History Essay

Quiz on The Seventh Seal and Crusader Accounts

Speech of Urban II at Council of Clermont, 1095, Inaugurating the First Crusade

August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants (Princeton: 1921),

28-30

When now that time was at hand which the Lord Jesus daily points out to His faithful, especially in the

Gospel, saying, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow

me," a mighty agitation was carried on throughout all the region of Gaul. (Its tenor was) that if anyone

desired to follow the Lord zealously, with a pure heart and mind, and wished faithfully to bear the cross

after Him, he would no longer hesitate to take up the way to the Holy Sepulchre. And so Urban, Pope of

the Roman see, with his archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priests, set out as quickly as possible beyond

the mountains and began to deliver sermons and to preach eloquently, saying: "Whoever wishes to save

his soul should not hesitate humbly to take up the way of the Lord, and if he lacks sufficient money,

divine mercy will give him enough." Then the apostolic lord continued, "Brethren, we ought to endure

much suffering for the name of Christ - misery, poverty, nakedness, persecution, want, illness, hunger,

thirst, and other (ills) of this kind, just as the Lord saith to His disciples: 'Ye must suffer much in My

name,' and 'Be not ashamed to confess Me before the faces of men; verily I will give you mouth and

wisdom,' and finally, 'Great is your reward in Heaven."' And when this speech had already begun to be

noised abroad, little by little, through all the regions and countries of Gaul, the Franks, upon hearing

such reports, forthwith caused crosses to be sewed on their right shoulders, saying that they followed

with one accord the footsteps of Christ, by which they had been redeemed from the hand of hell. All

who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate

remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested.

Criticism of the Second Crusade, 1147

Annales Herbipolenses, s.a. 1147, in MGH, SS, XVI, 3, translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A

Documentary History (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1962), 115-121

God allowed the Western church, on account of its sins, to be cast down. There arose, indeed, certain

pseudo prophets, sons of Belial, and witnesses of anti-Christ, who seduced the Christians with empty

words. They constrained all sorts of men, by vain preaching, to set out against the Saracens in order to

liberate Jerusalem. The preaching of these men was so enormously influential that the inhabitants of

nearly every region, by common vows, offered themselves freely for common destruction. Not only the

ordinary people, but kings, dukes, marquises, and other powerful men of this world as well, believed

that they thus showed their allegiance to God. The bishops, archbishops, abbots, and other ministers and

prelates of the church joined in this error, throwing themselves headlong into it to the great peril of

bodies and souls.... The intentions of the various men were different. Some, indeed, lusted after novelties

and went in order to learn about new lands. Others there were who were driven by poverty, who were in

hard straits at home; these men went to fight, not only against the enemies of Christ's cross, but even

against the friends of the Christian name, wherever opportunity appeared, in order to relieve their

poverty. There were others who were oppressed by debts to other men or who sought to escape the

service due to their lords, or who were even awaiting the punishment merited by their shameful deeds.

Such men simulated a zeal for God and hastened chiefly in order to escape from such troubles and

anxieties. A few could, with difficulty, be found who had not bowed their knees to Baal, who were

directed by a holy and wholesome purpose, and who were kindled by love of the divine majesty to fight

earnestly and even to shed their blood for the holy of holies.

HIST 2322: World History to 1500 Quiz on The Seventh Seal

1. The knight and his squire are shown to be doubting religion in the film. According to the sources on

the other side, was it likely that people like them would have doubted religion in the Medieval Ages?

2. Is the portrayal of the dishonest priest in the film reflective of the historical sources? Explain.

3. The knight is shown to be playing chess in the movie, which was an import from the Islamic World,

how does this illustrate some of the motivations of crusaders, according to the sources?

4. What words of Pope Urban II may have inspired the flagellants? Historical sources describe them as

those “who did public penance and scourged themselves with whips of hard knotted leather with

little iron spikes…The object of this penance was to put a stop to the mortality, for in that time”

5. A Medieval handbook on witchcraft says that “the Tongue, an Ecclesiastic, and a Woman, which

know no moderation in goodness or vice…When they are governed by a good spirit, they are most

excellent in virtue; but when they are governed by an evil spirit, they indulge the worst possible

vices.” How is this view about women reflected in the portrayal of women in the movie?

6. Like many ancient societies, religion permeated everyday life in Medieval Europe, as portrayed in

the film. Give two examples from the sources that show how did religious beliefs shape politics.

7. What are three ways portrayed in the movie that religious messages were communicated to non-

literate people in Medieval Europe?