Fowler (919-936), was the son of Otto, chief executive of Louis V, and came to power with the initial approval of the nobles of Saxony and Franconia, Swabia, and Bavaria to get after some concessions: coinage currency, appointment of bishops, and royal control of land. Despite these concessions, Henry began a time of strengthening the monarchy.
Henry I was primarily a military leader, reaching Lorraine to recover and prepared the recovery of the empire. He also appeared in Bohemia, providing impetus to evangelization. Between 924 and 933, he conducted military reforms necessary to stop the Hungarians, on the one hand, and strengthening urban enclaves, on the other hand, building strengths, while creating a powerful heavy cavalry to fight the Slavs, whom he beat in Lenzen.
While wearing these reforms, he had led others as a colonization movement called “Drang nach Osten,” affecting the north and east of the kingdom and strengthened those areas off the invasion.
In the religious sphere, he supported monastic communities and made use of many churchmen for the State Administration. He also faced the Danes who threatened North Saxony, but it would mostly be the magnitude of the Magyar danger which made the Dukes unite their efforts with the king, who was supported by neighboring princes of Bohemia Wenceslas.
Succession of Henry I followed the principle of Carolingian inheritability, accessing the throne by his son Otto I, but not divided his kingdom among his children, causing constant rebellions and fighting succession between 936 and 941, which never recognized Otto as king.
2. The Ottonian Empire
Otto I (936-972) succeeded Henry I. He organized the kingdom of Germany and his external actions were excellent. His coronation in Aachen was an unusual status symbol: noble choice, popular acclamation, attended by the Dukes of Bavaria, Lorraine, Franconia, and Swabia. But the subjection of the nobles was not complete and Otto I had to work to strengthen the prestige of the crown, but, ultimately, with the support of senior Church leaders and cited the Duke, Otto I was able to consolidate his power.
The continuing problems of the early years was the weakness of the kingdom. His brothers Henry and Thankmar rose again and again, and in 953 and 954, his son Liudolf, Duke of Swabia, rebelled, who feared his father’s marriage to Adelaide de Provence, and finally, his son, Conrad, would revolt. Secondly, the nobility, to which Otto I cut their power and limited their inheritability with the aim of retaining the capacity of appointment. There were riots in 937 and 952 to prevent noble premiums to some than to others. Lorraine was divided into two duchies (Upper and Lower Lorraine), while Thuringia and Westphalia were consolidated power as areas of Saxony and break away from all the territory of Carinthia and the East. Swabia was not divided, but the Duke was always a stranger. Only form a ducal dynasty of Saxony. By this policy, Otto I got county titles were with the Crown and in defending the peace.
One of the foundations of royal power of Otto I lay in alliance with the Church: Otto and his successors were considered patrons of the Episcopal churches, put them under his protection, and privileges granted immunity over their time allocations, allocating powers of royal power over markets, tolls, and coinage. Thus, in the eleventh century, bishops could be seen in functions outside their homeland, the church became a staunch supporter of royal authority that lasted until the Gregorian reform.
Otto I walked toward strengthening the Crown, but to get the respect it required a decisive victory over external threats. Otto I was directed against the Magyars, defeating them in Lechfeld, near Augsburg (955). This year also went against the Slavs of the Elbe, who won in Recknitz, pushing the Germanic expansion to the east, providing extensive territories with which to reward his warriors and colonize, while organized an ecclesiastical province with a Slavic Magdeburg (968).
Otto was involved in France, where he exerted his influence with the election of Louis IV (936-954), married a sister of Otto I who signed peace with the Vise-sur-Meuse (942), by which the king of Lorraine renounced French that integrated into the Empire.
The same policy is maintained with Lothair (954-986), who after the death of his father was under the tutelage of Brutus, archbishop of Cologne and brother of Otto I. In France, the royal power was very small compared to the great nobles, especially Hugo, the powerful “Dux Franciae”, married a sister of Otto I and was the true arbiter of politics that evolved in their favor, since the untimely death of Louis V (986-987), provided that Hugh Capet, son of the “Dux Franciae”, was made king with German support and the Church.
Referring to Burgundy, Provence, and Italy, the “Pact of recommendation” established in 937, which Conrad III of Burgundy recognized that if he died without children, Burgundy would be inherited by the Empire. In Italy, came to the throne Lombard Berengar II (950-962) who paid tribute to Otto, but fans of the late Lothair joined Adelaide de Provence, and achieved that Otto came in Italy, take Pavia, be married to Adelaide and wear the Iron Crown of Lombardy. In Rome, most aristocratic factions supported Agapito II when denying the imperial crown. In the absence of Otto, rebellions erupted (952) that forced the king to return to the Empire, and Berengar II regained the throne.
Berengar II and his pretensions to the duchy of Spoleto, caused the Pope John XII (955-964) to ask Otto I to help him with the commitment to give the imperial title. Berengar II was defeated at Pavia in 962 and Otto I was crowned emperor in Rome (2-II-962) and gave the “Privilegium Ottoniarum” by which he confirmed the donations of the Church from Pepin the Short, also incorporated the imperialist demands the “Constitutio Lotharii” of 824, the obligation to obtain the “placet” the emperor before dedicating any pope, and that the elected and accepted him swear an oath of allegiance. Otto I did not accept restraints policies with respect to the papacy, but was this which was subject to the will of the emperor.
The history of the papacy in these years shows an alternation between periods of imperial interventions and disorder dominated by large Roman lineage. In 962, Emperor and Pope had conflicting interests, and maneuvers of John XII against Otto I brought it to convene a synod to overthrow and replace Pope Leo VIII (963-965), causing a fight between the two popes until John XII died in 964. But, having fled Leo VIII with Otto I, the Romans elected Benedict V, who worked to clean up the image of his predecessor. But one month after its proclamation, Leo VIII and Otto returned to Rome, and deposed at a synod Benedict V, lowered a deacon, and was banished to Hamburg.
Leo VIII died, the emperor imposed on John XIII (965-972) believing that he could rule over Rome, yet two months later there was a rebellion and fled with John XIII Otto I. On 14-XI-966, with many Imperial troops, the pope returned to the Lateran and Otto I, after punishing the ringleaders of the rebellion, as Duke won the Rome Crescencio I (966-984), brother of the pope, but Otto I became suspicious, and stayed in Italy until 972. The emperor, while he negotiated an alliance with some Italian nobles as the Duke of Spoleto and marquis of Tuscany, in order to establish a double offensive: the Byzantines of Apulia and Calabria, and against the Muslims of Sicily. But the attacks failed, and even denied the validity Nicephorus Phocas of Otto’s imperial title and claimed Rome and Ravenna. However, relations with Constantinople entered a diplomatic way of harmony, recalling the marriage of the Byzantine princess Theophano and Otto, son and successor of Otto I, held in Rome in 972 and shortly after Otto returned to Germany where he died the following year and was buried in Magdeburg.
Otto II (973-983) ascended the imperial throne in 18 years. He was king from 961 when he was crowned co-emperor in Aachen in 967. His reign was easier than his father, not would face the Dukes, but he had internal and external problems. He had to cope with the interference of his mother and the rebellion of his brother Henry, Duke of Bavaria, and so had to do in Bohemia, where the Duke Boleslav II (972-999), wanted to emancipate, as Mieszco I of Poland, which restored the previous situation after years of struggle.
The instability in the empire was seized by Lothair, king of the Western Franks, who entered and ransacked Lorraine Aachen (978). Otto II could not answer for being preoccupied with the rebellion of the dukes of Bavaria and Bohemia, but once mastered, attacked France, arriving at the gates of Paris, where he was arrested by Hugh Capet in exchange for ceding to Otto II the whole Lorraine, i.e. Upper and Lower Lorraine, including the Duchy of Brabant.
Otto II had undergone training and traditions very different from his father and could provide a further link in Italian affairs. Pacified Germany and the western border, Otto II decided to take Italy, where he arrived in 980 to Pavia, Ravenna, and Rome, restoring imperial rule, with the support of bishops and abbots, as well as planned expansion into the south.
Otto II Theophano demanded dowry that included the Byzantine lands in Italy, but was established to organize a military campaign on Tarentum (981), in which the imperial troops failed. The following year, against Muslims in Sicily and Calabria, organized a powerful army that was defeated in Cape Colonna (982). The impact of the disaster came to the Empire, in which the Danes had crossed the border and the Elbe Slavs rose up, destroying the work of Christianization of Otto I. But Otto II remained in Italy and when he died of malaria following year, he still thought to address an urgent campaign against Muslims.
The throne was left to a 3-year-old Otto III (983-1002), and the possibility of initiating a dispute in the Empire charged more strength, but saved by his advisers and Wiligis Theophano, archbishop of Mainz, Chancellor Hildebaldo, Bishop of Worms, and Adelaide, which took over the regency in 992, after the death of Theophano.
