The religious motivations for the large numbers of Crusaders who undertook long journeys has always been a given but the theology behind the indulgences offered to crusaders has been little explored. Ane Bysted explores the history and theology in her book.
In 1095 at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for a crusade to assist the Eastern Roman Empire from the Muslim Turks. Urban appealed to the Kingdoms and warriors of Western Europe to take up arms to assist the Byzantine Empire in what came to be regarded as a Holy War. The ability to recruit soldiers for a mission in the Anatolia peninsula and the Holy Lands was imperative for the success of the crusade. When Pope Urban delivered his sermon on the 27th of November 1095 to the French nobility, he spoke of a crusade which promised a spiritual award for those who participated in the meritorious act of the mission. (1) Ane Bysted explores the institution of the crusade indulgence within The Crusade Indulgence: Spiritual Rewards and the Theology of the Crusades, c. 1095-1216. The motivations of the Crusaders remains a subject explored by many but the development of the theology and the opinions of the theologians of the time has largely been absent in most studies of the period. Bysted’s goal is to undertake a study of the “learned theologians and the Church hierarchy towards the crusades.” (7) An understanding of the theology requires a consideration of the history and development of penance and indulgences. The primary period of time studied is the proclamation of Urban II in 1095 until the papacy of Innocent III. The primary sources used by Bysted in her examination of the crusade indulgences divides into three main groups: papal letters, scholastic tracts, and sermons. (9)
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| Statue of Urban II at Clermont in France. From Wikipedia |
At the heart of the crusade indulgence lies the idea of merit or spiritual reward. The promise of heavenly merit was a powerful incentive to both monarchs and warriors who took up the cross and answered the Church’s call for a holy mission. Understanding the incentives offered to those who took up their sword for the cross is vital to understanding the crusades and their appeal in the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries. The crusade indulgences offered by the medieval Church were the “institutionalization of the idea that fighting for Christ and the Church was meritorious in the sight of God, and thus worthy of a spiritual reward proclaimed by the Church.” (6) The crusades were no ordinary warfare but rather “wars pleasing to God.” (6) Bysted aims to examine the indulgences but also the theology of spiritual reward offered by Catholic theologians.
An attempt to understand the crusade indulgences requires an
understanding of the definition of indulgences.
A modern understanding of an indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment for sin the guilt of which is already forgiven, which a properly disposed member of the faithful obtains from certain and definite conditions with the help of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies authoritatively the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. (10-11)
Indulgences only forgive temporal punishment and do not allow escape from the eternal penalty of Hell and do not remove the guilt of sin. The reception of an indulgence requires confession and contrition. The granting of absolution for sin only comes after genuine confession. Indulgences are remissions of sin before God, and the merit granted derives from the treasure of the merits of Christ and the saints, but the issuance of indulgences is only valid from the authority of the church which has been granted the Keys to the Kingdom by Christ. Uncertainty existed over which party within the church possessed the authority to grant indulgences. It is certain that the Pope had the authorization to issue indulgences and likely bishops under the Pope but the legitimacy of indulgences granted by priests appeared unclear. The relationship between indulgences and penance is a key component of understanding the appeal of indulgences. Indulgences allow a remission of penances but are not sacramental. An indulgence removes temporal punishment but does not impact the eternal punishment of sin. Indulgences are only effective after confession of sin and the reception of absolution.
The difficulty in defining the crusade indulgences is the uncertainty of the nature of indulgences in the twelfth century.
The differences between temporal and eternal punishment, and between remission of guilt and remission of punishment did not appear in theological works before the 1120s and 30s, and the concept of the treasure of merits of Christ did not evolve before the thirteenth century. (13)
The appearance of indulgences arose out of particular needs and for specific purposes such as the crusades for a purpose laid out by the church under the authority of the pope. The understanding of indulgences is best understood by the Latin phrase remissio peccatorum or the forgiveness of sin along with a poena et culpa or pain and guilt. These phrases often cause conflict with Protestant theologians beginning with Martin Luther who view indulgences as a crass financial payment for forgiveness. But according to Nikolaus Paulus, indulgences were never issued apart from confession and absolution for sins. Indulgences never appeared apart from true confession and penitence. (14-15) The connection of indulgences with money was an aberrant situation, and the Council of Trent declared that the authority to issue indulgences was granted by Christ to the Church from the beginning, but contemporary scholarship recognizes that indulgences rose in the eleventh century and the theology of indulgences was still in formulation during the Crusades.
