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Medieval Sourcebook:
Guibert de Nogent:
On the First Crusade
Selections from the Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei per
Francos
1. Urban II's Speech
"If among the churches scattered about over the whole world
some, because of persons or location, deserve reverence above
others (for persons, I say, since greater privileges are accorded
to apostolic sees; for places, indeed, since the same dignity
which is accorded to persons is also shown to regal cities, such
as Constantinople), we owe most to that church from which we received
the grace of redemption and the source of all Christianity. If
what the Lord saysnamely, 'Salvation is from the Jews,' accords
with the truth, and it is true that the Lord has left us Sabaoth
as seed, that we may not become like Sodom and Gomorrah, and our
seed is Christ, in whom is the salvation and benediction of all
peoples, then, indeed, the very land and city in which He dwelt
and suffered is, by witnesses of the Scriptures, holy. If this
land is spoken of in the sacred writings of the prophets as the
inheritance and the holy temple of God before ever the Lord walked
about in it, or was revealed, what sanctity, what reverence has
it not acquired since God in His majesty was there clothed in
the flesh, nourished, grew up, and in bodily form there walked
about, or was carried about; and, to compress in fitting brevity
all that might be told in a long series of words, since there
the blood of the Son of God, more holy than heaven and earth,
was poured forth, and His body, its quivering members dead, rested
in the tomb. What veneration do we think it deserves? If, when
the Lord had but just been crucified and the city was still held
by the Jews, it was called holy by the evangelist when he says,
'Many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised;
and coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, they
entered into the holy city and appeared unto many,' and by the
prophet Isaiah when be says, 'It shall be His glorious sepulchre,'
then, surely, with this sanctity placed upon it by God the Sanctifier
Himself, no evil that may befall it can destroy it, and in the
same way glory is indivisibly fixed to His Sepulchre. Most beloved
brethren, if you reverence the source of that holiness and I .
you cherish these shrines which are the marks of His footprints
on earth, if you seek (the way), God leading you, God fighting
in your behalf, you should strive with your utmost efforts to
cleanse the Holy City and the glory of the Sepulchre, now polluted
by the concourse of the Gentiles, as much as is in their power.
"If in olden times the Maccabees attained to the highest
praise of piety because they fought for the ceremonies and the
Temple, it is also justly granted you, Christian soldiers, to
defend their liberty of your country by armed endeavor. If you,
likewise, consider that the abode of the holy apostles and any
other saints should be striven for with such effort, why do you
refuse to rescue the Cross, the Blood, the Tomb? Why do you refuse
to visit them, to spend the price of your lives in rescuing them?
You have thus far waged unjust wars, at one time and another;
you have brandished mad weapons to your mutual destruction, for
no other reason than covetousness and pride, as a result of which
you have deserved eternal death and sure damnation. We now hold
out to you wars which contain the glorious reward of martyrdom,
which will retain that title of praise now and forever.
"Let us suppose, for the moment, that Christ was not dead
and buried, and had never lived any length of time in Jerusalem.
Surely, if all this were lacking, this fact alone ought still
to arouse you to go to the aid of the land and city -- the fact
that 'Out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of Jehovah
from Jerusalem!' If all that there is of Christian preaching has
flowed from the fountain of Jerusalem, its streams, whithersoever
spread out over the whole world, encircle the hearts of the Catholic
multitude, that they may consider wisely what they owe such a
well-watered fountain. If rivers return to the place whence they
have issued only to flow forth again, according to the saying
of Solomon, it ought to seem glorious to you to be able to apply
a new cleansing to this place, whence it is certain that you received
the cleansing of baptism and the witness of your faith.
"And you ought, furthermore, to consider with the utmost
deliberation, if by your labors, God working through you, it should
occur that the Mother of churches should flourish anew to the
worship of Christianity, whether, perchance, He may not wish other
regions of the East to be restored to the faith against the approaching
time of the Antichrist. For it is clear that Antichrist is to
do battle not with the Jews, not with the Gentiles; but, according
to the etymology of his name, He will attack Christians. And if
Antichrist finds there no Christians (just as at present when
scarcely any dwell there), no one will be there to oppose him,
or whom he may rightly overcome. According to Daniel and Jerome,
the interpreter of Daniel, he is to fix his tents on the Mount
of Olives; and it is certain, for the apostle teaches it, that
he will sit at Jerusalem in the Temple of the Lord, as though
he were God. And according to the same prophet, he will first
kill three kings of Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia, without doubt
for their Christian faith: This, indeed, could not at all be done
unless Christianity was established where now is paganism. If,
therefore, you are zealous in the practice of holy battles, in
order that, just as you have received the seed of knowledge of
God from Jerusalem, you may in the same way restore the borrowed
grace, so that through you the Catholic name may be advanced to
oppose the perfidy of the Antichrist and the Antichristians then,
who can not conjecture that God, who has exceeded the hope of
all, will consume, in the abundance of your courage and through
you as the spark, such a thicket of paganism as to include within
His law Egypt, Africa, and Ethiopia, which have withdrawn from
the communion of our belief? And the man of sin, the son of perdition,
will find some to oppose him. Behold, the Gospel cries out, 'Jerusalem
shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled.' 'Times of the Gentiles' can be understood in two
ways: Either that they have ruled over the Christians at their
pleasure, and have gladly frequented the sloughs of all baseness
for the satisfaction of their lusts, and in all this have had
no obstacle (for they who have everything according to their wish
are said to have their time; there is that saying: 'My time is
not yet come, but your time is always ready,' whence the lustful
are wont to say 'you are having your time'). Or, again, 'the times
of the Gentiles' are the fulness of time for those Gentiles who
shall have entered secretly before Israel shall be saved. These
times, most beloved brothers, will now, forsooth, be fulfilled,
provided the might of the pagans be repulsed through You, with
the cooperation of God. With the end of the world already near,
even though the Gentiles fail to be converted t the Lord (since
according to the apostle there must be a withdrawal from the faith),
it is first necessary, according to their prophecy, that the Christian
sway be renewed in those regions either through you, or others,
whom it shall please God to send before the coming of Antichrist,
so that the head of all evil, who is to occupy there the throne
of the kingdom, shall find some support of the faith to fight
against him.