Verona elected king and crowned at Aachen by the archbishop of Mainz, at age 14 began his short reign distinguished by its original theory and its political projects, inspired by his advisers and Adalbert Gerbert of Aurillac. It was a combination of hardness Saxon Otto II and the refined spirit of his mother. With him ended the Franco regime East Saxon kingdom, and its conjunction with the Roman Empire. Ottonian Empire continued to offer the same duplicity that was found in the tenth century Italian politics and did not prevent the emperors to focus on German politics, the Crown had arrested Slavs, Hungarians, Danes, and the Western Franks, but the duchies German and external threats required the royal presence in Germany.
In 994 he marched against the Slavs, whom he defeated a year later. Then Otto III could focus on his Italian policy, trying to turn political center of Rome in its domain, coming to take Byzantine imperial symbols as part of “Renovatio Imperii Romanorum “I wanted to make. In 996, Otto III met in Ravenna death of Pope John XV, who had asked for help to John Crescendo II, an usurper of the noble title of “Patrician of the Romans” that belonged to Otto III. Immediately, the pope appointed Bruno’s cousin, grandson of Otto I, who took the name Gregory V (996-999). Gregory V crowned German emperor young emperor.
Pope and Emperor were Germans and Rome, the center of the Empire. Otto III was “Romanorum Imperator Augustus” and started the Renovatio Imperii. Rome moved to Aachen, the court will fall in the Monte Aventino revitalized Roman symbolism and recovering the old titles seeking to attract the Italian nobility. But the Roman nobility did not accept a Pope and German Emperor, and when Otto III returned to Germany, Gregory V wanted to impose its authority over the Roman factions. In 997, the riots caused the flight Crescencio John Gregory V was leaving the field clear for John Crescencio, supported by Byzantium, appointed as the new Pope John Philagathus Greek, imperial ambassador in Constantinople and renamed the John XVI (997-998), but his few political skills demonstrated in the rebellion of the Greek forces in Italy against Otto III, who dissolved the reach of Rome and John Crescencio punish with death made him be captured by a general Germany: his punishment was so hard, they cut off his nose, was blinded, ears sliced and placed in a monastery, after being humiliated on the streets of Rome.
Gregory V While attending the church reform, Otto III appointed as bishop of Ravenna to Gerbert of Aurillac, who joined forces with the Pontiff. In 999, after the death of Gregory V, Pope was appointed Gerbert as Sylvester II (999-1003). Otto III and Sylvester II could launch his political-theocratic, with the spheres of power complemented. Otto led to the conclusion its policy of supporting the higher clergy, and attempted a reconciliation with Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary, to integrate them into Christianity. Otto III’s Pilgrimage to Prague to pray at the tomb of St. Wenceslas was a symbol of new politico-religious empire.
Sylvester II, meanwhile, now holding the primacy of the bishop of Rome, advanced on the path integrator and became the great organizer of the Church in Poland and Hungary, making the conversion of the Hungarian king Stephen (1000-1038).
But the Italian framework was not all quiet and neither were the residents of the Empire, who refused to accept the power of Otto III. In Rome, an aristocratic revolt forced the emperor and the pope to leave the city, and Poland, King Boleslaw I (998-1025), refused to accept the authority of Otto III. When the Roman rebellion was about to be suffocated, dying Otto III in the Paterno Castle (1002). Sylvester II was able to return, but did not return for a long time the government, he died in 1003.
After the death of Otto III, was crowned King Henry of Bavaria, Henry II (1002-1024), who had the support of the Archbishop of Mainz Wiligis, who received the crown. This coronation two magnates opposed: one was Ekkebard, Margrave of Meissen, and Herman, Duke of Swabia. The fragility of the state was highlighted, but the principle owner of the Crown was strengthened while the problem of the succession question was resolved with the murder of Ekkebard and submission of Herman. The involvement of clergy against the emperor did not forget, like the archbishop of Magdeburg who supported the Duke of Swabia.
Henry II did not come to Rome to receive the imperial crown until 1014, since it was necessary to stay in Germany to pacify the Germanic aristocracy and end the sedition, while continuing the rapprochement monarchical bishops.
The absence of the emperor in Italy was taken as a breach of the connections with the Empire and a sector of the Italian aristocracy elected as king of Ardoino Count of Ivrea. The response was tremendous and Henry II, in 1004, German forces returned Italy to the imperial tutelage and Henry II was crowned King of Italy at Pavia, whereupon complete autonomy granted to nobles and cities of the kingdom, encouraging political development of urban centers.
Subsequently, in 1013, Henry returned to Italy with his forces because of the clashes that raised access to the Pontificate, as in Rome, Tusculum and Crescencio fought to the occupation of the papal positions. The Crescendo came to Henry II who, after putting order in Rome, received the imperial crown in 1014. The same attitude we showed with aristocrats and cities, showed with Rome and the Papacy, where until 1046, the emperor intervened only indirectly, through the counts of Tusculum. Therefore, the reign of Henry II is a radical departure from the policy pursued so far by the head of the Empire, the emperor realized that his interests were in Germany which had to pay close attention to the aristocratic ranks, controlling the appointment of the Duke and his ducats, and then secure a basis on to support his government. The problems came from the German county nobility, so that made the Church in that reliable support to govern, giving it rights and lands, mostly in Saxony, promoted and increased the wealth of the German monasteries and improved the system of episcopal election.
The collaboration with Pope Benedict VIII (1012-1024), allowed the emperor to control the affairs of the Church and central Italy. Pope and Emperor attempted to solve the concubinage and simony of the clergy. Henry II was supported by the Church to develop its policy of subjugation and pacification.
The war against Boleslaw I of Poland ended the Polish defeat and the signing of the Peace of Bautzen in 1018, the triumph was completed with the annexation of Bohemia as a duchy. At the same time, Rudolph III of Burgundy, Henry II recognized as heir, being the reason that Burgundy is joined to the Empire, while retaining the political organization of the aristocracy.
Henry II died in 1024 and chosen as the burial place of a bishopric erected by him, the Bamberg. Henry II died without heirs, causing a change of dynasty: the House of Saxony was relieved by the Franconia.
3. The “Renovatio Imperii” and its Basis
The reconstruction of the Empire, after the demise of the Carolingian dynasty, is the result of the political work of Henry I. He then established a bond of blood that made the Crown family heritage of Henry, a well transmitting through heredity, but the successor should be ratified by the Saxon elective system.
In this new state there was a principle by which the princes of the various duchies could choose among themselves who would be king of Germany and this election should be ratified by the lay princes (dukes, earls, and mangroves) and ecclesiastics (archbishops, bishops, and abbots). The Ottos, through the expedient of involving their children living with her throne hereditability trying to extend it, it was necessary to have a direct line male descendant, but Otto III died without heirs, the system restored and elective consolidated with the death of Henry II and the coming to power of the House of Franconia.
Several factors made the choice to replace inheritance by will of Henry I. First, a higher prestige won in the battlefields, and second, a long-range marriage policy which created submissions and dependencies, but this did not exclude the possibility that he had disputes at the time of succession, as illustrated by the battle of Otto I usurpers with family, to be crowned to be crowned by Hildeberto of Mainz, who said: “Otto was a king by God’s design, choice of his father and acclamation of the German princes.
And so began the road to “Traslatio Imperii”. After defeating the Magyars, Otto I was able to access the imperial dignity and an important milestone represents his appointment as “Rex Italicorum” in Pavia (951). The “Traslatio Imperii” Otto I caused more obligations powers. Even so, it reinforced its position on the Church and became a protector of the Papal States. The title was offered the Pope in exchange for protection.
In 962 restored the imperial title and begins a new phase which will last until 1066 and will make all kinds of thoughts and opinions about its meaning and scope. All of them introduce refinements or developments with respect to stocks Carolingian period, but in turn are the foundation of future positions adopted pro-imperial (Ghibellines) and the theocratic positions (Guelph) upheld by the papacy.
At the coronation of Otto I is similar to that of Charlemagne. The German king was entitled to a title that put him over the Kings. For the pontificate the Pope had the right to grant the imperial title and the act of linking the title to the German kings in 962, and though Otto I not infer that this results in any impairment of its power, but if you assume the obligation to Governing a Christianum Imperium and thereby subject to the legitimate basis of a religious nature.
Otto I restored the system of election and coronation in the city of Aachen, he and his heirs are considered heirs of Charlemagne and the imperial title. Since the figure of Otto III, Charlemagne is enlarged and surrounded by legends that are the basis for future uses as a political weapon and decoy mythical. Otto took the title “Imperator Augustus” and Otto II added the word “Romanorum”, while regulating the use of the imperial crown commanded to do by Otto I, while this gave the coronation ceremony of Byzantine influences provided by his mother, Empress Theophano.
Images from the standpoint of religion, the renewal of the rule incorporates the concepts of “Christian Respublica “and” royal priesthood “, now magnified a symbology that is presented as” Lieutenant of Christ “to the emperor, gifted as anyone who” carries the name and figure of Christ. ” This symbolism would be reflected in the imperial crown “four plates adorned with precious stones, before the twelve apostles, behind the twelve tribes of Judah, and sides topics in the Apocalypse. Among them, four emeralds reminding the Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament. In total, eight sides, the number of eternal life. From the front to nape a high arch, to lead a miter under the Crown as the high priests of Israel. ” He also wore a belt, bells and a blue robe, embroidered with Photo of the signs of the zodiac and the symbols of Revelation. Otto III added other symbols of power: the sword and defender of Christianity, the ring as a pact between Emperor and Christians and the staff, and with Henry III the globe, an attribute of Christ as “King of kings.”