The origin of indulgences divides both historians and theologians with one group claiming that indulgences appeared out of the commutations and redemptions of penances, while a second group claim that indulgences developed from the general absolutions for sins. (18) Protestant historian Henry Charles Lea claimed in 1896 that indulgences appeared in the eleventh century and were not a doctrine of the early church. Lea believes that indulgences arose from the commutations of pious works and were an import from the power of the clergy to modify the conditions of penances depending on the genuine repentance of the penitent. Nikolaus Paulus believes that indulgences had a continuity and that the practice was not an aberration from Catholic tradition. While acknowledging the appearance of indulgences in the eleventh century, Paulus stated that indulgences rose from individual commutations and redemptions of penance. Paulus pointed to the remission of penances granted by Alexander II to warriors who fought against the Moors in 1063. (20) Adolf Gottlob proposes that indulgences rose out of the general absolution in privileges granted by popes and bishops. He strongly disagrees with Paulus that indulgences bore any relation to individual redemptions. (21) Gottlob strongly suggests that indulgences bear similarity to the political tools of popes and bishops. Bernard Porschmann stated in 1948 that indulgences were a combination of both absolutions and commutations and were “episcopal grants of mercy in exchange for certain pious works.” (23) But one serious question impacting the theological nature and historiography of indulgences is the transcendental impact of the practice. The impact of indulgences on the eternal condition of the believer remains ambiguous as the target of the indulgence is to address temporal punishments.
Historians of the crusades view indulgences as an integral key to understanding the motives of the Crusaders. Along with the importance of vows and the call of the pope, indulgences remain a crucial part in comprehending the deployment and enlistment of soldiers for a holy war. While it is apparent that the crusaders received promises of spiritual rewards for their participation in the crusades the exact implications of these rewards and how the individual warriors understood the promises still remains debatable. A key to understanding the development use of indulgences during the crusades is its emergent from the penitential system. (43)
When surveying Pope Urban’s sermon at Claremont, the problem one encounters is the fact that the sources for Urban’s sermon originated years after the events. This creates a problem regarding the answer to the question of Urban’s intention when offering spiritual rewards for participation in the crusade. The faith that the crusade was a movement of God and the experiences of the crusaders may have predisposed the chronicler’s accounts of Urban’s message to emphasize the spiritual rewards available to the warriors. (47) But the chroniclers greatly impacted how later generations viewed the spiritual nature of the crusades. The letters of Urban II, and the actions of previous popes provide another outlook on the attitudes regarding the benefits Urban and his contemporaries believed the crusades offered for believers. The proposal that warfare offered a spiritual reward appears when Pope Gregory III persuaded the Franks to defend the Papal States against the Lombards and Greeks and later in the ninth century rewards served as an incentive for those recruited to take up arms against Arabs advancing against Italy. In the eleventh century, Alexander offered absolution to Normans combating Muslims in Sicily and Southern Italy. Gregory VII offered absolutions for troops and stressed the idea of servitium sacti Petri, the service of St. Peter as warriors owed Peter their fideles. Previous papal actions reveal a precedent of transcendental promises such as eternal life and the absolution of sins. The letters of Urban II also emphasize the meritorious rewards for crusaders. In a letter, he relays the promises given at Clermont,
You should know, moreover, that if any men among you go there not because they desire earthly profit but only for the salvation of their souls and the liberation of the Church, we acting as much on our own authority as on that of all the bishops in Gaul, through the mercy of almighty God and the prayers of the Catholic Church, relieve them of all penance imposed for their sins, which they have made genuine and full confession, because they have risked their belongs and lives for the love of God and their neighbor. (67-68)
The uncertainty regarding the development of the origins of indulgences warrants an examination of the theological issues of indulgences. Indulgences appeared in the early medieval period as a relief to the burdens imposed by the “tariffed penance.” (75) According to the severity of the sin, the required penance became very severe and could take years of continual penitential activity. The higher the sin then the harsher the penance and the penalty imposed upon the clergy was more punitive. The addition of commutations and redemptions allowed for more flexibility if the penitent lacked the ability to complete the needed penance. Absolution also granted relief. The church granted absolution for the forgiveness of sins to the seriously ill but also began to be employed in the construction of churches and in warfare against the enemies of the church. (76-77) As indulgences developed in the eleventh and twelfth century, the distinction between absolution and commutation compared to indulgences remains difficult. The question remains did the indulgences offered to the Crusaders distribute a transcendental impact? Urban seems to indicate that the reward offered to the crusaders had the same impact as the completion of penance. If Urban declared that the “crusaders did something that equaled their penance and proved their conversion, then their deeds would also have a transcendental effect.” (96)
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| A battle of the Second Crusade (illustration of William of Tyre's Histoire d'Outremer, 1337) From Wikipedia |
