More Crusades And A Small Renaissance As We Go Into The Thirteenth Century

More Crusades And A Small Renaissance As We Go Into The Thirteenth Century

The Thirteenth Century is marked by the appearance of new towns and cities based on commerce. The Low Countries industrialize (in a modest way) and the Friesians* are noted for their wool. By the start of the century there are thirty Cistercian* [remember? that really productive order?] houses all over Europe. Each monastic house is a medieval factory. They are Europe's best land managers. When they lease land it comes with strict instructions and rules on how best to farm it. They open warehouses and finance offices in major sea ports, becoming famous for their wool.

Paris has a religion-centered University where a student takes six years of Arts and four years of theology.

In 1200 - The church reaches the peak of its power.

c. 1200 - There is now a Confrerie de Jongleurs.* ( a brotherhoof of composing and performing minstrels) and one of their members, a Jean Bodel* (crusader, town official and author) writes the St. Nicholas Play* full of crusader battles and tavern scenes.

1200-1350 - In all European countries it's a time of gradual transition in the writing of religious drama. Plays in the venacular (the local language) gradually replace those in liturgical Latin (which the clergy use and none of the locals can understand.)

This change is accompanied by another transition. Inside the church the dramatizations are done by the clergy as part of the mass. As the plays begin to move out of the church on to the porch and finally into the open square, laymen begin to be entrusted with acting roles. Finally, as the competition increases to do a better job, they actually hire professional actors for the big parts. Legend, Parable, and Miracle Plays as well as the great Mystery and Last Judgement Plays all are really concerned with this dying business and they all draw heavily on the contrast between redemption and damnation.

1201-2 Off to the Crusades - The 30,000 or so would-be crusaders assemble in Venice with plans to attack the Saracens by way of Egypt. They figure its easier to get there by sea than to take that terrible land trip through Constantinople.

The Doge (leader of the Venetians) wants a ton of money (85,000 pieces of silver) to provide ocean-going transportation and the Crusaders can't meet the price. The Doge really has a hidden agenda. He wants to punish Constantinople for refusing a trade agreement. So, he persuades the Crusaders to go east by land, instead of south by sea, and persuades them to capture the port of Zara on the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia. This, he claims, will be acceptable as security for the needed money.

1202 So the Fourth Crusade* starts by sacking a Christian city to line the pockets of the merchants of Venice. As you might suspect, this does not make the Pope happy. The Doge further suggests that the Crusaders should capture Constantinople and unite the Byzantine* Empire with the rest of Christendom. He even offers to foot the bill. This seems like a terrific 1202 So the Fourth Crusade* starts by sacking a Christian city to line the pockets of the merchants of Venice. As you might suspect, this does not make the Pope happy. The Doge further suggests that the Crusaders should capture Constantinople and unite the Byzantine* Empire with the rest of Christendom. He even offers to foot the bill. This seems like a terrific

Meanwhile that beleaguered Bishop Albert in Livonia (Latvia) gets papal approval to establish a military order to be based there. It is officially called: "Brothers of Christ's Militia." Soon they come to be known as "The Sword Brothers*." These guys are recruited from just about anybody and they get a lousy reputation. They are known for their dubious morals, but they are terrific fighters.

Down in Egypt those equally terrific Turkish slave-warriors, the Mamluks*, have risen to be the elite guard, called Bahris* because they are garrisoned on an island in the Nile, Bahr al- Nil, outside Cairo.

1203 Off to the East, a tough little Mongol named Temujin* (soon to be known as Genghis Khan* has united the Mongolian tribes and is in control of central and eastern Mongolia. We'll hear more from him later.

1203 Off to Constantinople where, with a little fighting and a lot of conniving, the Crusaders get Emperor Alexius IV* (nephew of the former deposed emperor) put on the throne. He signs an agreement to finance the crusade. But then, the whole Byzantine intrigue falls apart.

1204 The Greeks (who are the military power in Constantinople) start open war with the invading Crusaders. The Crusaders sack, loot and burn the city, splitting the plunder between the Venetians and the Frankish Crusaders. They set up a puppet Frankish emperor of what they call the Latin Empire*. [This bogus "empire" will hang on about 57 years and then collapse.] The Crusaders never crusade, the Saracens get stronger, the greedy conquerors split up into bitter, quarreling factions. Only the greedy merchants win. A significant side-light is that the Italians take home some terrific cultural treasures and their contact with the East helps push the revival in classical learning and art.

1206 The Mongols under Genghis Khan* begin their conquests, starting with parts of China. Genghis is a whiz at administration and a good lawmaker. He creates order out of chaos and establishes a new pyramid of power based on a full time corp of nomadic hunters who earn promotion by merit. He divides them into military style units (100, 1,000 and 10,000) with his own elite corps of 10,000. Since the Mongols are nomadic and not encumbered by material possessions, they can move like lightning.

