To what extent did the ideals of crusading in the fourteenth century differ from the previous centuries?

The inefficiency shown by the men was encouraged by the individualism, distrust, dissent and greed revealed amongst them. This idea of the loss of chivalry, a key trait of the earlier Crusades, and it being replaced by greed and selfish motivation is illustrated through Geoffrey Chaucer’s portrayal of the Knight in his Canterbury Tales. The values and discipline shown by previous crusaders were being broken down and men were primarily attracted to the crusades not for want of spiritual redemption, but to fulfil their worldly ambitions. A good illustration of how the original crusading ideals had declined is the fact that late medieval crusades were not only preached against the infidel but against fellow Christians such as the Cathars in the thirteenth century and then later in Spain from 1386. There were stories circulating of recruits for the Crusades being forced to spit on the Cross, to deny Christ, to worship idols and that they were encouraged in homosexual practices. The fundamental purpose of the Crusades was seen to be the establishment of the Church’s political power in the Holy Land and to defend the papacy against its enemies. However, the way the Crusades developed going into the fourteenth century implies that the very ideals that had been the foundations of the crusading movement and therefore the crusading movement itself had seriously declined. “There was so much courage and so little honour, so much devotion and so little understanding. High Ideals were besmirched by cruelty and greed, enterprise and endurance by a blind and narrow self-righteousness. The Holy War was now nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God.” Nevertheless, it wasn’t all bad!  Of all the Crusades, the first was unique in important ways.  It was by far the most genuine mass movement of any of the Crusades, a true popular upsurge of sentiment and religion.  Furthermore, none of the other Crusades seemed, at least in the beginning, so unified in intent and in obedience to a single force.  The reigning Pope (Urban II) inspired universal respect.  This just goes to show that crusading had not always been a moral disaster, but rather suggests a gradual deterioration of the Christian ideals that were present in the eleventh century.

        The changing in crusading ideals and their effects were reflected in the enthusiasm and the recruitment for the Crusades which as a result had been in decline for some time and this came to light in the fourteenth century. Many were disillusioned with the materialistic purposes of the movement and were unconvinced by the promises of spiritual repentance. The involvement of ecclesiastical and lay politics with the Crusades was not received well by the population. Little interest in the Holy War was aroused in England at this time and there was the circulation of a lot of criticism of the papacy. John Wyclif was one who launched an attack on the papacy, accusing the Flanders Crusade of abusing Papal power. Similarly, the poet John Gower complained about “the decline of chivalry and the absence of crusading zeal amongst members of the knightly class.” It was believed that “the immorality and vicious behaviour of the crusaders further demoralised an already demoralised army.” As a result of the diminishing morality those on the crusades began to lose sight of what they were fighting for and to an extent lost their sense of purpose.  This idea that the differing ideals were reflected in the success of the crusades is illustrated in the fighting at Nicopolis and Antioch. During the First Crusade the Christians had the stern belief that they had God on their side and that he would see them defeat the infidel and this motivation encouraged them to victory. However, successive Crusades did not have the same success and the belief that God was behind their cause and was supporting them seemed to be unfounded as later Crusades were defeated. This lead to an obvious lack of belief in the Crusading campaign as it no longer appeared to be spiritually supported and this in turn was partly responsible for the break down in the moral and spiritual ideals that had been so important for the crusaders of previous centuries.

        By the fourteenth century many of the crusading ideals were different from those in previous centuries. However, the fundamental principles remained and in order for the movement to survive there had to be progression and adaptation to suit the changing times. The changing economic situation across Europe, the different political interests and ambitions of the various powers exemplified in the Hundred Years War, the changing orientations of the population and the effects of the Black Death were all things that affected the consistency of the movement and the ideals associated with it. “The thirteenth century had seen the application of crusading ideology and machinery to wide problems of defence, expansion and the policy of Christendom.” The interests of those involved had changed from being spiritually orientated to being based upon material possessions, political power and influence and the acquisition of land. Although the practice of Crusading remained, it had changed beyond recognition. One reason for this change was the growing distrust for papal leadership as in the fourteenth century it was widely believed that the papacy was being sympathetic to the French. In addition to this, by the fourteenth century there was a problem finding money to fund the Crusades. This was because it was no longer easy to raise funds for Crusading by raising taxes as taxation came to be sanctioned, as it was in England and France by the fourteenth century, only for national defence. Moreover, even if the funds were available for a Crusade and people were willing to fight for the papacy, the Hundred Years’ War between France and England made collaboration between rulers increasingly difficult. It is for this reason that the last general Crusade took place in the thirteenth century which was a period of relative peace.  The thirteenth, which opened with the great pontificate of Innocent III, might have been expected to produce some successful crusades.  There were five major crusading efforts during this period; but they were all rather inglorious affairs, and the very first one, initiated by Innocent himself, was shamefully diverted from its original purpose.  The internal problems in Europe at that time and the fighting amongst various powers for political supremacy, along with lack of funding and the questioning of the Papacy meant that the spiritual motivation for the Crusades was pushed to one side and the idea of Crusading became impractical.

        Despite these impracticalities and difficulties, crusading remained in the minds of the fourteenth century population largely due to propaganda. Those who advocated for the crusading movement were literate, intelligent men who wrote books, pamphlets and who preached to the public through sermons. Both lay and clerical actors promoted the cause, proving to be very popular with the illiterate masses. “Such appeals reflected a widespread perception of the need for radical and innovative thinking about virtually every aspect of crusade organisation.” The response to this preaching and propaganda was sporadic and during the fourteenth century, although there were no major crusading campaigns as there were in the thirteenth century, there were a number of small movements. For example, there was a certain amount of crusading activity in Spain in the 1340s following a major Muslim advance from North Africa and again in the fourteenth century there was regular campaigning in the Baltic against the heathen Lithuanians.           By the end of the fourteenth century the crusading movement had come to represent a different set of ideals and had changed in its’ make-up when compared with the Crusades of the twelfth and even thirteenth centuries. The original principles of a Holy War were still in place but in practice the spiritual and moral ideals of the previous expeditions were no longer present. The crusades had lost sight of what they were intended for and instead of being a spiritual quest they had simply become an opportunity for self-gain and non-Christian activities. During the course of the fourteenth century people began to change their ideals and lose faith in a Holy War largely due to events such as the Black Death which had people questioning religion. People questioning the support of the papacy, lack of funding and tense relations between leaders all contributed to the development and in turn the change of crusading ideals. All this was combined with the fact that taking Jerusalem, which had been the drive and motivation behind the earlier crusades, had become seemingly militarily impossible therefore making the original motivation behind the crusade all but disappear. There were, largely due to propaganda, still a few crusading campaigns during the fourteenth century but these were small in size and lacked the drive and direction that had been present in the earlier campaigns. Although the practice of crusading remained therefore during the fourteenth century to an extent, the ideals attached to crusading were somewhat different.  The Crusades pre-occupied medieval man for almost 200 years, from the end of the 11th century to close of the 13th.  “A great burst of fervour marked their start; disillusionment and disarray marked their end”

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