On Peregrinus I: Medieval Europe
I thought about calling this
post: “The First Crusade”, but realized that it didn’t quite fit my
thesis. The Crusades is a topic oft
referred to by those attacking Christianity and or religion in general, and I
didn't want to give the impression that this post is some sort of attempt at an
apologia of the Crusades. My goal with
this post is to attempt to describe the Peregrinus, which is Latin for
Crusaders, and the culture in the times which they lived and the role
Christianity played in that time. This
is a controversial period, often used by the enemies of Christianity or
religion as an example of the evils of The Faith.
Jumping to the
defense of the crusades is not the appropriate response to any argument, it's simply too complex. The easiest rebuttal is to use examples of
more recent history, as it is easily relatable.
For instance, Atheism and its governing counterpart, communism, has
killed more people in the last 100 years than Christianity has killed since its
inception (roughly 100 million people exterminated in less than 50 years.) Another historical attack used on the church
are the wars of religion in France and Germany, which gave rise to the humanist
philosophy that motivated the French revolution. The philosophers of the French revolution
also influenced Marx and Lenin.
It’s true that the Protestant
vs Catholic wars were terrible, and while some fought for self-defense and
religious freedom, both sides often went against the teachings of Christ, to
say the least. The French Revolution
made religion illegal and relying on their own moral code they slaughtered
thousands, finally culminating in the Napoleonic Wars which brought the whole
of Europe to her knees. The common theme
in all of this is the human condition.
If all the world were Christians in practice, there would be no wars. Unfortunately there is too much temptation to
put ourselves above other, thus world peace will continue to elude us. Those
that pursued the folly of trading liberty for peace or conceded to evil and
aggression in history, either brought about more cruelty upon themselves or
were destroyed by more enterprising men.
It's no coincidence that Utopia (Greek for “no place”) was chosen as the
title of Thomas Moore’s famous book.
The simple truth is this:
Christianity doesn't kill people, people kill people. Just to clarify, I do not defend religion, I
defend Christianity. (See Mathew 5)
There were and ARE religions out there that encourage/promote living by
the sword. Religions of the sword were
an important part of the Crusades but Christianity is not one of those, as I
hope you will see. There are so many
parallels to our own society and lessons to be learned from this extraordinary
time. This period is so complex that
even being as brief as I can, a single post is just too great a burden on the reader, so
I've broken it up into shorter parts. I
hope you find it interesting because I think its forehead smacking good! (The
topic and evidence, not necessarily my rendition of them...)
The Carolingian Empire
By 500 A.D. the Roman Empire
in the west had fractured into petty kingdoms ruled over by Romanized and
non-Romanized “barbarians”. Various
movements to restore the Empire occurred such as the Merovingian Dynasty (A.D.470-750),
but the most successful was Charlemagne (Charles the Great). Charlemagne unified/pacified the barbarian
tribes of Europe. Various Northmen,
Gauls, and Goths/Franks became part of a unified “Frankish” Empire:
By the year 800 A.D.,
Charlemagne had reconquered much of the European territory that Constantine had
conquered, forced the pagan people to convert to Christianity, and restored law
and order. He was
eventually crowned “Holy Roman Emperor” by the Pope, a title that the German
monarchs would keep until after World War I.
The Norse, Slavic, and Avars (Hunnic Tribes) resisted fiercely however
and a fairly solid boundary was set for the empire along their borders. The armies
of a new religion called Islam had been narrowly prevented from conquering
France by the previous dynasty and Charlemagne secured his empire from further encursion though strategic alliances and by fortifying
the northern Iberian Peninsula. He also shared dominance of the Italian Peninsula
with the Eastern Roman Empire that had thus far, retained most of their ancient
power and prestige.
The Carolingian Empire
declined sharply after the death of Charlemagne, largely due to the Germanic
custom of dividing land evenly between sons.
His sons began fighting each other for complete control over the once
unified Empire, which served to further undermine the imperial restoration
which had been achieved by their father.
As the remaining kingdoms fought amongst themselves, a semi-new threat
emerged that signaled the end of Frankish dominance in Europe, The Viking
Invasion.
The Vikings
The
Vikings were largely Northern European peoples very similar to the Saxons and
other Scandinavian/Slav/Gaulic seafaring peoples. They (Angles and Saxons) had
been used by Rome, a few hundred years prior, to fight the Breton/Celts and
others. New technology arrived around
790 A.D. which allowed the Scandinavian raiders to venture further to sea than
ever before. Some scholars teach that not only were Christians unaware of the
existence of these fierce warriors, but the Vikings were likewise
surprised. I find that view difficult to
believe, considering the evidence of at least secondary trade, and the wars
with Rome/Charlemagne pitched Christians and the Pagan Northmen against each
other. There is also surviving
correspondence between the kingdoms of Britain referencing their own barbaric
Saxon history and their surprise at the Pagans' ability to navigate the open
sea. Bishop Alcuin, describes the attack
on Lindisfarne to King Ethelred of Northumbria (One of the Kingdoms of England
near York)
“Lo, it is nearly 350
years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never
before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan
race, nor was it thought that such inroad from the sea could be made. Behold, the church of St. Cuthbert spattered
with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place
more venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples. Who does not fear this? Who does not lament
this as if his (God’s) country were captured?
Foxes pillage the chosen vine, where there was the Praise of God, now
there are the games of the Gentiles; the Holy festivity has turned to morning.”
To better understand this era
and its people, I imagine a post-apocalyptic America. The conflict settled, peace restored by local
powers and city states that engage in fairly regular mini-wars over resources,
but no serious campaigns. Armies
consisted primarily of conscripted bands of the poorly trained
supporters/servants of local warlords.
