Crusades seen by Byzantium and Islam.pdf

This is an extract from:

The Crusades from the Perspective

of Byzantium and the Muslim World

edited by Angeliki E. Laiou and Roy Parviz Mottahedeh

published by

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Washington, D.C.

Trustees for Harvard University

Washington, D.C.

Printed in the United States of America

www.doaks.org/etexts.html

TheHistoriographyoftheCrusades

GilesConstable

I.TheDevelopmentofCrusadingHistoriography

erentpointsofview,and

everyaccountandreferenceinthesourcesmustbeinterpretedinthelightofwhere,

when,bywhom,andinwhoseinterestsitwaswritten. 1 Eachparticipantmadehis—

andinfewcasesher—owncrusade,andtheleadershadtheirowninterests,motives,

andobjectives,whichoftenputthematoddswithoneanother.Theywerealldistrusted

bytheByzantineemperorAlexiosKomnenos,whosepointofviewispresentedinthe

Alexiad writteninthemiddleofthetwelfthcenturybyhisdaughterAnnaKomnene.

TheTurkishsultanKilijArslannaturallysawthingsfromanotherperspective,asdidthe

indigenousChristianpopulationsintheeast,especiallytheArmenians,andthepeoples

oftheMuslimprincipalitiesoftheeasternMediterranean.TherulersofEdessa,Antioch,

Aleppo,andDamascus,andbeyondthemCairoandBaghdad,eachhadtheirownatti-

tudestowardthecrusades,whicharereﬂectedinthesources.Tothesemustbeadded

thepeoplesthroughwhoselandsthecrusaderspassedontheirwaytotheeast,andin

particulartheJewswhosu

ﬀ

eredatthehandsofthefollowersofPetertheHermit. 2

The historiography of the crusades thus begins with the earliest accounts of their

originsandhistory.Asidefromsomestudiesofindividualsources,however,andanum-

berofbibliographiesandbibliographicalarticles, 3 thehistoriographyhasreceivedcom-

1 Thisarticleisarevisedversionofthepaperpresentedatthesymposium.Itconcentratesongeneralprob-

lemsconcerningthecrusadestotheeast.Thereferencestosecondaryworksareillustrativeandarenotde-

signedtogiveabibliographyofthecrusades.IamindebtedtoBenjaminZ.Kedarforvarioussuggestions.A

shortenedversionofpartIwillappear(inRussian)intheforthcomingFestschriftforAaronGurevich.

2 The Jews and the Crusaders: The Hebrew Chronicles of the First and Second Crusades, ed.andtrans.S.Eidelberg

(Madison,Wisc.,1977).Amongsecondaryworks,seemostrecentlyD.Lohrmann,“AlbertvonAachenund

dieJudenpogromedesJahres1096,” Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins 100(1995–96):129–51.

3 H.E.Mayer, Bibliographie zur Geschichte der Kreuzz¨ge (Hannover,1960),andidemandJ.McLellan,“Se-

lectBibliographyoftheCrusades,”in A History of the Crusades, ed.K.M.Setton(Madison,Wisc.,1955–89),

6:511–664.OthergeneralbibliographiesareL.deGermonandL.Polain, Catalogue de la biblioth`que de feu M. le

comte Riant, pt.2(Paris,1899),andA.S.Atiya, The Crusade: Historiography and Bibliography (Bloomington,Ind.-

London,1962),whichhasasectiononhistoriography(17–28).Amongthereviewarticles,seeG.Schnu¨rer,

“NeuereArbeitenzurGeschichtederKreuzzu¨ge,” HJ 34(1914):848–55;T.S.R.Boase,“RecentDevelop-

mentsinCrusadingHistoriography,” History, n.s.,22(1937):110–25;J.LaMonte,“SomeProblemsinCrusad-

ingHistoriography,” Speculum 15(1940):57–75;J.A.Brundage,“RecentCrusadeHistoriography:Some

ObservationsandSuggestions,” CHR 49(1964):493–507;F.Cardini,“Glistudisullecrociatedal1945ad

oggi,” RSI 80(1968):79–106;andH.Mo¨hring,“KreuzzugundDschihadindermediaevistischenundorienta-

