On Warfare And The Threefold Path Of The Jerusalem Pilgrimage

This volume will provide the first English translation of Ralph Niger’s critical reflection on military pilgrimage, written in the late 1180s in response to the calling of the Third Crusade. Long known to scholars as early and highly idiosyncratic critique of crusading, On Warfare and the Threefold Path of the Jerusalem Pilgrimage provides a sustained reflection on penance, the meaning of Jerusalem, and the challenges of military expeditions to the Levant. After the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, Ralph resisted the calls to crusade and instead exhorted Christians to look inward and build Jerusalem in their hearts. Throughout the four books of the work, Ralph looks to scripture for precedents for crusading and finds none. However, by ranging widely over examples of Old Testament violence and considering the Heavenly and Earthly Jerusalem together, On Warfare offers a unique perspective on how the Bible informed contemporary views of the Crusades. Methodically examining pilgrimage through the lens of scripture, Ralph surveys the entire semantic field of crusading, and concludes that Christian knights could do more good by staying home than going on a military adventure to the Holy Land.

Jerusalem has long been one of the most sought-after destinations for the followers of three world faiths and for secularists alike. For Jews, it has the Western (Wailing) Wall; for Christians, it is where Christ suffered and triumphed; for Muslims, it offers the Dome of the Rock; and for secularists, it is an archeological challenge and a place of tragedy and beauty. This work concentrates on Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and secular pilgrimages to Jerusalem over the last three millennia, drawing from over 165 accounts of travels to the ancient city. Chapters are devoted to ghostly and other pilgrims, the significance of Jerusalem, the beginnings of the pilgrimage in the time of kings David and Solomon, pilgrimages under Roman and Byzantine rule, Christian and Muslim pilgrimages in the early Islamic period, pilgrimages in the First Crusade and its aftermath, more crusades and pilgrims during the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties, pilgrimages under Ottoman rule, pilgrimages under the British and Israelis, and the unity among pilgrims and the symbolism of the journey.

This is the first translation of the Hystoria de via or ‘Monte Cassino Chronicle,’ one of the few surviving crusader sources from Southern Italy, where it was probably compiled (partly from known sources) between the 1130s and 1140s. The chronicle’s original sections offer new and fresh insight on the knowledge and reception of the First Crusade in Southern Italy, and the devotional and pilgrimage practices which surrounded it. The introduction contextualises the chronicle in the environment which produced it, discussing the historiographical tradition at Montecassino, the likely sources for the Hystoria, and its significance as an original source. The introduction also comments extensively on the theological framework of the Hystoria, which offers an intensely religious view of the crusade as pilgrimage, and insists particularly on the primacy of violence in its vision of Christian devotional practice, and the crusade as continuous movement through suffering for the pilgrims. The translation, which is both faithful to the text and highly readable, is accompanied by detailed references and a full commentary. The volume makes an important addition to the canon of crusader sources and provides a little-known example for specialists of the literature of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.

In the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem many pilgrims came to Jerusalem. The translations in this book are of seventeen western accounts of pilgrimage, written between 1099 and 1185, and there are two additional accounts from eastern pilgrims, Abbot Daniel from Russia and John Phocas from Antioch. As a whole this collection shows the gradually developing way in which western Christians understood the Holy Places. Some early pilgrims depended on authorities, many of whom by 1099 were out-of-date. They tried to deliver the truth about the Holy Places and to be reticent about their own reactions. But the pilgrims who appear later in the collections made their own archaeological judgements, and were more free about their own reactions. Pilgrimage after 1099 was altered by the fact that by their victory over Jerusalem the Dome of the Rock fell into the Crusader's hands. Otherwise the differences of practice between eastern and western pilgrims were slight. Thus eastern pilgrims visited the Greek and western pilgrims the Latin monasteries. Western pilgrims had a different idea of the location of Emmaus, and before 1185 a western Way of the Cross was beginning to take shape. These were slight differences, and in general all Christian pilgrims, whether from east or west, visited the same Holy Places as they had during the preceding period. Most of the works in this collection were translated into English a century ago by the Palestine Pilgrim's Text Society. But these texts were produced separately as pamphlets, and lacked a general introduction. In this book therefore the texts are retranslated, sometimes from more accurate texts. In introducing the texts some valuable new evidence from archaeology has been used and enabled a new assessment of their dates.

