Inspiring the Crusades

 

Published by Dan Jones on September 9, 2019 for History Extra (link to source).

“Jerusalem is the navel of the world; the land is fruitful above others, like another paradise of delights” (Lapham’s Quarterly). While this quote might appear to be intended as the benevolent appraisal of a city, the context of the quote reveals an entirely different purpose. It is part of a speech given by Pope Urban II in 1095 that inspired the Crusades and called all Christians to action against the Muslims occupying Jerusalem. In the speech, Pope Urban states that “this royal city…is in subjugation to those who do not know God… and desires to be liberated” (Lapham’s Quarterly). Thus, Pope Urban’s words about Jerusalem are revealed to contain the ulterior motive of inspiring others to see the city as a place that should be valued and, therefore, fought for. Its context is one of prejudice against a group of different faith, and of an arousal of outrage, hatred and fear against this “other” – none of which is evident from the quote itself. Additionally, it relies on the power of religion to inspire action under the banner of hope for “the Peace of God in Europe and the War of God in the Near East” (Armstrong 271).

Such inspiration of unity under a united front was no small feat, and marked the “first cooperative venture” of the West after the Dark ages (Armstrong 272). For the clergy, this holy war was a means of extending the prestige of the Western church into further territories; for knights, it seemed a nobly undertaken duty; and for the poor, the pull of the dream of Jerusalem and what it represented seemed too much to resist. As Karen Armstrong, author of the book Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths states, “It is unlikely that Urban would have got the same response if he had made no mention of the tomb of Christ” (Armstrong 272). Thus, it is evident that religion and Jerusalem’s religious significance were indispensable forces in inspiring the Crusades. They were able to impart so powerful a pull as to unite members of the population of Western Europe that might never have come together otherwise, and to inspire such devout fervor as to lead these Christians to leave their homes and families for an unknown fate fighting in far away lands. Thus, the people of Europe turned from fighting each other, and under the unifying flag of Christianity began an armed pilgrimage to bring a “holy war of liberation” to Jerusalem (Armstrong 71).

Yet just as Pope Urban’s words about Jerusalem seemed to contain praise for the city while retaining a darker motive of war, so too did the Christian idealism inspiring the Crusades have “a dark underside” (Armstrong 272). The Crusaders’ victories resulted in the death of many people and destruction of many cities. Jewish communities, in addition to Muslim ones, were massacred as the ideal of a Christian Jerusalem ignited hatred of those the Crusaders believed to have actually killed Christ. Anti-Semitism spread “like an incurable disease” as armies marched across Europe toward Jerusalem, eventually reaching the Near East and leaving the map markedly changed as those formerly in power were conquered and unseated (Armstrong 272-273). As with the slaughter of Jews, so too was the massacre of Muslims in Jerusalem a violent affair, leaving the streets so full of bodies that they “literally ran with blood” (Armstrong 274).

The success of the conquest of Jerusalem was seen as proof of “God’s special blessing,” and demonstrated the power of religion in inspiring discipline, persistence, and even “violence and atrocity” (Armstrong 274-282). Religion had united the West and led it to an unlikely victory, displaying an ability to inspire so remarkable that it has become a focus of scientific study in recent years. Researcher Kevin Rounding argues that religious belief might, evolutionarily speaking, have served to “enhance the basic cognitive process of self-control, which in turn promotes any number of valuable social behaviors” (APS Editors). Rounding and colleagues conducted a series of experiments in which they found that those with strong religious beliefs displayed higher markers of self-discipline, which requires a great deal of mental energy. They further discovered that when reminded of their religious beliefs and purpose, the effects of cognitive strain after difficult tasks – measured by “ego depletion,” or the using up of limited mental resources of energy – were reduced or reversed (APS Editors). When subjects were given a task that the researchers knew could not be completed, “the ones with religion on their minds persisted longer at the impossible task—suggesting that the religious priming restored their cognitive powers” (APS Editors).

This offers an explanation as to why the conquest of Jerusalem during the Crusades was successful, and why Pope Urban’s use of religion and Jerusalem (a symbol and reminder of the peoples’ faith) as a motive for war was such a powerful tactic in uniting the people with a common motive. While Rounding remarks that it is “not entirely clear what cognitive mechanism is at work in religion’s influence,” the effects of this influence are undeniable. Religion, in itself, is a powerful force, and depending on its use or misuse is capable of inspiring goodness and humanity or the hatred and violence seen during the Crusades. For this reason, it is important to reflect upon the purpose of words that rely upon religious symbols to make an argument, and ask ourselves whether they are meant in the way that they first appear, or whether they might be understood differently if the context behind them is revealed.  

Citations

APS Editors. “Why Do We Have Religion Anyway?” Association for Psychological Science, 9 Nov. 2011, https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/were-only-human/why-do-we-have-religion-anyway.html.

Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. Alfred A Knopf, 1996.

https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/crusaders-fight-god-gold-riches-dan-jones/.

“Summoning the Faithful: Pope Urban II’s Holy Crusade.” From Robert the Monk’s History of the First Crusade. Lapham’s Quarterly, https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/states-war/summoning-faithful#:~:text=Jerusalem%20is%20the%20navel%20of,death%2C%20has%20glorified%20by%20burial