Thecrusadeswerefromtheirinceptionseenfrommanydi

ﬀ

[2] Historiography of the Crusades

parativelylittleattentionfromscholars.Theonlygeneralworksarealongandstilluseful

appendixtotheﬁrst(butnotthesecond)editionofHeinrichvonSybel’s Geschichte des

ersten Kreuzzugs, whichappearedatDu¨sseldorfin1841andwastranslatedintoEnglish

in1861,andthetwovolumes(inRussian)byM.A.Zaboroventitled Vvedenie v istorio-

graﬁju Krestovykh pokhodov (Introductiontothehistoriographyofthecrusades),which

dealswiththemedievalsources,and Istoriograﬁja Krestovykh pokhodov (XV–XIX vv.) (His-

toriographyofthecrusades[15th–19thcentury]),whichwerepublishedinMoscowin

1966and1971respectively. 4 Tothesecanbeaddedalongarticle,partlyhistoriographical

andpartlybibliographical,byLaetitiaBoehmentitled“‘GestaDeiperFrancos’—oder

‘GestaFrancorum’?DieKreuzzu ¨ gealshistoriographischesProblem”andachapterby

Jonathan Riley-Smith on “The Crusading Movement and Historians” in the Oxford

Illustrated History of the Crusades. 5 Itisinteresting,andperhapssigniﬁcant,thatthereisno

sustainedtreatmentofhistoriographyinthegeneralhistoriesofthecrusadesbyRene´

Grousset,StevenRunciman,andHansEberhardMayer,norinthesix-volumecoopera-

tive History of the Crusades editedbyKennethSetton.

Thehistoriographyofthecrusadesasseenfromthewest,withwhichthisarticleis

concerned,canbedividedintothreeperiods,ofwhichtheﬁrst,andlongest,wentfrom

1095 until the end of the sixteenth century; the second covered the seventeenth and

eighteenth centuries; and the third began in the early nineteenth century and comes

downtothepresent.Therewassomeoverlapbetweentheperiods,butbroadlyspeaking,

duringtheﬁrst,theMuslimswereacontinuingthreattoWesternEuropeandthede-

fenseofChristendomwasseenasapressingconcern.Inthesecondperiod,thecrusades

movedincreasinglyintothepast,butapastthatwascoloredbyconfessionalorrationalist

values,whichchangedinthethirdperiod,whenthecrusadesweresubjectedtoserious,

thoughnotalwaysimpartial,scholarlyinvestigation.Thisthirdperiodbreaksdowninto

thenineteenthcentury,whenthecrusadesweregenerallywellregarded,andthetwenti-

ethcentury,whentherehasbeenarisingtideofcriticismand,morerecently,agrowing

divisionbetweenscholarlyandpopularviewsofthecrusades.

Interestinthecrusadestodayisstillinﬂuencedbypoliticalandideologicalinterests,

includingtheconsequencesofEuropeancolonialism,thetensionsbetweenwesternand

non-westernsocieties,especiallyintheMiddleEast,and,morebroadly,thelegitimacy

ofusingforcetopromoteevenworthyandlegitimatecauses. 6 Theseconcernscontrib-

listischenForschung1965–1985,” Innsbrucker historische Studien 10–11(1988):361–86.SeealsoH.E.Mayer,

“AmericaandtheCrusades,” PAPS 125(1981):38–45;C.R.Young,“TheCrusades:ATragicEpisodein

East-WestRelations,” South Atlantic Quarterly 55(1956):87–97;andthecollectionofreprintsandexcerptsin

The Crusades: Motives and Achievements, ed.J.A.Brundage,ProblemsinEuropeanCivilization(Boston,1964).

4 H.vonSybel, Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzugs (Du¨sseldorf,1841),148–80,trans.L.D.Gordon, The History

and Literature of the Crusades (London,1861),311–56;andM.A.Zaborov, Vvedenie v istoriograﬁju Krestovykh

pokhodov (Moscow,1966)and Istoriograﬁja Krestovykh pokhodov (XV–XIX vv.) (Moscow,1971).Fortheserefer-

encesIamindebtedtoAlexanderKazhdan,whoalsosummarizedthecontentsforme.

5 L.Boehm,“‘GestaDeiperFrancos’—oder‘GestaFrancorum’?DieKreuzzu¨gealshistoriographisches

Problem,” Saeculum 8(1957):43–81,andJ.Riley-Smith,“TheCrusadingMovementandHistorians,”in The

Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, ed.J.Riley-Smith(Oxford,1995),1–12.SeealsoL.Boehm,“Die

Kreuzzu¨geinbibliographischerundhistoriographischerSicht,” HJ 81(1962):223–37.