This book presents new translations of a selection of Latin and French pilgrimage texts - and two in Greek - relating to Jerusalem and the Holy Land between the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and the loss of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291. It therefore complements and extends existing studies, which deal with the period from Late Antiquity to Saladin's conquest. Such texts provide a wealth of information not only about the business of pilgrimage itself, but also on church history, topography, architecture and the social and economic conditions prevailing in Palestine in this period. Pilgrimage texts of the 13th century have not previously been studied as a group in this way; and, because the existing editions of them are scattered across a variety of rather obscure publications, they tend to be under-utilized by historians, despite their considerable interest. For instance, they are often more original than the texts of the 12th century, representing first-hand accounts of travellers rather than simple reworkings of older texts. Taken together, they document the changes that occurred in the pattern of pilgrimage after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, during its brief reoccupation by the Franks between 1229 and 1244, and during the period from 1260 onwards when the Mamluks gradually took military control of the whole country. In the 1250s-60s, for example, because of the difficulties faced by pilgrims in reaching Jerusalem itself, there developed an alternative set of holy sites offering indulgences in Acre. The bringing of Transjordan, southern Palestine and Sinai under Ayyubid and, later, Mamluk control also encouraged the development of the pilgrimage to St Catherine's monastery on Mount Sinai in this period. The translations are accompanied by explanatory footnotes and preceded by an introduction, which discusses the development of Holy Land pilgrimage in this period and the context, dating and composition of the texts themselves. The book concludes with a comprehensive list of sources and a detailed index.

This book presents new translations of a selection of Latin and French pilgrimage texts - and two in Greek - relating to Jerusalem and the Holy Land between the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and the loss of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291. It therefore complements and extends existing studies, which deal with the period from Late Antiquity to Saladin's conquest. Such texts provide a wealth of information not only about the business of pilgrimage itself, but also on church history, topography, architecture and the social and economic conditions prevailing in Palestine in this period. Pilgrimage texts of the 13th century have not previously been studied as a group in this way; and, because the existing editions of them are scattered across a variety of rather obscure publications, they tend to be under-utilized by historians, despite their considerable interest. For instance, they are often more original than the texts of the 12th century, representing first-hand accounts of travellers rather than simple reworkings of older texts. Taken together, they document the changes that occurred in the pattern of pilgrimage after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, during its brief reoccupation by the Franks between 1229 and 1244, and during the period from 1260 onwards when the Mamluks gradually took military control of the whole country. In the 1250s-60s, for example, because of the difficulties faced by pilgrims in reaching Jerusalem itself, there developed an alternative set of holy sites offering indulgences in Acre. The bringing of Transjordan, southern Palestine and Sinai under Ayyubid and, later, Mamluk control also encouraged the development of the pilgrimage to St Catherine's monastery on Mount Sinai in this period. The translations are accompanied by explanatory footnotes and preceded by an introduction, which discusses the development of Holy Land pilgrimage in this period and the context, dating and composition of the texts themselves. The book concludes with a comprehensive list of sources and a detailed index.

"Every man who undertakes the journey to the Our Lord's Sepulcher needs three sacks: a sack of patience, a sack of silver, and a sack of faith."—Symon Semeonis, an Irish medieval pilgrim As medieval pilgrims made their way to the places where Jesus Christ lived and suffered, they experienced, among other things: holy sites, the majesty of the Egyptian pyramids (often referred to as the "Pharaoh's granaries"), dips in the Dead Sea, unfamiliar desert landscapes, the perils of traveling along the Nile, the customs of their Muslim hosts, Barbary pirates, lice, inconsiderate traveling companions, and a variety of difficulties, both great and small. In this richly detailed study, Nicole Chareyron draws on more than one hundred firsthand accounts to consider the journeys and worldviews of medieval pilgrims. Her work brings the reader into vivid, intimate contact with the pilgrims' thoughts and emotions as they made the frequently difficult pilgrimage to the Holy Land and back home again. Unlike the knights, princes, and soldiers of the Crusades, who traveled to the Holy Land for the purpose of reclaiming it for Christendom, these subsequent pilgrims of various nationalities, professions, and social classes were motivated by both religious piety and personal curiosity. The travelers not only wrote journals and memoirs for themselves but also to convey to others the majesty and strangeness of distant lands. In their accounts, the pilgrims relate their sense of astonishment, pity, admiration, and disappointment with humor and a touching sincerity and honesty. These writings also reveal the complex interactions between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Holy Land. Throughout their journey, pilgrims confronted occasionally hostile Muslim administrators (who controlled access to many holy sites), Bedouin tribes, Jews, and Turks. Chareyron considers the pilgrims' conflicted, frequently simplistic, views of their Muslim hosts and their social and religious practices.