The Knight, the Cross, and the Song. Stefan Vander Elst

gens, sicuti in pluribus vestris elucet operibus, a Deo electa et dilecta, tam situ terrarum quam fide catholica, quam honore sancte ecclesie ab universis nationibus segregata: ad vos sermo noster dirigitur.… A Iherosolimorum finibus et urbe Constantinopolitana relatio gravis emersit, et sepissime iam ad aures nostras pervenit, quod vindelicet gens regni Persarum, gens extranea, gens prorsus a Deo aliena, generatio scilicet que non direxit cor suum et non est creditus cum Deo spiritus eius, terras illorum Christianorum invaserit, ferro, rapinis, incendio depopulaverit, ipsosque captivos partim in terram suam abduxerit, partimque nece miserabili prostraverit, ecclesiasque Dei aut funditus everterit, aut suorum ritui sacrorum mancipaverit.… Quibus igitur ad hoc ulciscendum, ad hoc eripiendum labor incumbit, nisi vobis, quibus pre ceteris gentibus contulit Deus insigne decus armorum, magnitudinem animorum, agilitatem corporum, virtutem humiliandi verticem capilli vobis resistentium? Moveant vos et incitent animos vestros ad virilitatem gesta predecessorum vestrorum, probitas et magnitudo Karoli Magni regis et Ludovici filii eius aliorumque regum vestrorum, qui regna paganorum destruxerunt, et in eis fines sancte ecclesie dilataverunt.… O fortissimi milites et invictorum propago parentum, nolite degenerari, sed virtutis priorum vestrorum reminiscimini.

      [HI 5–6; HFC 79–80: Frenchmen and men from across the mountains; men chosen by and beloved of God as is clear from your many achievements; men set apart from all other nations as much by geography as by the Catholic faith and by the honour of the Holy Church—it is to you that we address our sermon, to you that we appeal.… Disturbing news has emerged from Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople and is now constantly at the forefront of our mind: namely that the race of Persians, a foreign people and a people rejected by God, indeed a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God, has invaded the lands of those Christians, depopulated them by slaughter and plunder and arson, kidnapped some of the Christians and carried them off to their own lands and put others to a wretched death, and has either overthrown the churches of God or turned them over to the rituals of their own religion.… So to whom should the task fall of taking vengeance and wresting their conquests from them if not to you—you to whom God has given above other nations outstanding glory in arms, greatness of spirit, fitness of body and the strength to humiliate the hairy scalp of those who resist you? May the deeds of your ancestors move you and spur your souls to manly courage—the worth and greatness of Charlemagne, his son Louis and your other kings who destroyed the pagan kingdoms and brought them within the bounds of Christendom.… Oh most valiant soldiers and descendants of victorious ancestors, do not fall short of, but be inspired by, the courage of your forefathers.]

      The opening lines of the Historia are careful to identify the “gens Francorum” [lit. “Frankish people”] as the target of Urban’s Crusade appeal. Robert’s understanding of who qualifies as Frankish, however, differs markedly from that of the Anonymous.¹² When Bohemond, urging his men to join the Crusade by invoking their ties to the Franks, asks them “Nonne et nos Francigene sumus? Nonne parentes nostri de Francia venerunt, et terram hanc militaribus armis sibi mancipaverunt?” [HI 15; HFC 92: “After all, are we not [of Frankish origin]? Didn’t our parents come from [Francia] and take this land for themselves by force of arms?”],¹³ he grounds Frankishness in particular geographical origins. The Franks, and the Francia from which they come, are further identified when Robert introduces the French prince Hugh of Vermandois as “frater Philippi regis Francorum, qui ipso tempore Franciam suo subiugabat imperio” [HI 13; HFC 89: “brother of King Philip I [of the Franks] who at this time [subjected Francia to his authority]”]. Whereas the Anonymous defined Frankishness in the broadest possible terms to incorporate most of Western Christianity, Robert therefore identifies the Franks more specifically as the inhabitants of the France of his day.¹⁴ This more limited definition illustrates the target audience of the work: Robert’s message—as was that of Urban II at Clermont—is directed above all to Frenchmen like himself, not to the whole of the Latin West.

