Content area
Full Text
In the course of the thirteenth century, the crusade movement underwent significant changes. Its focus expanded beyond military expeditions against the Muslims as it came increasingly to be employed for political purposes and in defense of the faith. Increasingly, leadership of major crusading expeditions was under the control of secular rulers. Frederick II and Louis IX, though often contrasted, shared a common view of their role as leaders of the crusade. The role of the papacy, which through the early part of the century was central, became more marginal. While the religious ties of the crusade remained and may have moved even more to the fore, papal leadership became increasingly symbolic. By the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, continuing adversity undermined efforts to maintain papal leadership.
The thirteenth century represents a critical transition in the history of crusading. By focusing on the approaches taken by Frederick II and Louis IX, I believe we can gain a much better understanding of the changing role of the Church in the history of the crusades and, more broadly, in the history of Italy and the Latin West leading up to the crises of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, all of which had a profound impact on both the Church and the crusades.1 The fact is that during the thirteenth century the role of the papacy altered and diminished, but the role of religion did not. Given the fact that the papacy had supported military action against Muslims even before Pope Urban II's summons of Western leaders to aid the Byzantine Empire and to liberate Jerusalem, it may seem surprising to query changes in that role in the thirteenth century. But this point deserves attention because modern views of the crusades accept a static image of that role that does not fit the realities of the period. In this view, religion is central to the discussion, but no effort is made to differentiate the changing role of the papacy and the reasons for that from the manner in which religious ideology was employed. In the preface to his recently published work: God's War: A New History of the Crusades, Christopher Tyerman has written:
Violence, approved by society and supported by religion, has proved a commonplace...