By the time of the First Crusade, the theology of indulgences was not fully developed, but during the twelfth century, the use of indulgences became more widespread and institutionalized. The fruition of Purgatory as an in-between phase sandwiched between heaven and hell. Purgatory set out the necessity to settle temporal sins and punishments before admittance into heaven. Peter Abelard stressed the necessity of contrition in connection to absolution. He stressed the necessity of appropriate penances for sin and the repentance connected to contrition. If one does perform a penance that falls short of the necessary penance then future punishment lay in the future. According to Abelard, penance is the medicine which “heals the wounds of the soul.” (107) Abelard rejected indulgences but his theology set the stage for the further development of indulgences. Theologians of the time expressed concern that those receiving indulgences possessed contrition and not take their sin casually. Contrition was a sign of a state of grace and forgiveness in the life of the believer. His eternal punishments were forgiven by God so that only his temporal punishments remained (114-115) Indulgences receive their efficacy from the believer sorrowful over sin and therefore grant relief from temporal sins. The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 further clarified the use of indulgences. Indulgences issued by bishops received a maximum while plenary indulgences issued by the popes appeared possible. But the Council did not provide further precision of the theology of indulgences but only provided some guidelines. By the thirteenth century the appearance of the treasury of merit incentives to the issuing of indulgences. As the treasury of merits granted by Christ was unlimited then there was ending of supply of grace. Thomas Aquinas also laid down the conditions for an effective indulgence stating that the cause of the indulgence must worthy for the honor of God and the necessity of the Church. The giver of the indulgence must also possess the authority to issue the indulgence that is someone authorized by the pope. The receiver also must be in a state of charity and contrition. Because,
the crusade was a worthy cause, pertaining to the honour of God and the utility of the Church; it was proclaimed by the pope, and if the recipient had truly repented, confessed his sins and taken the vow he had fulfilled his part of the requirements. (145)
Jacques de Vitry speaks of indulgences often in his sermons and points to the reward given to those who take up the cross. Those who are contrite and repentant who die in the service of Christ are “safe from the tortures of hell, in the glory and honour of being crowned in eternal beatitude.” (149) de Vitry expresses the transcendental benefits of the crusade quite clearly. The one who takes a vow to journey on a crusade puts on “the sign of salvation, the cross, which is the key to Paradise and a Jacob’s ladder to Heaven.(151)
Crusaders received both temporal and spiritual status when he took up the vow to journey on a crusade. He received a promise that his family and property remained under the protection of the church and he received a special spiritual status when he took up the cross. As a sign of his special status, he received a cross to sew upon his clothes. (156-157) The scope of the crusades extended beyond the journey to the Eastern Roman Empire and the Holy Land but also extended to Spain, the pagan Slavs, and against heretics. Those who supported the crusades through financial support also had an opportunity to receive indulgences. The issuance of indulgences to those unable to journey demonstrates that the popes were less restrictive in the use of indulgences. (162) By the Fourth Lateran Council and the bulls issued by Pope Innocent III, indulgences became more institutionalized and standard in their forms. Through the use of the Patrologia Latina Database (PLD), a database of church writings, papal bulls promising remissions of sins appear in one-third of the calls for crusades and holy wars. (195) The popes increasingly used their authority as the successor of Peter to issue indulgences to crusaders. They granted indulgences based upon their authority as the bishop of Rome. (204)
As the crusaders received merit for their sacrifice, popes and theologians also justified the crusades as a defense of Christ and the justification for meritorious service. The defense of Christ replaced the liberation of the Eastern Church as a validation for the crusades. Looking at the writings of Augustine, theologians used the just war theory as a reason for a just warfare. After the fall of Jerusalem to the forces of Saladin, the reasons for war shifted to an obligation for all Christians. Nis nobis exhorted all to fight and take up arms and if one lacked the ability to fight then one should aid financially. (233)
The person of Christ provided an example for crusaders as they sought to take up the cross of Christ. The imitation Christi or the imitation of Christ became the exhortation to the crusaders as they identified their suffering with the suffering of Christ. Christ became an example of self-sacrifice and crusaders heard encouragement to give up all in the manner of Christ. As the crusader experiences suffering, he receives merit with his suffering and defends the honor of Christ against the enemies of the Church.
Bernard of Clairvaux defined the crusade as a jubilee or tempus acceptabile and directed crusade theology away from “self-salvation and semi-Pelagianism by emphasizing God’s mercy as the operating force behind the crusade.” (242) The crusaders received merit because the crusade was a jubilee and a time for penance and special grace.
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| Bernard of Clairvaux from Wikipedia |
From 1095 to 1216, Bernard and other preachers spread the merit of the crusades to audiences throughout Europe. The relation between the crusade and the meritorious reward was clear and preached to Christians through sermons and bulls. Abbot Martin in a sermon clearly states the benefits, “Christ wants help… he summons his soldiers to restore to him his rightful inheritance; and in return for this service, he will reward them generously.” (266)
Indulgences were granted to warriors because the church believed the crusade to be a meritorious act in the eyes of God. It was an act worthy of praise and reward. The transcendental impact of the crusades was evident in the words of preachers and theologians as well as the bulls issued by popes. With the availability of the treasury of merit, Popes granted indulgences to large groups of people and the remissio peccatorum became inclusive of both remission of punishments and of guilt and “was used both for the indulgences and for the sacramental forgiveness of sins. (276-279)