The empire was universal, nourished from two sources: a religious or spiritual, which was the essence of the emperor, president of Empire as the geographical area inhabited by Christianity and an advocate and promoter of the faith, and other temporary or policy, since considered the final stage in the series of imperial political spaces. The idea of “Traslatio Imperii” was reflected in the writings of Adso of Montiérender, and with it the concept of legitimacy could only be granted imperial Rome, the seat and cradle of the Empire which would be renewed free of any papal intervention, and that’s the idea Otto III when it set the political capital in Rome and proclaim the “Renovatio Imperii Romanorum,” accompanied by a hierarchy that was clustered around the Empire: Pope mode “high priest “, the various branches of the major constituent regions or nationalities of the Empire as allies and subordinates in the common area of the” Cristianità “universal. Otto III represented the synthesis of the Carolingian tradition, aspirations Germanic and Byzantine influences, reinforced when, after the death of Gregory V, the emperor appointed Gerbert of Aurillac as Pope Sylvester II became. Evoked those earlier times in which the empire was ruled by Constantine and the Church by Sylvester I, though the relationship between emperor and pope was different.
In any case, Otto III “servus Apostles” and Sylvester II “servorum servus dei” strove to establish a universal monarchy on the Christian community, the result of close collaboration stemming from the great personal friendship, the conjunction between the secular and religious authority, but not on an equal footing as the second would be subordinated to the territorial and temporal authority of Otto III. Thus, the principles of spirituality and materiality together under the united will of Otto III, who is so exclusive exercise of power: “power”.
The Augustinian principle of the two cities, the dualism of the spiritual and temporal, symbolized by the two swords, in the “sacerdocium” and “imperium”, became the foundation of the work of Emperor and Pope. The Ottonian Caesaropapism gave temporary power to the emperor to that exercised in Christianum Imperium, while the pope were reserved for subjects related to the Church and the affairs of its government, remaining as an instrument of power of the emperor who, through the Pope could intervene in ecclesiastical government. To demonstrate its hegemony Otto III declared false the Donation of Constantine and in return, gave wild II eight counties of Pentapoli, while reaffirming its desire to rule over Rome. Rome will be protected by Otto III, who was also the protector of the Church and Papacy.
But we must not forget that the effective area of imperial political rule was not beyond the realms of Germany and Italy, although the emperor had the most power and prestige throughout Europe. Italy always required effort and dedication that would be a major cause of decline of imperial power, otherwise leave them alone. But not without emperors, as Otto III, who wanted his power base in the politically unstable territory of Italy, while others clearly understood that his strength came and lay in and Germany, and worked and honorable to base in the eastern border, the more conducive to this goal. The emperors of the first half of the tenth century are examples of how the interests of Germans prevailed more continuously.
4. The Exercise of Power
The institutional autumn was very rudimentary and their small size, even past 950 you can find a court organized and strong management. The institutional number was small, the same was happening with the employees in the exercise of power in the judiciary and the bureaucracy in state affairs. There was no fixed capital and court was traveling and did not exercise its power equally to all territories in the kingdom integrated autumn, as Henry I and his descendants showed more interest in Saxony.
Following the Carolingian institutional models were developed as the principal agencies to the chapel and the chancery, both served mostly by clerics, always moving with the Court. The Chaplaincy royal functions were assigned, to advise the monarch or dealing with petitions to the king, or diplomatic missions, as the case of Juan de Gortz, the court sent the Caliphate of Cordoba (953) or Liutprand of Cremona, Ambassador Byzantium (963). These Chaplaincy were composed of persons of great intellect as well as clerics known for their virtue and rectitude of conduct. Their number was increased by Otto III.
The clerics also address the royal chancery: A set of people as clerks, scribes, and illuminators were responsible for writing and deliver the diplomas, not many, granted by the Crown, no doubt, lack of documentation is nonexistent due to the tradition management through mandates or written orders in Germany. Only been preserved in the autumn, a document, the “Indiculus Loricatorum” (981), referring to the reinforcements sent to Italy.
Carolingian institutions such as missi, stood south of the Alps, and his role was undermined, while in Germany were thenuncii who perform the tasks.
Given the peculiarities of the system fall, the connections between monarch and territory through delegates were not necessary, because that itinerant court make the connection, but required the physical presence of the sovereign, who in their movements should convene and chair the assembly of his subjects exercise their authority in front of them and act as a judge on the issues necessary. ” In his travels, the king performed various functions, especially, provide justice beside it, the obligation to give prestige to churches in the territories for those who passed. He was the king who tied the monarchy with his subjects.
Regarding local government, non-Carolingian tradition survived and there are few signs of activity of a series of characters (judices, vicarii and taskmasters).
The most characteristic feature of the autumn was roaming government and is the cause of his rudimentariness the absence of fixed capital and fixed seat since Aachen was the capital only “official”, nor was a palace or a center that would centralize the tasks administrative. Like the king, moves the court and his entourage, as well as all those who have to turn to law, was moving. The autumns were moved according to their properties and income from city to city where they live during their stops.
This court had the economic support the treasury and revenue. The autumn heritage based in Saxony and Thuringia, and after the battle of Lechfeld, experienced strong growth. The organization of East marks the consolidation of “pagi” and “Burgos” and the organization of an ecclesiastical geography facilitated the perception of abundant income and the creation of a network of fortresses to defend the empire. In eastern marks incipient organized a tax system that was lacking in the heart of the kingdom, based on charges, census and tithes, joined the tributes paid Slavs and other feudal lords of the empire, such as Bohemia and Poland. In defending the eastern frontier and the treasury was implicated that sustained the aristocracy, lay and ecclesiastical. The dukes exercised many of the rights of the king, to pay their support and participation in military enterprises. The perception of such income allowed the king to pay the “faithfulness” and “military”. The government also allowed the creation of a powerful Church through monastic endowments, increasing the assets of episcopal sees and building churches.
To improve the economic situation contributed to the exploitation of the silver mines of Hartz Mountain, which allowed the autumns grant privileges for coinage, especially Saxony. The royal treasury, which was covered in “camerarii” grew up in farm inputs argentiferous, taxes and Oriental marks out of funds derived from the spoils of war and the acquisition of new lands. This provided stability to the dynasty and the government, but not enough to convince the monarch to make a centralization from emerging accounting carrying out the “camerarii.
5. The Imperial Periphery: Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland
The Empire was centered in Germany, Italy, and Burgundy, and around its periphery unstable territories were forced to act militarily autumns in them, getting military prestige for future policy proposals. In northern pressure exerted by the Danes, whose Christianity and political unification occurred in the second half of tenth century, which coincides with phase Canute the Great, governor of Northern Empire (England, Denmark, and Norway), which maintained a conciliatory policy with Germany.
In the eastern border, the Magyars settled in the Hungarian plain, from where they conducted incursions into the West and South Europe, conquering the Slavs and destroying the Principality of Moravia. The devastation of the Magyars in monasteries and villages of the eastern Germanic was the reason Henry I put a priority on monitoring eastern Thuringia and Saxony.
The Slavs of the Elbe and Saale Germanic population had lived with many of them were settled as colonists. But stability was shattered by the Magyars in the first half of the tenth century, ranging political and military circumstances in the east, which were bornnew political entities such as Bohemia, Poland and Hungary. Otto I cleared the east after the battle of Lechfeld and the subsequent reorganization of the brands: the Magyars were forced to sedentary, and from headquarters in Magdeburg Otto I ordered the deployment of evangelistic expeditions to the East, making progress in the Christianization Bulgarians and colonization of Slavic territories. This is reflected in the papal bull of Pope John XII (962) by which it considered that Otto I deserved imperial crown since beating the Magyars and other pagan peoples. Otto I got away the constant threat of these people and enhance their political and military supremacy, while the political dissensions of these peoples resulted in the sovereignty of the German Empire of Bohemia, Hungary and a sporadically on submission of Poland. All three had a close relationship with the Empire from the tenth century
– Bohemia. In the early tenth century, the rulers of a territory dominated Christian Prague in Bohemia. Prague based its progress in trade, to be crossing economic pathways (Mainz-Kiev and Constantinople Baltic Sea). Slavic market revenue in Prague Bohemia allowed to have a healthy economy. The princes of Brandenburg also took advantage of their situation in a crossroads to increase their income and have an economy almost the same level of Prague. Saving called attention to Bohemia Henry I, who are attracted to the princes of Brandenburg and Prague. Finally, Henry claimed his rights as heir to the Bohemian East Frankish Kingdom, adding to the Bohemian princes and dukes in the kingdom.
