War and Violence in the Western Sources for the First Crusade / / Sini Kangas.

• Superior document: Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books Online, Collection 2024
• VerfasserIn: Kangas, Sini,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2024.; ©2024
• Year of Publication: 2024
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books Online, Collection 2024.; History of Warfare ; 143.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (437 pages)

Medieval Westerners accepted killing for religion and praised the outcome of the First Crusade (1096-1099). At the same time, their attitude to violence was ambivalent. Theologians shunned the practical use of force, while the warrior aristocracy valued the capacity for physical destruction. In the absence of theological doctrine on the practicalities of holy warfare, the first crusaders draw their ideas about killing from diverse and sometimes conflicting traditions. This book answers questions about how religious violence was described, justified and remembered in the sources of the First Crusade. What was the relation between faith, convention, and action?

Table of Contents

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Figures -- 1 Introduction -- 1 What Is Crusading All About? -- 2 Defining Violence -- 3 Sources -- 3.1 Participants of the First Crusade: Gesta Francorum, Raymond of Aguilers, Fulcher of Chartres and Other Contemporary Chroniclers -- 3.2 Vernacular Chansons of the Crusades -- 3.3 Legal Sources -- 2 Canonical Theory -- 1 Greco-Roman and Judaic Origins of Just War Theory -- 2 The Question of Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence and the Concept of Crusade -- 2.1 The Canon Law Principles in the Framework of the First Crusade -- 2.2 Parallel Phenomena -- 3 Conclusions -- 3 Military Tradition -- 1 Practice of Warfare -- 2 Laws of War and Homicide -- 2.1 Restriction of Private War -- 2.2 Hostage-Taking and Captivity -- 3 The Great Encounter -- 3.1 Crusader Hero -- 3.2 Vengeance -- 3.3 Knight and Church -- 3.4 The Great Encounter against a Noble Enemy -- 3.5 Categories of Crusader Violence in the Gesta Francorum -- 4 The Cleric in Holy War -- 4.1 Clerics on the First Crusade -- 4.2 Forced Conversion -- 5 Conclusions -- 4 Crusader Belief -- 1 Papal Launch of the First Crusade -- 2 Sin -- 2.1 Cruelty -- 2.2 Avarice -- 2.3 Lasciviousness -- 3 Remedy -- 3.1 A Violent God -- 3.2 Cleansing the Temple -- 4 The Adversary -- 4.1 Guibert of Nogent on Saracens -- 4.2 The Darker Side of the Mirror Image -- 5 Conclusions -- 5 Afterword -- Appendix: Timeline of the First Crusade -- Bibliography -- Manuscripts -- Printed Sources -- Literature -- Index.