On Peregrinus, Part I: Medieval Europe

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. 

Every Viking hoped to one day die in battle, ascend to Valhalla and feast with Thor, Odin, and etc.  There was little land in Scandinavia, and the soil was difficult to cultivate forcing the Vikings to depend on limited trade and piracy for sustenance.  In a few generations the Vikings had conquered, or at least: terrorized, settled and then influenced most of Medieval Europe.  Ivar, Bjorn, and the other alleged sons of the famous Viking raider Ragnar dominated most of England and Ireland. Meanwhile, Rollo conquered northern France and Belgium founding the kingdom of Normandy. 

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.