Bohemia became a duchy ruled by Premyl, protagonists of the political and territorial unification. Were contemporaries of Henry I Wenceslas I (924-929) and Boleslaw I (929-967). The first carried out a similar policy to Henry I, facilitating the evangelizing mission of the German clergy. But Boleslaw I conducted a nationalist policy, rejecting any foreign intervention. But Otto I put the Duke of Bohemia, forcing him to deliver a personal allegiance to the German king. Bohemia had to assume the hegemony of the empire fall, but that did not mean the loss of identity and expansion, with Boleslaw I came to Moravia, Silesia, Krakow and part of Slovakia. The Christianization in Bohemia was consolidated, and the bishopric of Prague became the main focus of the church organization in Bohemia.
– Hungary. The settlement by the Magyars launched a political process that would be the source of a royalty, and began the first stirrings of unity. The institutional and political process reaches boom in times of Geza (970-997), when the monarchy was consolidated while initiating a process of evangelization by German missionaries, and the scheme was finally abandoned and the nomadic tribal. Precisely Vayk, son of Geza and protected from Adalbert of Prague, was baptized in Cologne and received the name of Stephen I (996), witnessing Otto III.
Stephen I became the first Christian king of Hungary, married the sister of Henry II, was the real organizer of the kingdom, which was favorable to his relationship with Otto III and Sylvester II, who put under the protection of the Apostolic the kingdom and organized the Hungarian Church, which sent a legacy that Stephen crowned with the royal diadem on Christmas Day 1000. The “Crown of St. Stephen” would be the symbol of the king, and Stephen became the patron of the country. Astrico Hungarian monk sent to Rome to be consecrated bishop, the pope gave him authority to consecrate bishops in Hungary, and established the metropolitan see in Esztergorn, where it would encourage evangelism to the whole country.
Stephen led a massive reorganization efforts in the realm of politics by erasing all traces of tribal system: consolidated the monarchy and gave a legislative basis in the laws that were integrated linking Hungarian and Bavarian tradition. Esteban was launched to achieve the great goal: to bring together the 39 autonomous territories in a stable political and religious state, making for the first time the Hungarian state had a fixed capital in Szekesfehervar, administrative center and residence of the court of the remaining dependent territorial divisions, which were set called comitats strongholds or forts and promoted the formation of boroughs where the governor resided, and fittings, while nuclei became peasants and fixation of business organization, main points which is based on Hungarian economic growth in the twelfth century.
Alongside the political and administrative organization, Stephen gave a great impetus to the development ecclesiastical Esztergorn consolidating headquarters (1010) and sponsored the creation of a network of Episcopal Sees (10 dioceses and 29 diaconiae) also had the help of Benedictine Cluny who supported throughout the kingdom with the establishment and provision of monasteries, the most important Pannonhalma St. Martin, who became a great center of missionary activity. The canonization of Stephen in 1063 was founded by Gregory VII in his great work poitica within Christian and the close relationship between the kingdom and the papal see.
Stephen I died at Szekesfehervar in 1038, leaving open the succession struggle after the early death of the heir Erner. In the midst of a civil war, the Queen Gisela locked herself in the Benedictine monastery of Passau (Germany), where the news of the triumph of Geza I Arpad (1044-1077) who began the dynasty of the House of Árpád to rule until the murder of Andrew III in 1301. The age of the Árpád dynasty is characterized by a relatively balanced development, only interrupted by the attack of the Tartar-Mongol hordes in 1241, a year that swept a country that had to be rebuilt. Hungary created the Stephen was considered an important center in the late medieval centuries.
– Poland.The process culminated Polish territory with Miezsko Unit I of the Piast dynasty, the architect of Polish statehood.
Years of government Miezsko I agree with German expansion towards Lusatia and founded the bishopric of Magdeburg (967), which made the Polish king sponsored a policy against ecclesiastical intervention of Germany, and converted to Christianity (966) making Poland in an area of western Europe. established the episcopal see in Poznan (968), governed by Bishop Jordan. Miezsko I completed the conversion Dubranka married the daughter of Boleslav I of Bohemia. Finally, like Hungary, sought the spiritual patronage of the Holy See who took her under his protection to the Polish territory (990).
Miezsko I also demonstrated great political skill to create a strong state able to participate in European politics. From the 972, Miezsko I began to occupy Pomerania operations, large commercial activity center at the mouth of the Oder. Despite his declaration of friendship with the emperor, supported Henry of Bavaria during the revolts against Otto II and Otto III who got ready to go against the Polish, but Miezsko I finally swore fealty to Otto III and received help to address the revolt of the Slavs of the Elbe (986-992), taking advantage of the situation by taking Silesia and Krakow (990), thus continuing the expansion that began with the incorporation of Pomerania.
The first major peak of Poland, is due to Boleslaw I (992-1025), who in his last year of life wore the royal crown. The first stage of government is characterized by good relations with Otto III and Sylvester II, who sponsored the founding of the metropolitan see of Gniezno, new ecclesiastical province that accompany the birth of a new Christian kingdom covered by the Papacy and the Emperor, Polish who granted the titles Duke of “brother and helper of the Empire” (999) and “friend and ally of the Roman people” (1001). Thus, Poland Boleslaw I joined the “universitas Christian” also consolidated a line of expansion in Pomerania, especially in the Lower Vistula, and even project for the conquest and Christianization of the Slavs in Lusatia and Misnia among Elbe and Oder rivers, as fief of the Empire.
In 997, Boleslaw I organized a missionary expedition of Adalbert of Prague, but that same year, died martyred when he preached to the pagans of Pomerania, and was canonized by Pope Sylvester II in 999. The pilgrimage of Otto III in 1000 to Gniezno, was used by the Emperor to present their ideas to unify the Christian world and the collaboration that it expected the Polish duke, who, in turn, was authorized to Otto III to transform the duchy in the kingdom, would happen in 1025.
Relations with Henry II were very tense. In 1003, Boleslaw I occupied Bohemia and launched a war against the Empire ending with the Peace of Bautzenin 1018, which allowed Boleslaw I retain their rights and regain Misnia Lusatia and Galicia in Russian hands. Boleslaw I continued his expeditions to the East to consolidate its dominance in the East-Central Europe, thanks to victory in Kiev (1018). On the death of Henry II, the Polish duke asked and demanded the independence of Poland and decided to take the title and crown, but his death would prevent his project.
THEME 2: THE CROSS IN THE HOLY LAND.
1. Introduction.
The Crusades, Western Christendom for eleventh and twelfth century, were holy wars or armed pilgrimage, led by divine providence led by the pope, whose aim was to defeat Islam and liberate Palestine. Apart from economic interests, we can say that wars were chivalrous, undertaken with courage and honor for those who carried the cross on her dress.
This phenomenon began earlier in Spain and Byzantium, but over the centuries, the nature of the Crusades was modified, and his spirit, like the unruly nobles and rich merchants eager to put their private financial interests and spiritual factor chivalrous.
The origin is in the narrative of many pilgrims returning from Jerusalem, after taking the city by the Seljuks in 1078, and an alleged request for help from Alexius I (1081-1118) Count of Flanders in 1098, Robert the Frisian, with a forged letter. But, on the one hand, it is believed that after the death of Sultan Malik Shah in 1092, the power of the Seljuk Turks had to be very weak and, secondly, it seems that the new owners of Jerusalem pilgrims were treated worse than their predecessors who owned the city for 400 years when the Umayyad Caliph Omar conquered Palestine after the Battle of Yarmuk (636).
The idea of a crusade may have originated in Spain, and that since 1063, the papacy was interested in the struggle to reconquer the kingdom of Aragon at the Ebro, sponsoring campaigns for bulls requesting the knights of Western Europe from coming to them. Three of these companies, after the papal bulls, took place in the Hispanic lands, before they moved to the East expeditions.
— The crusade which, after a bull of Alexander II, led to the conquest of Bobastro ephemeral by the troops of Sancho Ramírez of Aragon, supported by forces of Duke William VIII Aquitaine and Champagne warriors.
— The Second Crusade, with Gregory VII, was supported by troops from Champagne, but without success.
— The Third Crusade, with Urban II, the French cavalry led to the taking of Huesca (1089). Meanwhile, Alfonso VI, king of Castile and Leon, along with French troops, took Toledo in 1085.
If the Papacy was interested in the struggles of Reconquista was because the”Kingdom of Spain had formerly belonged to St. Peter.”
2. The spirit of the Crusade. The Council of Clermont.
In 1095, Pope Urban II took a turn universalizing his performance, going to Byzantium and design a company that would unite the whole of Christianity: the cross. In the councils of Piacenza and Clermont in 1095 established the platform to achieve the purpose of those ideas.
In Piacenza, insisted on the invalidity of ordinations carried out unlawfully or simony and renewed the condemnation of Gregory VII Beregario Eucharistic doctrines of Tours (1010-1088), a theologian preescolástico, recognizing the presence of Christ in the Eucharist , but denied any material change bread and wine. In Piacenza received the request for assistance after the defeat Alexius I Byzantine Mazinkert (1071) which caused a great loss of territory and the establishment of the Sultanate of Rum. Moreover, the death of Malik Shah weakened the unity of the various heads Turks and enabled the counter Byzantine Emperor asking for help in the form of mercenaries. However, the desire of Urban II of Byzantium and approach towards overcoming the schism Roman supremacy was maturing.