      While far fewer than those of the Anonymous, Robert’s Franks play a role of paramount importance. They, above all others, are called upon to answer the crimes perpetrated by an enemy immediately defined through scripture.¹⁵ The Franks are especially suited for this struggle because of their remarkable military achievements and their excellent pedigree in warfare, seen in the successes of Charlemagne and Louis, which a secular audience must have known primarily through the popular chansons. The importance of both sacred and profane writings in Robert’s concept of and exhortation to Crusade is therefore made clear from the very beginning of his work. In Urban’s speech, the scriptural is joined to the secular in Crusade as revenge, not defined as in the Gesta as vengeance for the wrongs inflicted on God by his enemies but defined as a moral need of caritas for other Christians brutalized by the Gentiles.

      Throughout the remainder of the Historia, Robert expands upon the basic premise of this speech to describe the deeds of the Franks—as in the Gesta, almost no reference is made to others partaking in the holy war¹⁶—on the road to Jerusalem as the continuation and reiteration of two historico-literary traditions. On the one hand, scripture confirms the status of the Crusade as a reflection and continuation of exemplary biblical struggles; it defines the nature of the Crusade as a new Exodus, and the Crusaders as the fulfillment of age-old prophecy. On the other hand, secular martial history gleaned from the chansons de geste demonstrates that the past has proven the Franks chosen for victory; this indicates the suitability of his audience for the struggle at hand and their obligation to continue the wars of their ancestors—“A vobis quidem precipue exigit subsidium, quoniam a Deo vobis collatum est pre cunctis nationibus … insigne decus armorum” [HI 7; HFC 81: “Indeed it is your help [Jerusalem] particularly seeks because God has granted you outstanding glory in war above all other nations”]. Both combine to forge a new chosen people, unparalleled in war and supported by God, an irresistible force that has the power to right the wrongs of the world and take whatever it wants in the process.¹⁷

      THE WONDERS OF GOD AT WORK

      Writing in his northern cloister, far from the battlefields of the First Crusade, it was clear to Robert of Reims that the events of 1096–1099 had long been prophesied. Prophecy, or its pagan counterpart soothsaying, had already informed the calculations of Kerbogha’s mother in the Gesta Francorum;¹⁸ in the Historia Iherosolimitana, too, she sees the eventual destruction of her son’s mighty army as long established:

      A centum annis et infra invenerunt patres nostri in sacris deorum responsis, et in sortibus et divinationibus suis et animalium extis, quod Christiana gens super nos esset ventura nosque victura. Concordant igitur super hos aruspices, magi et arioli, et numinum nostrorum responsa, et prophetarum dicta, in quibus dicitur: A solis ortu et occasu, ab aquilone et mari, erunt termini vestri, et nullus stabit contra vos.

      [HI 63; HFC 156: Our forefathers discovered a hundred years and more ago through the sacred oracles of the Gods, in their casting of lots and their divinations and the entrails of animals, that the Christian race would come upon us and defeat us. The soothsayers, mages and diviners, the oracles of our divine powers and the words of the prophets (in which it is said: from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south shall your coast be. There shall no man be able to stand before you) all agree.]

      Robert’s interpolation of echoes from the books of Psalms and Deuteronomy into the words of Kerbogha’s mother indicates, however, that he sees the Crusade prophesied beyond the arcane dealings of augurs and diviners.¹⁹ He emphasizes that scripture, in its sensus plenior, anticipated the events of 1096–1099. For instance, when describing the Battle of Dorylaeum, he refers to the Gospel of Luke (“Esurientes etenim suos replevit bonis, divites vero non suos dimisit inanes; deposuit potentes, exaltavit humiles” [HI 28; HFC 113: “For He hath filled his own with good things and those not his own he hath sent empty away; he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree”])²⁰ and the book of Isaiah (“Hoc est quod per Ysaiam prophetam spopondit sue dilecte Iherusalem: Ponam te in superbiam seculorum, gaudium in generationem et generationem, et suges lac gentium, et mamilla regum lactaberis” [HI 28; HFC 113: “This is what he promised to his beloved Jerusalem through the Prophet Isaiah: I will make thee an eternal excellency,