6 P.Rousset, Histoire d’une id´ologie: La croisade (Lausanne,1983),206–8;K.Armstrong, Holy War (London,

1988),xiii–xiv;J.Riley-Smith,“History,theCrusadesandtheLatinEast,1095–1204:APersonalView,”in

Giles Constable [3]

reyBarracloughechoedthisviewin1970:“Wenolongerre-

gard the crusades ... as a great movement in defense of Western Christendom, but

ratherasthemanifestationofanew,driving,aggressivespiritwhichnowbecamethe

mark of Western civilization. We no longer regard the Latin states of Asia Minor as

outpostsofcivilizationinaworldofunbelievers,butratherasradicallyunstablecenters

ofcolonialexploitation.”Heattributedthischangein“ourverdictontheCrusades”to

“ourexperienceoftotalwarandthehazardsoflivinginathermonuclearage.Waris

alwaysevil,ifsometimesaninescapableevil;HolyWaristheevilofevils.” 8 AndJohn

Warddescribedthecrusadesin1995as“amovementofviolentwhitesupremacistcolo-

nialism.” 9

Thisviewisnowcommoninworksaddressedtothegeneralpublic,includingpopular

presentationsandmovies.AleaﬂetdistributedinClermontduringtheconferenceheld

in 1995 to commemorate the summons to the First Crusade was headed “The Cru-

sades—didGodwillit?”echoingthecrusadingcryof“Deuslevolt.”Itwentontoask

“CantheChurchmemorializetheCrusadeswithoutaskingforgiveness?”andcalledon

thepopetodenythatanywarcanbeholyandthatsinscanbeforgivenbykillingpagans.

Accordingtothisview,thecrusaderswereinspiredbygreedandreligiousfanaticismand

theMuslimsweretheinnocentvictimsofexpansionistaggression.Manyscholarstoday,

however,rejectthishostilejudgmentandemphasizethedefensivecharacterofthecru-

sadesastheywereseenbycontemporaries,whobelievedthatChristianitywasendan-

gered by enemies who had already overrun much of the traditional Christian world,

includingJerusalemandtheHolyLand,andwhothreatenedtotakeovertheremainder.

Almostallthehistoriansandchroniclersoftheexpeditionsthatwerelatercalledthe

FirstCrusadeconsideredthemaresponsetotheMuslimthreatstoChristianholyplaces

andpeoplesintheeast. 10 Theywrotefromdi

ﬀ

erentpointsofview,however,andused

Crusaders and Muslims in Twelfth-Century Syria, ed.M.Shatzmiller,TheMedievalMediterranean1(Leiden-

NewYork-Cologne,1993),7–8;andidem,“RevivalandSurvival,”in Oxford History (asinnote5),386.

7 S.Runciman, A History of the Crusades, 3vols.(Cambridge,1952–54),3:480.

8 G.Barraclough,“Deuslevolt?” New York Review of Books, 21May1970,16.

9 J.Ward,“TheFirstCrusadeasDisaster:ApocalypticismandtheGenesisoftheCrusadingMovement,”in

Medieval Studies in Honour of Avrom Saltman, Bar-IlanStudiesinHistory4(Ramat-Gan,1995),255.Cf.onthe

currentunfavorableviewofthecrusadesM.Balard, Les Croisades (Paris,1988),9;Riley-Smith,“History”(asin

note6),1–2;andthereviewofT.JonesandA.Ereira, Crusades, byM.Evans,D.Green,andJ.M.B.Porterin

Nottingham Medieval Studies 39(1995):201.

10 C.Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of Crusade, trans.M.BaldwinandW.Go

ﬀ

utedtothechangefromthecomparativelyfavorableattitudetowardthecrusadesthat

prevailedinthenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturiesintoamorecritical,andeven

hostile,view.StevenRunciman,intheconclusiontohis History of the Crusades, called

thecrusades“atragicanddestructiveepisode”andsaidthat“theHolyWaritselfwas

nothingmorethanalongactofintoleranceinthenameofGod,whichisthesinagainst

theHolyGhost.” 7 Geo

ﬀ

art(Princeton,1977),8,349;

E.Delaruelle, Id´e de croisade au moyen-ˆge (Turin,1980),23;andJ.Riley-Smith, What Were the Crusades?

(London-Basingstoke,1977),22–33,whostressedtherecurrenceof“theideasofliberation(anotherwordfor

recovery)anddefence”(23)andsaidthat“acrusade,wheneverandagainstwhomsoeveritwasaimed,wasre-

gardedasbeingessentiallydefensive”(29).SeealsoJ.Flori,“Guerresainteetre´tributionsspirituellesdansla2e

moitie´duXIesie`cle,” RHE 85(1990):627–28,ontheconceptofthelegitimacyofrecoveringwronglytaken

lands.