The Council of Clermont was held from 18-28 November 1095. Has remained the appeal of the papacy for the liberation of Jerusalem. As Piacenza, was a reformer assembly, which condemned the same points, but in terms of lay investiture, the ban was extended to the provision of Ligia allegiance to the laity, as rejecting any interference in the Church that was not Roman. Other reform measures and the institutions of peace (Truce of God) that the Church had stimulated locally from the tenth century, is now generalized to the rest of Christendom, while some try to curses and penalties against schismatics or against those who violate the principles Moral: the excommunications against Henry IV.
Only a fee conciliatory speech referred to the papal crusade announcer. All who attended the crusade, Pope Urban II dispense forgiveness for sins committed, it is a tradition that traced the provision linked to the pilgrimage church, volunteer or lamb, to the great centers of Christianity: Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago. But the remission of sentences would lead to forgiveness of mistakes and the cancellation of Atonement unworldly.
In 27-XI-1095, in an outdoor meeting with nobles of France, Urban II preached the crusade, not to help Alexius I and Byzantium, but to conquer Jerusalem, taking control of the missionAdhemar of Montreil, bishop of Lepuy.
Urban II’s sermon spread throughout the West like wildfire. But the sermon was not enough to launch a crowd in pursuit of this difficult mission (70,000 men). This will make the vision of the cross is misleading, since many of them were thieves and villains.
The crusade preached and directed by the Pope appears as a prolongation of the peace organizations, able to bring the peace within states outside Europe. Clermont’s appeal is inserted, so promotion of the Church and the Papacy. Urban II’s words, multiplied by past events (end of the world in 1000), are successful because of the union of religious basis and circumstances of social and political opportunity.
The expectation of making a pilgrimage to the East to receive forgiveness was not like the pilgrimage to Santiago and Rome, and Jerusalem was unknown to Westerners, who have the image of Heavenly Jerusalem, the perfection of the New Heaven and New Earth that arise after the second coming of Christ, so that the city was considered the center of the world. The crusade will get a religious eschatological conviction stemming from the end of the world, it would be prelude to the pilgrimage to Jerusalem land and its conquest by the Christians.
Urban II, Crusade in promoting increases their prestige and influence their position in the Church, and links to a stream of Western Christian religiosity, then, produce collective emotions and enthusiasms, while directing the proper order massive religious pilgrimage. Thekings and nobles, to support it obtained the foundation and religious objects of their power.
The political circumstances of the second half of the eleventh century and dissemination will help the success of the crusade: to the feudal aristocracy of France, Burgundy and Germany was a means of deriving human violence and over outwards, while for the Normans of Southern Italy and England, would be an extension of their earlier struggles. By broadening the meaning crusade against the infidels and to defend the faith, gave greater importance to military actions that combined with the religious practice of the pilgrimage. On the other hand, the conquest of Mediterranean routes by Italian merchant marine and was in support the Crusade, but they prevailed in the commercial interest in a more varied and extensive land that Palestinians wanted by the Crusaders.
3. The First Crusade.
3.1. People’s Crusade.
The approach of the draft Urban II to lower social groups had members traveling as protagonists of the lower clergy, noting Peter the Hermit (1050-1115), a hermit of Amiens that could have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and returned with a request for help URBAN II. In any case, the figure of this character reverberated after the speech of Clermont, who adapted to urban and rural masses, generating a movement outside the Pope, whose vision of the expedition was purely aristocratic. And is that different clerics preaching experiences coalesced diffuse popular.
The so-called People’s Crusade is a spontaneous movement, led by preachers, in which aristocratic from bandits, from peasants and bourgeois. The most important wave, led by Peter the Hermit, left Cologne on Easter Day 1096, following the route of the Danube to Constantinople, but it was not easy to control that mass of disorganized, would attack the Jewish quarters of several cities along the Rhine, convinced the release in the holy city should be preceded by the extermination of the deicide of the West.
The supply problems were looting villages in Hungary and the Balkans, raiding the city of Semlin, causing the first massacre of the Crusade, and Belgrade met the same fate. Confrontations with the Byzantine garrisons killed one fourth of all the Crusaders.
The religious enthusiasm of these people was really important and when Godfrey of Bouillon, who left to learn, asked what equipment was taken and one of them said, “the cross on the chest, which was followed by the cry” God expire.
Alexius I saw with alarm the arrival of this mass of people, thus facilitating the rapid transfer across the Bosphorus and its installation at Camp Civetot in the Gulf of Nicomedia. There was the disaster of the First Crusade, as Crusaders against the Turks launched without resources or organization required. At Nicaea the disaster, and the Byzantine fleet support 3000 could only rescue survivors.
Peter the Hermit, Constantinople was in negotiations with the Emperor, and not in the debacle. Subsequently he joined the Military Cross and participated in the conquest of Jerusalem, and it seems that his speech at the Mount of Olives preceded sack of the city and the massacre of unarmed citizens. He returned to Europe and became prior in a house of Augustinians.
The second wave of the People’s Crusade has its origin in some enclaves of Germany. The intensity of the preaching of the cross placed the Jews in the spotlight for its appropriateness and the role of Jewish communities in Christian society as closed groups engaged in activities related to the world of money, and therefore , did not arouse sympathy.
This second wave began to release their energies with the Jewish communities in Germany and Central Europe who knew the violence of the crusaders against the advice of the bishops who tried to protect Jews, anti-Semitic attacks were nothing new in Europe, preceded the future but forced conversions to Christianity centuries later.
The pilgrims tried to repeat their performances, but the King of Hungary Kálmán (1095-1116) responded almost totally annihilating. The few survivors were scattered, and some returned. Although the People’s Crusade was destroyed in Asia Minor, care for being the first and most intense manifestation of the motions and emotions of the masses led to the spirit of the Crusaders.
3.2. Military Crusade.
On August 15, 1096 began the long march to Constantinople, which was the meeting place of the armies of the First Crusade, the knights, one in which Urban II had really thought. It integrates French, Norman, Lorraine, German, Catalan Cerdaña Roussillon and Navarre and some it was a real military expedition, consisting of 3,000 knights and 12,000 infantry, with the necessary equipment and maintenance. Between October 1096 and May 1097, various groups of pilgrims came to the Byzantine capital. Among the distinguished army corps to the North of France (Hugh of Vermandois,Godfrey of Bouillon and his brothers Baldwin of Flanders, and Eustace III of Boulogne), the Languedoc and Provence (Raymond de Saint Gilles), and the Normans in southern Italy (Bohemond of Taranto and his nephew Tancred of Taranto or Galilee).
The forces of Godfrey of Bouillon followed the land route, the Danube, while Raymond de Saint Gilles followed the route of the Adriatic coast, and the others made the journey by sea.
In the spring of 1097, expeditions were camped on the outskirts of Constantinople. Alexios I received, but showed his misgivings, for it was not a quota under the emperor mercenary, but a force of warriors, aristocrats who had no connection with Alejo I, and the divergence of objectives soon became apparent and the problems appeared.
This difference of interests made Alexius I put an hour conditions to move to the other side of the Bosporus, which led to the outbreak of the conflict between Crusaders and Byzantines: Alexius I would not transfer and ensure the contingent crossed until you crossed the various heads take an oath of allegiance to the Empire and to ensure that the conquered lands would be returned to Alexius I. Finally the problems were fixed: Adhemar seemed to control the Crusade and Alexis I like supporting the same, but all were appearances.
The first aim of the Crusaders was the sultanate of Rum and its capital Nicaea, who surrendered in June 1097 but only an imperial expedition, not the cross, which prevented the looting of Westerners and I felt betrayed by Alejo , and first appeared dissension because of Montreil Adhemar, the papal legate, had trouble controlling the company, and Raymond de Saint Gilles, a secular leader, he could not impose itself as such.
The Crusaders moved on to their next objective: Antioch, but the supply problems caused the division of the army and later found. About Dorylaeum, Bohemond group decided to camp, and the next day they were attacked by Turks decimated the cross with his cavalry and archers. Godfrey’s cavalry archers swept the Turks to their arrival and routed the Turks. This victory opened the doors of the routes from Asia Minor to the Holy Land.
The road to Antioch called cross the Taurus Mountains and forced the Crusaders to a detour through the Northeast and get to the plains of Syria. But two leading crusaders crossed the Taurus:Baldwin of Flanders and Tancred, who competed for control of towns on the coast of Cilicia. Baldwin went to Edessa, taking it in 1098, founding the County of Edessa, the first Latin principality.
