During the crusades, sexual
contact between a Christian crusader and a native woman was strictly
forbidden.
Penalty for such transgression was facial mutilation for the woman and
castration for the Crusader.
Crusades
Outremer, the
Land Beyond the Sea. |
Ascension of Pope Clement II
(1046), heralded the rise of Church as a secular power. The Crusaders' chain
of more than 100 castles and fortresses was built after the Second Crusade
and included Chastel Blanc, Chateau Pelerin, Margat, Monfort, and
Krak des Chevaliers.
In his book ‘Eine
Orientreise’ (1885), Crown Prince Rudolf Habsburg describes Jerusalem as follows:
’Sharp contours of faith
and traditions, my constant companions since childhood, are drawn on the
surface of the dead countryside. Who stays in Jerusalem for a long time is likely to end as a
fanatic. Starting with the first glimpse of the city, one is drawn into the
vortex of ecstatic, mystical thoughts which can easily absorb the whole
being. These feelings prompted crusaders not to stop before any sacrifice,
be it property or blood, and imparted that furious force to all religious
wars.’
For Christians, the name of Jerusalem evokes visions
of the time when Christ will rule the earth from that heavenly city.
Convinced by the exhortations of popes and the sermons of preachers such as
Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless that a war against ‘infidels’ is a
just thing, Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries
launched a series of wars against the East Mediterranean countries.
Thousands of people sewed a red cloth cross on their tunics to indicate that
they were soldiers of Christ and the battle cry ‘Deus Vult,’ God
wills it, echoed throughout Europe and Middle East.
|
Synod of Clermont, France in 1095 |
Pope Urban II instigated
Crusades in a speech at the Clermont Synod in 1095. Crusaders were recruited
throughout Europe, mostly in France,
England, and
Germany. Crusades gave rise to the
Monks of War, a name coined by Desmond Seward in his 1972 book of the
same name. Bound by vows similar to vows binding members of other religious
orders, various monastic-military orders came into existence during these
times. Walter Scott in his Ivanhoe (1820) and Talisman (1825)
perhaps best described the time of the crusades with memorable characters
such as Richard the Lion-hearted and his noble adversary Saladin. They echo
the colorful panoply of the tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouche and the siege
of Torquilstone. Floating above the superheated air of the desert are
reflections of Knights Hospitalers wearing a black mantle with a white
cross, images of Teutonic Knights wearing a white coat with a black cross,
and Templar Knights wearing a white cloak with a red cross, finally striking
the appropriate color combination of these military expeditions to the Holy
Land.