Additional troops were levied from semi-professional mercenaries often
paid in plunder. Now that I think about
it, Road Warrior must have been inspired by medieval history.
In fact the Vikings resembled modern day biker gangs in
many ways. Bishop Alcuin provides a brief description of them as he admonishes
the fashion trends of the era:
“Consider the dress,
the way of wearing hair, look at your trimming of beard and hair, in which you
have wished to resemble the pagans. Are
you not menaced by terror of them whose fashion you wish to follow?”
Viking is a term that usually
refers to Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian seafaring peoples (aka Pirates). Their religion glorified strategy, intrigue,
courage, and strength. Viking women were
just as fierce as the men. The men were
expected to fight and couldn’t get much attention from the ladies until they
had proven themselves in battle.
The
Vikings found the Christian kingdoms of England easy pickings because they put
much of their wealth in isolated, undefended monasteries. The English Kingdoms, being un-unified and
slow to adapt to the Viking method of warfare were almost completely conquered
by the “Danes.” The Saxon King Alfred
the Great, using old Roman tactics and discipline, eventually regained much of
the Saxon dominance of southern England (Wessex) after soundly defeating the
Danish forces at the battle of Edington (886 A.D.). After the battle and baptism of the Pagans,
an agreement with the Vikings finally resulted in peace, diffusion, and
assimilation.
If history teaches us anything
it’s that, peace is but a respite of hostility, When King Edward “The
Confessor” (kin to Saxons, Danes, and Normans) died childless, his extended
family battled for the crown. The victor
was William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy.
He became the new King of England and though nominally Christian, he
completed the work his grandparents had started by conquering most of
England. He established the Norman
dynasty, ruling (at least nominally) over England, Ireland, and most of modern
day France. King William officially brought
the “Viking age” to a close in 1066.
The Normans
Norman was the word used by
the Frankish people to describe Vikings, roughly translated as “North
Man.” Rollo, a famous Viking, conquered
a large part of what is today northern France sometime in the 9th century. Rollo was defeated by the king of France and
to guarantee peace he married the young princess. Rollo and his queen ruled over a mighty
kingdom of north men, aptly named Normandy.
As the “Great Heathen Army” was ravaging England, the Vikings used their
French colonies to support their inland river incursions, as well as conquests
in the Mediterranean. The Vikings had
assailed the French before in 799 A.D., only a few years after the first
recorded attack in England at Lindisfarne. Charlemagne and his heir Pippin
created a series of river defenses to guard against such incursions but Ragnar,
well informed of the instability caused by the Frankish civil war,
circumnavigated the Frankish rivers and successfully sacked Paris. Ragnar set the standard for marine invasions
but Rollo set the standard for long term conquest. The Vikings-Normans were officially Christian
by 911 A.D. but continued to raid for sport and spoil.
The Six Dux of Normandy, Falaise Square:
Rollo
William Longsword
Richard the Fearless
Richard II the Good
Richard III
Robert the Magnificent
King
William “The Conqueror”
Not
long after the founding of Normandy, it is believed that either a friend or
extended family member of Rollo named Hiallt was given a barony in his
kingdom. Haillt was the patriarch of the
House of Hauteville, which sailed into the Mediterranean and terrorized coastal
cities from North Africa, to Italy and even led successful campaigns against
the Eastern Roman Empire. While the
Norman “Duke” was busy conquering England, the small barony of Hautville's
knights were busy building their own kingdom in Sicily and Italy. After disagreements between the Pope and the
Holy Roman Emperor (King of Germany and Saxony) the HRE invaded Rome and put
his own Pope on the holy throne. The
exiled Pope fled to his Norman allies in southern Italy, the Norman pirate turned
King of Sicily, Roger Borsa, sent his nephew with an army toward Rome. The HRE
returned to Germany but the two powers could do little more than achieve a
stalemate, thus the Western Christian world was left with a Norman Pope and a
German Pope, each disavowing the other. (The
Eastern Roman Empire viewed “the Pope” as a Bishop.)
Pope
Gregory, (The Pope backed by the Normans) died while still in exile in Norman
occupied Italy. His successor was Pope
Urban, by all accounts a good and just man.
Urban was the new Pope but was still forced to live in exile under the
protection of his Norman patrons. He
recognized the mess that Europe was in, and was appalled by the suffering
caused by hundreds of years of greed induced conflict. He was also frustrated by his lack of power
caused by the German HRE and his rival for the Papacy. Urban and the rest of Europe was well aware
of the scourge of the east, many appeals had been made to the new conquerors as
well as to The Emperor. The Eastern
Roman Emperor Alexius, had been using western knights and even Vikings as
mercenaries for years
Man wearing replica Byzantine (Eastern
Roman Empire) Varangian Guard (Viking mercenary) armor
A
new people called the Turks conquered the Sassanid Persian Empire, and being
recently converted to Islam, began to invade the rest of the middle and
near-east from the eastern steppes.
These hunnish zealots conquered land regardless of religion and
destroyed anyone perceived as a threat.
All non-Muslim rulers were forced to convert or be put to the sword.
Turkish noble and man at arms
Pilgrimages were no longer
allowed, and the once vibrant, beautiful, Greco-Roman Middle East suffered
greatly. Normans had weakened its
control over the Mediterranean, Sunni Muslims had conquered Roman North Africa,
and the Turks had taken Jerusalem, Rum, and were fast approaching
Constantinople. The Roman army was defeated, corruption was rampant, and the
Empire found itself in serious trouble.