In October 1097 Antioch is near a fence difficult and long, with a harsh winter and the danger of a Muslim attack. Kerbogha Sultan of Mosul, had begun a movement of reconquest and went to Edessa and then to Antioch, where came a day after the Christian conquest, achieved thanks to a betrayal by Bohemond of Taranto. Now the Christians were under siege and sought help from Alexius, but he did nothing because they said reports that Christians were killed. The besieged then launched an attack that broke the siege and led the rout Muslim Muslim.Bohemond was recognized merit in the conquest and remained in command of the second Latin principality.
The capture of Antioch showed different opinions, and without being moderated by the pope, who died Aug. 1. The crusade ran out of the top leader and, in turn, became estranged with Byzantium, uncomfortable with the different religious practices and lack of internal homogeneity. The crusade was walking away from their principles and fall into disputes between the Crusade leaders.
This led to the paralysis of the crusade, and when the soldiers saw that the target was not achieved, it resumed the march to Jerusalem. Raymond de Saint Gilles won control ofTripoli, and within months it came to Jerusalem (1099), which was under Fatimid power. The 15-VII-1099 the city was assaulted and there was a slaughter. The objective was fulfilled crossed.
After taking Jerusalem, the company had to continue against the Fatimids, ending with the victory of Step (1099), which meant the end of the Crusade. Then began the return of the Crusaders to Europe and the organization of political units, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Days later, the government of Jerusalem was given to Godfrey of Bouillon, who declined to take the title of king, but of”Counsel of the Holy Sepulcher,” recognizing the superiority of the Pope and assuming the defense of the Church.
Godfrey died in 1100, was replaced by his brother Baldwin, who themselves took the title King of Jerusalem, becoming Baldwin I (1100-1118). In the new kingdom, extended to the coast thanks to the Italian fleet, was introduced French-style feudalism, serfs being the principality of Antioch, Edessa and Tripoli. However, the power of the King of Jerusalem was more theoretical than real.
In the early years of the twelfth century, the influx of reinforcements from Europe led to the conquest of Palestine, Annexing Beirut, Sidon, Acre, Haifa, Caesarea and Jaffa. Thereafter is organized defense against the danger of Muslim Syria and Egypt.
The result of the crusade was spectacular: from Cilicia to the Nile Delta and Gulf of Akalea, and Muslims had lost their access to the Mediterranean. But the danger of attacks inside the Christians did organize their defenses with the construction of great strengths, the kraks. But the success of the crusade was based on the fragmentation of the Islamic powers, and once the Emirate of Mosul rose above the rest, was the fragility of the Crusade, as the County of Edessa fell in 1144, leading the Second Crusade.
Moreover, the scarcity of Latino men at arms, remedied in 1118 with the conversion of the former hostel for pilgrims in the Military Order of the Hospitallers of St. John, and the founding of the Order of the Knights Templar, that Jerusalem should let the only standing army, prevented the effective defense of the territory.
4. The Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The Kingdom of Jerusalemacquired an institutional identity, economic and social, becoming the first European colonial rule. The political organization was based on feudalism and king of Jerusalem was at the top of a pyramid vassal, whose first step is composed of princes and counts Latinos in the kingdom. On the other hand, with military and church obligations remained the Church and the military orders. The legal body is formed with the “Assizes of Jerusalem”, code written by Geoffrey, and institutional framework reproduced many aspects of the Kingdom of France, but admitted administrative Byzantine or Muslim heritage. The Kingdom of Jerusalem did not attract much mass of Europeans, so the population center was based mainly on Jews and Muslims. The church organization was imposed quickly and created two patriarchates: Jerusalem and Antioch, along with other archbishops and bishops.
Just contact occurred between elites frank with the native population, whereas the soldiers and settlers mixed marriages contracted farmers themselves. It formed a mestizo society, but there was a strange pilgrims acculturation and recent settlers, who viewed Islam with prejudice.
In the daily coexistence played an important role in other rites of Christians and Jews, but most emigrated in 1099. The importance of Western institutions in the Holy Land in the dialogue among civilizations and transfer of intellectual and theoretical culture was lower than that which led to other areas of contact between civilizations, such as Spain and Sicily, to emphasize the provision Muslim or Byzantine building techniques and defensive military architecture, with the transfer of literary culture and medicine exist. Immigrants brought an intellectual culture, but, as Runciman says,”The soldiers had little to contribute to the intellectual level of the West.
There were relations between the Crusaders and the expansion of the Italian Republics in the Mediterranean, but with different objectives. The Italian merchants were in urban enclaves of Palestine and Syria proprietary neighborhoods with tax privileges and exemptions and dominated the transit of goods from Egypt, Red Sea and Syria, which fed the coffers of the King of Jerusalem and other Latin masters thanks to income from customs. But merchants also traded with Egypt and Syria directly, Alexandria remained an enclave in the main Latin Trade, and increased their activities after the conquest of Cyprus and Constantinople in the following cross, so that, for them, the eastern enclaves were not indispensable. By contrast, the Crusaders set out in the Holy Land always needed the assistance of thecommercial fleets to secure their communications and military campaigns, and that dependency was unfavorable because the territories dominated by the Crusaders were deficient in staple agricultural products to a Westerner, like cereal and wine, and cattle, and its shortcomings not compensated with the eastern cultures of olives, sugar cane, flax, silk or wood of Lebanon.
The terms of defense in the Kingdom, Principality and County of the Holy Land were, in principle, very simple and archaic, because they did not succeed in mastering the starting points of Muslims: Damascus and Aleppo and the Nile Delta therefore Any Muslim initiative threatened the crossing system and that’s how Zengi, emir of Mosul, succeeded in winning the County of Edessa in 1144, before becoming owner of Damascus (1154) and unify those areas under his domain Islamic. His proclamation asMujahid announced a new attitude: more aggressive and based on the Holy War to reclaim the occupied territories and especially Jerusalem for religious emotionality comparable to some extent in cross.
Baldwin II (1118-1131) was confronted with his forces to a joint invasion of Seljuks from Syria and the Fatimids in Egypt, achieving the withdrawal of Muslim troops without a fight, thanks to the speed to deploy troops. In 1119, the Principality of Antioch was invaded and the king became the head of his troops and headed north, but Prince Roger of Salerno did not wait and was defeated at the Battle of Ager Sanguinus, which resulted in the loss of Antioch, recovered in the same year by Baldwin II. In the Kingdom when the first military commands: in 1118, Hugo de Payens founded the Order of the Temple and the Hospitallers evolved into a real military order. Baldwin II called the Council of Nablus in 1120 in which he provided the first written laws of the kingdom and extended the rights and privileges of middle-class communities.
In 1125 the king was captured trying to rescue the Count of Edessa in Islamic hands, escaping the following year thanks to the Armenians. Shortly afterwards, the Crusaders took kick thanks to the Venetian fleet, settling in the coastal cities where they would enjoy exemption from taxes and military obligations. Later, Baldwin met the Crusaders to defeat the Seljuks at the Battle of Azaz (1125), recovering lost influence after the “Ager Sanguinus. If Antioch and Edessa had not fought each other after the battle, Baldwin II had attacked and prevent Aleppo to Mosul would join in the power of Zengi. Baldwin II attempted to take Damascus (1129) with only the help of the Templars, but failed. Baldwin II had no sons and appointed as his successor his daughter Melisande, occupying the throne in 1131.
Melisande’s government (1131-1153) was punctuated by incidents caused by her husband Fulk of Anjou. Fulk disputed the throne with his wife until he died in 1143. The situation prevented effective care to the Islamic threat was coming to the Latin kingdoms.
5. Successive expeditions to East.
TheCounty of Edessa was the territory crossed largest and least populated: 10,000 in Edessa and the rest was desert around the strengths. The county, at its greatest extent, stretching from Antioch to beyond the Euphrates, and from Armenia to the powerful territory of Aleppo. Its inhabitants were Syrian Christians, Greek Orthodox and Muslims.
The union of Syrian territory by the governor of Mosul, Zengi, allowed to expose himself to danger Edessa Muslim, eventually falling into the hands of Islam in 1144, and this situation led to the request for assistance to Rome by Melisande, Baldwin III and Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch.
5.1. The Second Crusade.
The Second Crusade (1147-1149) is planned after the news of the fall of Edessa, causing an impetus to the crusade initiated by Pope Eugenius III and Bernard of Clairvaux, who wrote a text to attract Europeans to fight in the Middle and which tried to end the strife between the kingdoms of Central Europe.
This second cross it would have the presence of large European leaders:Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, followed by figures like Frederick of Swabia.
The Second Crusade was launched with the support of the monarch with an army of 150,000 men, divided into two bodies: one followed the route of the Danube and the other the route, and who conquered Lisbon, Almeria and Tarragona. The army swept Anatolia and arrived in Palestine after the sack of cities and the tension that existed with the Byzantine emperor Manuel I, as the German and the Byzantine emperor had the alliance of Roger II of Sicily, and Louis VII would encompass island in its orbit. The military successes of the Crusaders did not smile, and the decision to attack Damascus was revealed as a serious mistake because exhausted Crusader army forces. The crusade ended in total failure and worsening the situation onion in the East, exacerbated the problems with Byzantium, there was tension between the newcomers and the crusaders established there, he promoted the union of Muslims they saw Latinos as not invincible. Years later, the disunity of the Muslims allowed the Crusaders, under the reign of Amalric I of Jerusalem, to impose its law to Fatimid Cairo. It would be short-lived, since the reaction Fatimid not long in coming.