"Consider, therefore, that the Almighty has provided you,
perhaps, for this purpose, that through you He may restore Jerusalem
from such debasement. Ponder, I beg you, how full of joy and delight
our hearts will be when we shall see the Holy City restored with
your little help, and the prophet's, nay divine, words fulfilled
in our times. Let your memory be moved by what the Lord Himself
says to the Church: 'I will bring thy seed from the East and gather
thee from the West.' God has already brought our, seed from the
East, since in a double way that region of the East has given
the first beginnings of the Church to us. But from the West He
will also gather it, provided He repairs the wrongs of 1 Jerusalem
through those who have begun the witness of the final faith, that
is the people of the West. With God's assistance, we think this
can be done through you.
"If neither the words of the Scriptures arouse you, nor our
admonitions penetrate your minds, at least let the great suffering
of those who desired to go to the holy places stir you up. Think
of those who made the pilgrimage across the sea! Even if they
were more wealthy, consider what taxes, what violence they underwent,
since they were forced to make payments and tributes almost every
mile, to purchase release at every gate of the city, at the entrance
of the churches and temples, at every side journey from place
to place: also, if any accusation whatsoever were made against
them, they were compelled to purchase their release; but if they
refused to pay money, the prefects of the Gentiles, according
to their custom, urged them fiercely with blows. What shall we
say of those who took up the journey without anything more than
trust in their barren poverty, since they seemed to have nothing
except their bodies to lose? They not only demanded money of them,
which is not an unendurable punishment, but also examined the
callouses of their heels, cutting them open and folding the skin
back, lest, perchance, they had sewed something there. Their unspeakable
cruelty was carried on even to the point of giving them scammony
to drink until they vomited, or even burst their bowels, because
they thought the wretches had swallowed gold or silver; or, horrible
to say, they cut their bowels open with a sword and, spreading
out the folds of the intestines, with frightful mutilation disclosed
whatever nature held there in secret. Remember, I pray, the thousands
who have perished vile deaths, and strive for the holy places
from which the beginnings of your faith have come. Before you
engage in His battles, believe without question that Christ will
be your standard-bearer and inseparable forerunner."
The most excellent man concluded his oration and by the power
of the blessed Peter. absolved all who vowed to go and confirmed
those acts with apostolic blessing. He instituted a sign well
suited t so honorable a profession by making the figure of the
Cross, the stigma of the Lord's Passion, the emblem of the soldiery,
or rather, of what was to be the soldiery of God. This, made of
any kind of cloth, he ordered to be sewed upon the shirts, cloaks,
and byrra of those who were about to go. He commanded that
if anyone, after receiving this emblem, or after taking openly
this vow, should shrink from his good intent through base change
of heart, or any affection for his parents, he should be regarded
an outlaw forever, unless he repented and again undertook whatever
of his pledge he had omitted. Furthermore, the Pope condemned
with a fearful anathema all those who dared to molest the wives,
children, and possessions of these who were going on this journey
for God. . . .
Source:
August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses
and Participants, (Princeton: 1921), 36-40
2. On Peter the Hermit
Guibert's account of Peter is probably more accurate than the
much later inflated accounts which prevailed from the time of
William of Tyre until the mid-19th century
Therefore, while the princes, who felt the need of many expenses
and great services from their attendants, made their preparations
slowly and carefully; the common people who had little property,
but were very numerous, joined a certain Peter the Hermit, and
obeyed him as a master while these affairs were going on among
us.
He was, if I am not mistaken, from the city of Amiens, and have
we learned that he had lived as a hermit, dressed as a monk somewhere
in Upper Gaul. After he had departed from there - I do not know
with what intention - we saw him going through the cities and
towns under a pretense of preaching. He was surrounded by so great
throngs of people, he received such enormous gifts, his holiness
was lauded so highly, that no one within my memory has been held
in such honor.
He was very liberal in the distribution to the poor of what he
had received. He restored prostitutes to their husbands with gifts.
By his wonderful authority he restored everywhere peace and concord,
in place of discord. For in whatever he did or said it seemed
as if there was something divine, especially when the hairs were
snatched from his mule for relies. We do not report this as true
but for the common people who love novelties. He wore a wool shirt,
and over it a mantle reaching to his ankles; his arms and feet
were bare. He lived on wine and fish; he hardly ever, never, ate
bread.
Source:
Dana C. Munro, "Urban and the Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of
European History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania,
1895), 20
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© Paul Halsall December 1997
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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