[4] Historiography of the Crusades

varyingterminologyandbiblicalpassages. 11 GuibertofNogentstressedtheapocalyptic

andmillenarianaspects,andEkkehardofAurathesupernaturalandphysicalphenomena

thatprecededandaccompaniedthecrusade.Manywritershadtheirownheroes.The

rolesofGodfreyofBouillonandPetertheHermitwerecentralforAlbertofAachen;

BohemundofTarantointheanonymous Gesta Francorum ;hisnephewTancredforRalph

of Caen; Raymond of St. Gilles for Raymond of Aguilers; Baldwin of Boulogne for

FulcherofChartres;andGodfreyofBouillonagaininthecrusaderepics,whichdomi-

natedthepopularperceptionofthecrusadesdowntothenineteenthcentury.Odoof

DeuilinhishistoryoftheSecondCrusadeconcentratedontheactivitiesofLouisVII

ofFrance,andtheaccountsoftheThirdCrusadeinthe Estoire de la guerre sainte ofAm-

broise and the Itinerarium regis Ricardi gloriﬁed the role of Richard I of England. The

greatestofallcrusaderhistorians,WilliamofTyre,wrotehis Chronicon fromthepoint

ofviewofaLatinChristianbornandlivingintheeastinorder,hesaid,torecord“for

the everlasting memory of the faithful of Christ” the way in which God “wanted to

relievethelong-lastingoppressionofHispeople.” 12

InnocentIIIinhiscrusadingbull Quia maior of1213askedhowanyonecould“know

thathisbrothers,Christianinfaithandname,areheldindireimprisonmentamongthe

perﬁdious Saracens and most profoundly subjected by the yoke of servitude, and not

takee ﬀ ectiveactionfortheirliberation...AndindeedtheChristianpeoplesheldalmost

alltheprovincesoftheSaracensuntilthetimesoftheblessedGregory.” 13 Evenmore

strikingly,thefourteenth-centuryCastilianmagnateDonJuanManuelwroteinhis Libro

de los estados thattheMuslimshadconqueredandheldmanylandsthathadbelongedto

Christians“whohadbeenconvertedtothefaithofJesusChristbytheapostles.Andon

thisaccountthereiswarbetweentheChristiansandtheMuslims,andwillbewaruntil

theChristianshaverecoveredthelandsthattheMuslimsseizedfromthem,sincethere

wouldbenowarbetweenthemwithregardtothelawnorthereligion( secta )thatthey

hold.” 14 Whiletheaccuracyandrealismoftheseviewscanbequestioned,theyreﬂect

11 P.Alphande´ry,“Lescitationsbibliqueschezleshistoriensdelapremie`recroisade,” RHR 90(1929):

139–57.

12 WilliamofTyre, Chronicon, 1.10,inCCcontinuatiomediaeualis63:124.SeeP.EdburyandJ.G.Rowe,

William of Tyre: Historian of the Latin East, CambridgeStudiesinMedievalLifeandThought4.8(Cambridge,

1988),41.VonSybel, Geschichte (asinnote4),148–63,trans.311–31,classiﬁedthesourcesfortheFirstCru-

sade(149,trans.312)assources( Quellen ),legends( Sage ),andWilliamofTyre,whoseuniqueimportanceas

bothaprimarysourceandasecondarywriterentitlehimtoaspecialplace.

13 G.Tangl, Studien zum Register Innocenz’ III. (Weimar,1929),90,trans.L.andJ.Riley-Smith, The Cru-

sades: Idea and Reality, 1095–1274, DocumentsofMedievalHistory4(London,1981),120.SeeJ.Riley-Smith,

“CrusadingasanActofLove,” History 65(1980):177–92,citingthisbull(191).P.J.Cole, The Preaching of the

Crusades to the Holy Land, 1095–1270 (Cambridge,Mass.,1991),105,referredtoInnocent’s“juridicalconcept

ofthecrusadeasmilitaryserviceforChrist.”R.Ro¨hricht, Kleine Studien zur Geschichte der Kreuzz¨ge, Wis-

senschaftlicheBeilagezumProgrammdesHumboldts-GymnasiumszuBerlin58(Berlin,1890),9–11,analyzed

themotivesforthecrusadesgiveninpapalbulls,includingtheirnecessity.

14 DonJuanManuel, Libro de los estados, ed.R.B.TateandI.R.MacPherson(Oxford,1974),53;seexl,dat-

ingit1328withsubsequentrevisions.AccordingtoV.Cantarino,“TheSpanishReconquest:ACluniacHoly

WaragainstIslam?”in Islam and the Medieval West: Aspects of Intercultural Relations, ed.K.I.Semaan(Albany,

N.Y.,1980),98,“TheSpanishReconquestremainedinitsessenceaterritorialstruggle.”SeealsoR.A.

Fletcher,“ReconquestandCrusadeinSpain,c.1050–1150,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 5.37

(1987):31–47,whosaidthatreconquestwasreallyconquest(46–47).

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