5.2. Saladin and the Third Crusade.
In Damascus, following the murder of Zengi in 1146, his son, Nur al-Din came to power and began operations against Antioch, defeating Raymond of Poitiers in the vicinity of the fortress of Inaba (1149). In 1154, Nur al-Din conquered Damascus and finally united all of Syria, seized by the Crusaders, in 1153, took Ashkelon and separating Egypt from Syria, waiting to see what was the response of the Muslim leader. In 1163, the Crusaders attacked Egypt, and the Fatimid Caliph requested help from Nur al-Din, who sent an army to General Shirkuh, who was accompanied by his nephew Saladin, who defeated and Christians. The territory was conquered by Egypt in 1169 Shirkuh for Nur al-Din, who appointed him governor of Egypt. The following year the soldier died and was succeeded by Saladin, known for Nur al-Din, and reorganized the territory with great autonomy, refusing to obey certain orders of Nur al-Din, causing tension and getting ready for a battle that did not occur , as Nur al-Din died in 1174 and was succeeded by his sonIsmail al-Malik, but Saladin, who weighed on suspicion of murdering al-Din al-Malik when he died childless, became Sultan of Egypt and Syria, until his death in 1193. From the time they joined Saladin the two main Muslim territories in the East, began to weaken the position of Latinos in the East, beginning his struggle against the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Saladin knew about the superiority of his army, but distrusted the great capacity of the crusading armies in open battle. Therefore, attacked Tiberias in order to block his way in a desert area, where the army is exhausted and in that moment of weakness to attack. On hearing the Crusaders, quickly sent an army to the relief of Tiberias. The army, under the leadership of KingGuy of Jerusalem, the Masters of the Knights Templar and St John and the most important nobles, they had to retreat to Hattin, where Muslims barred his way, causing the confusion of the Crusaders. The crusading army was annihilated by the Muslims.
With this victory, the Christian kingdoms were at the mercy of Saladin, who began to conquer the Christian strongholds like Acre, Jaffa and Ashkelon, releasing more than 20,000 Muslim slaves and enslaved nearly 100,000 Christians. The only people who endured were the great chateaux, such as Toronto and Belfort or kick, but Saladin quickly moved to focus on thesiege of Jerusalem (1187), where he began to launch attacks using catapults, or the fearsome Greek fire, until ten days after his sappers succeeded in breaching the walls, leaving the city at the mercy of Saladin. The city representative was sent to Parliament to negotiate the surrender of the city, which ended with the city abandoned by Christians who could pay a ransom, although it lacked the means were treated with respect.
Upon hearing this tragic news, Pope Gregory VIII called Europe to arms to recover the Holy Sepulcher. The response was massive, highlighting the kings Frederick I, Holy Roman Empire, the French king Philip II Augustusand the English King Richard I the Lionheart. Emperor Frederick decided to start their journey by land, while Richard and Philip the sea started with the aim of helping to Guy de Lusignan, who was being besieged by Saladin.
The French fleet arrived safely to kick, where Philip was greeted by his cousin Conrad of Montferrat. Ricardo’s Navy, however, was surprised by a violent storm shortly after sailing from Sicily. One of his ships, which were transported much treasure, was lost in the storm, and three others, among them in carrying Joan and Berengaria of Navarre, the king’s bride, had to divert to Cyprus. Soon it became known that the Emperor of CyprusIsaac Ducas Comnenus had seized the riches that the ship was carrying. Richard arrived in Limassol on May 6 of 1191 and met with Isaac, who agreed to return his belongings and send 500 of its soldiers to the Holy Land. Returning to his fortress of Famagusta, Isaac broke his oath of hospitality and ordered Richard to leave the island. Isaac’s arrogance drove Richard to seize his kingdom, which he did in a few days. In late May, the island was in the hands of Ricardo.
After being released by Saladin Guy of Lusignan rallied to regain the lost territories and Jerusalem to Saladin, and aided by the French king and Conrad of Montserrat, near Acre and thanks to the arrival of Richard I the city was conquered ( 1191).
Dissensions soon began being the Crusaders, as Richard I, Philip II and Leopold V is not agreed on the division of spoils, as Leopold V demanded equal share, while Richard I threw the German flag, located in the tower main city, the moat. Also discussed who should be the future king of Jerusalem, where Guy de Lusignan, supported by Richard I, and Conrad of Montferrat, supported by Philip II, reaching an agreement that Guido would be king and Conrad inherit the kingdom. But French and German troops left the city, and Philip II Augustus returned to France to regain the territories which the English held in France.
Soon after, Saladin began negotiations to free Muslim prisoners of Acre, reaching an agreement between both parties. But the delay in implementing the agreement by Saladin made Richard I, fearing an attack by Muslim, ordered the execution of all prisoners. In the 18 months, Richard I would fight without success, earning his nickname.
The target was Jerusalem and, therefore, Richard I went to the South to capture Jaffa, but Saladin came to meet him in the valley of Arsuf (7-IX-1191), in which Saladin was defeated. Richard I was aware that he could conquer Jerusalem, but not keep, so it did not attack and decided to march against Ashkelon without the aid requested Conrad Ashkelon was not taken and soon after Conrad was killed in Tire. Guy of Lusignan became King of Cyprus and Henry II of Champagne at the new King of Jerusalem.
Renewed fighting took place in 1192: Saladin attacked Jaffa and regained, and a few days after it was retaken by Ricardo. On August 5 met again, and emerged victorious English king, and forced to return to England by the usurpation of John Lackland, opened negotiations with Saladin agreed to a truce for 5 years and the safety of pilgrims and observance of Christian worship in Jerusalem. The 2-IX-1192 military operations were closed. The last cross of the twelfth century demonstrated the limited possibilities to keep Jerusalem in Western hands.
Richard I left the Holy Land in October and Saladin died months later. The death of the sultan, the dissension among his successors and the absence of European expeditions, despite the German of 1197, kept the situation in the Holy Land leaving the Third Crusade, extending the truce until the beginning of the thirteenth century.
5.3. The Fourth Crusade.
The truce of 1192 left in the hands of Christians Tire a coastal strip to Jaffa. This situation seemed dangerous to Innocent III, who showed a great interest in the Christian territories of the East. In 1198 commanded the preaching of a crusade to alleviate the pressure of Muslims over Christians, but was unsuccessful because the kings and princes of Europe were engaged in internal problems, Germany was confronted with the Papacy and France and England were at war with yes. Thus, the crusade attracted to the nobility of northern France and the Netherlands, Northern Italy and Venice, which provided boats to transport the army under the control interest in securing trade with the Orient.
The speech of the pope and his legates managed to raise an army led by Theobald II of Champagne and had Baldwin IX of Flanders, his brother Henry, Louis of Blois, Godfrey III of Perche, Simon IV de Montfort, and Reinaldo de Dampierre Godfrey of Villehardouin.
The issue was the transportation problem because s lacked enough ships and the land route was made more difficult by the situation in the Balkans. It was therefore decided to land in Egypt and move overland to Jerusalem. In 1201 Theobald of Champagne died, and Boniface of Montserrat would be the new leader of the Crusade, who entered into negotiations with Alexis because he wanted to regain his throne.
It reached an agreement with Venice on the Signoria would arrange the transportation to Egypt of an army of 33,500 crusaders in exchange of 95,000 silver marks. but at the time of boarding, the Crusaders, whose number was less than it had expected, had no money and Venice agreed to transport the army denied, delayed sending troops until Bonifacio reached an economic agreement with the Dux Venetian.
Everything seemed ready, but the interests of others agreed and the Crusade, led to the conquest of Alexandria and Damietta, was directed at other targets. Once the expedition, the Venetians took to recoverZara, whose conquest was paying transportation costs. Enrico Dandolo Bonifacio and sailed from Venice on 8-XI-1202 and, ignoring the Pope Innocent III, occupied Zara days later and, well, Venice went on to regain control of the Adriatic trade. Innocent III excommunicated the expedition, but later forgave the Crusaders, but not to Enrico.
At Zara, an embassy sent by Alexius promised the cross to pay the debt they owed to the Venetians and deliver an army of 10,000 men and help in the conquest of Egypt if the Crusaders helped him regain the throne. Dandolo Monferrato and accepted the offer, but some dissenting cross, went to Syria to fight the Muslims.
The Crusaders, after several attempts, succeeded in breaching the walls of Constantinople when the city seemed about to fall, Alexius III, brother of Isaac II, fled and imperial dignitaries in the throne decided to restore Isaac II. Following negotiations, it was agreed that Isaac II and Alexius would co-emperors. To fulfill the promises pledged by Alejo, did not hesitate to raise taxes, even to the nobles, nor to expropriate church property.
However, the promise was not met, and the Crusaders decided to take by force what was owed, occupy the city and put a Latin emperor, who was chosen by a committee of Franks and Venetians. On April 6, 1204 attacks began against Constantinople, and days later, the Crusaders took the city, provoking the flight of Alexius IV and his court. Theodore Lascaris rejected the imperial crown and fled with the Patriarch and various nobles to found theEmpire of Nicaea.
Was brutally sacked Constantinople for days. Finally, order was restored and divided the spoils. He founded the Latin Empire of Constantinople to the Emperor Baldwin of Flanders. The Empire would remain until the reign of Baldwin II, fled in 1261 when the imperial city for himself under the protection of Manfred of Sicily. Baldwin asked for help from Urban IV and Venice, projecting a crusade against Michael VIII, who did not succeed.
5.4. The remaining Crusaders.
– Fifth Crusade (1217-1221). In spring 1213 the Pope Innocent III promulgated the papal bull Quia maior, calling all Christendom to unite in a new crusade. Initially, European kings, busy with their own struggles did not attend this call. Also Innocent himself, given the history of the failedSecond Crusade preferred to attract to this cause to the lower nobility, knights, and general population. In the Lateran Council of 1215 addressed the issue of recovery of the Holy Land, among others. Innocent claimed that the Crusade was directed by the papacy, to avoid the excesses of the Fourth Crusade
The crusade was not a great authority among the French knights, occupied as they were in their own Albigensian Crusade, but not in Germany, where the emperor Frederick II eventually try to join the Crusade, which certainly went against the wishes of Innocent taking into account fact, that this monarch was the great enemy of papal power. The conflict ended with the death of Innocent in 1216. His successorHonorius III Frederick prevented from joining the crusade, but if allowed to do so Leopold VI of Austria and Andrew II of Hungary at the helm of the Crusader army, who left Europe in 1217.
On arrival of the crusading army to Acre was joined by reinforcements from the King of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Antioch. The first objective was the conquest of Egypt in the hands of theAyyubid: thus, in 1219 took the city of Damietta, where he died the Ayyubid Sultan. However, the lack of support from the European continent and the disputes between the cross heads caused their defeat in 1221 against the Sultan al-Kamil, to which signed a peace agreement, which meant the return of Damietta and another failure of another crusade.
– Sixth Crusade (1228-1229). The Emperor Frederick II had intervened in the Fifth Crusade sending German troops, but without lead them personally, because I needed to consolidate its position inGermany and Italy before embarking on an adventure like the Crusade. However, promised to take the cross after his coronation as emperor in 122 0 by Pope Honorius III.
In 1225 Frederick marriedYolande of Jerusalem, daughter of John of Brienne, nominal ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Maria de Montferrat, therefore Federico had aspirations to the throne of the kingdom, or what is the same, had a compelling reason to attempt to recover Jerusalem. In1227, being already Pope Gregory IX, Frederick and his army set sail from Brindisi to Syria, but an epidemic forced them to return to Italy. This gave the excuse for Gregory excommunicated for breaking his vows of a crusader, Frederick, who had spent years struggling to consolidate imperial power in Italy at the expense of the papacy. After several attempts to negotiate with the pope, Frederick decided to sail back to Syria in1228 despite the excommunication, arriving at Acre in September. Once there was soon trapped by the complicated Middle East politics.
For one thing among Christians many saw in this new crusade an attempt to extend the imperial power. Holy Land was a continuation of the struggle waged in Europe between the defenders of the Papacy (Guelphs) and the Empire (Ghibellines). On the other hand, Muslims had their own struggles, so the Sultan al-Kamil signed a treaty with Frederick to unite against their enemyal-Naser. In return, the emperor could obtain several territories, including Jerusalem, except for the Dome of the Rock, sacred to Islam, and a truce of 10 years. Despite papal opposition to this agreement, Frederick was crowned King of Jerusalem, although legally acted as regent for his son Conrad IV of Germany, the grandson of John of Brienne.
The departure of Jerusalem Frederick, beset by serious problems in Europe and the expiration of the truce in 1239 would mean the end of the short recovery of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. The Holy City, retaken by the Muslims in 1244 would never be in the hands of Christians. However, Frederick had a precedent: the Crusade could succeed even without papal support. At that time European kings could own initiative, take the Cross, as didLouis IX of France, seventh and eighth crusades, and Edward I of England in the ninth crusade.
– Seventh Crusade (1248-1254). In 1244 the Muslims retook Jerusalem after the ten-year truce that followed the Sixth Crusade. The call to crusade, therefore, was not immediate or widespread: European monarchs were busy in their internal affairs, and only the king of France, Louis IX, declared his intention to take the cross1245.
At that time, France was arguably the strongest state in Europe, and after three years fundraising, a powerful army, estimated at about 20,000 men, heavily armed, left the ports of Marseilles and Aigues-Mortes in 1248.
They were primarilyCyprus, where they spent the winter negotiating with the various local powers. Finally, they decided that their goal would be Egypt on the grounds that it would be a good base from which to attack Jerusalem and ensure the supply of grain to feed the Crusaders. As in the Fifth Crusade, the attack would focus first on the city of Damietta, which offered little resistance to the Europeans. However, the flooding of the Nile turned to speak against the West, forcing them to remain in town for about six months.
In November, Louis IX went to Cairo. A force led by Robert of Artois and the Knights Templar attacked the Egyptian camp, but were defeated and Robert died. At the same time, the main force led by Luis was attacked and defeated by GeneralMamluk Baybars.
After another failure in the siege of al-Mansura, Luis decided to return to Damietta, but was taken prisoner on the road. In May, after payment of ransom, was released and immediately left Egypt, addressing Acre, Capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. While there, a revolt in Egypt brought to power a Mamluk dynasty, which began in the person of Turanshah.
In Acre, Luis was spent rebuilding cities and cross a pact with the Mamluks and trying to do with the Mongols the new force that had erupted with tremendous force in the Middle East.
In 1254 financial resources were depleted of Louis also required his presence in France, for her mother and regent Blanche of Castile had recently died. With the return of the king to his land, the crusade ended in failure for the Europeans, but the prestige of Louis IX increased. Later cast to star in a new attempt to retake the Holy Land in the Eighth Crusade, Which would also fail.
– Eighth Crusade (1270). Between 1265 and 1268, the Egyptian Mamluksterritories conquered a number of Christians on the coast of Palestine and Lebanon, as Haifa or Antioquia, in addition toGalilee and Armenia. The Middle East lived a period of anarchy between the religious orders should defend as well as between merchants Genoese and Venetians. The King of France,Louis IX, then returned to the spirit of the Crusades and navy launched a new initiative, the Eighth Crusade in 1270, but without great impact on Europe. The goals were far different from previous projects: geographically, the theater was not the Levante if Tunisia, and intent rather than military, was the conversion ofEmir of the same North African city.
Louis IX initially left for Egypt, which was being devastated by Sultan Baybars, and where they had to be defeated the French army. He turned to Tunis, in the hope of turning the emir of the city and the sultan to Christianity. Muhammad Sultan received him with weapons, but they did not even have the chance to fight: just landed the French forces in Tunisia, were undertaken by aplague ravaging the region, killing large number of crusaders, including St. Louis and one of his sons. The king’s son, Philip, signed a peace treaty with the sultan, and returned to Europe.
5.5. Consequences.
· They unite the Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus under the figure of Hugh II of Lusignan in 1254.
• In 1261 the Latin Empire disappeared from Constantinople after the escape from the city of Baldwin II.
· The Mamelukes gradually recovered the lands and castles which had belonged to the Crusaders time ago.
· Acre fell in 1291 in Muslim hands. After the fall of Acre, only remained in Latin hands Italian factories, the island of Rhodes and Cyprus.
• In the fourteenth century Crusades small happen but not with the main goal: to recapture the Holy City.
6. Impact of the Crusades.
The balance of most historians of the Crusades is negative, due to little success and the great effort made by European powers.
On the one hand, the Crusades would provoke a desire for revenge on the Muslims who got big boost with Saladin later the Mamluk and Ottoman expansion would absorb all Christian lands. Malta would remain only in the sixteenth century.
In Byzantium, the enmity against the Crusaders because of the immoral acts of the troops caused the decline of Byzantium, especially since the Fourth Crusade. Moreover, the arrival of Western Christian centers caused discontent and amazement of eastern Christendom.
The crusade, as a religious and ecclesiastical phenomenon had consequences beyond the Holy Land. Under the guise of finance expeditions, theChurch increased its fiscal policy and its weight in Europe, in addition to granting forbearance and forgiveness to all who participated in the Crusades.
In the Crusades interests took precedence and made disappear the original spirit of the crusade. Also forgot the main venue of the fight against Muslims, and moved to Spain, the Balkans and France. The Crusades developed anti-Judaism, an attitude already present in Europe but that was accentuated at this time.
Furthermore, the cross-integrated into Europe warfare tactics and techniques of Oriental, and a refinement of Western civilization, while the ways of life were transformed.
Latin was once again the international language. Eastern culture was best known. The military orders have moved to Europe. And Europe saw a territorial and economic expansion.