The Mongols are an interesting bunch who elect their leader democratically. This often puts a crimp in their fighting, because they have to drop everything and go home to vote whenever the current "great khan" dies off. They have the military advantage of using stirrups (which are just now showing up in the west) which enables them to stand up and shoot their bows while riding at full gallop.

Back in Latvia, the Sword Brothers* take all of Livonia and start looking north for something more to conquer.

1210 Remember all that Aristotelian stuff pouring out of Spain? Well, the trouble with the Church starts, and the teaching of Aristotle* is banned in Paris. The new knowledge is becoming dangerous to the authority of the church.

One of the other fun things people do, ever since that Crusade business got possession of Jerusalem, is that they go on a pilgrimage. There are three exciting places to go to do the shrines, look at the relics, and pick up a few religious souvenirs, plus get cured of any dire diseases you might have. The best place is Jerusalem, but that's a long trip and often somebody is doing a massacre there. Next best is Rome, but that's fairly far, too, and very expensive. The third place is way out on the western edge of Spain, a place called Compostela. It is the spot that claims to have the tomb of Saint James the Apostle (Santiago in the Spanish.) Apparently he is supposed to have traveled there from Jerusalem to preach the Gospel. His remains are supposed to have the power to slay Moslems (which is handy in Spain) and cure disease. Anyhow, this place has been really popular all through the twelfth century. It figures prominently in the medieval tour guides (yes, there really are some, full of practical advice and directions.)

1211 Those Teutonic Knights* get involved in eastern Europe when the King of Hungary invites them up there to help defend against some central Asian Cumans. They come and set up an independent state, bringing in German farmers to colonize the territory.

1212 The Children's Crusade*, a real embarrassment to the church, is raised by a revivalist type French boy. Thousands of young boys march to the French port of Marseilles where they expect the waters to part so they can walk to the Holy Land. The waters don't and most of the children are sold by merchants into slavery.

1215 In England, King John* is badgered by his powerful barons to share some of his power. They force him to set his seal on the Magna Carta* at Runnymede*, laying the ground work for a future democratic society. At the moment it mainly empowers the barons and cuts into the rights of the king.

Frederick II* grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa* is crowned Holy Roman Emperor*. He is a spectacular ruler, creating a rigid framework of law and administration,

1217 Back in Asia Genghis Khan* is subduing Khwarizm a Turkish dominated empire including Turkestan, Persia, most of Afghanistan and part of northern India. He is traveling with 200,000 men and 10,000 siege engines from China. In three years he kills millions. The Mongol atrocities are legendary. He pushes to the Caspian Sea, drives north through the Georgians, the Kipchak Turks of the Volga steppes, and the Bulgars of the upper Volga.

1218 The Fifth Crusade* is another abortive attempt to get to Jerusalem through Egypt. Meanwhile Genghis Khan* is conquering the rest of Persia. 1219 On the university front - a system of degrees and their requirements is up and running in

Paris. 1223 Genghis Khan* is entrenched in the Ukraine and Crimea. 1224 So are the Teutonic Knights* and the King of Hungary has to expel them by force. But

that's OK because a Polish Duke asks them to come up there and tame the Prussians. They (the Poles), too, offer them (the Teutonic Knights) a province and whatever they can conquer. Meanwhile in Germany, Frederick II* is creating a trained civil service and down in Naples, a University free of monastic and clerical control. He is interested in culture too, and his court that's OK because a Polish Duke asks them to come up there and tame the Prussians. They (the Poles), too, offer them (the Teutonic Knights) a province and whatever they can conquer. Meanwhile in Germany, Frederick II* is creating a trained civil service and down in Naples, a University free of monastic and clerical control. He is interested in culture too, and his court

1225 A story of courtly love appears in the well-known Roman de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose) by Guillaume de Lorris*.

Cotton is manufactured in Spain. 1227 Genghis Khan* dies and all the Mongol leaders go home to vote on a new leader, so

there is a brief respite and a break in their headlong advancement towards Europe. 1228 The Sixth Crusade* is led by the Holy Roman Emperor*, Frederick II of Germany. He

isn't too interested in fighting and instead wangles a treaty getting the surrender of several cities, including Jerusalem*, plus a corridor to the sea and all prisoners freed. It's a ten year treaty and nobody likes it.

1229 A new great khan is elected and the Mongols under Ogedei resume conquests of Korea, southern China, northeast Persia, northern Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

1230 Among the plunder brought home by the Crusaders, there is also disease. At this time, leprosy is introduced into Europe. Frederick II* puts together the Constitutions of Melfi, the first comprehensive legal code seen in Europe since Justinian. Frederick II* stands at the peak of the feudal pyramid, rivaling the Pope for top place.

1235 - What with all these crusades there's lots of interest in this crusading business back home. In Germany there is a Magdeburg Pentecost Play called The Roundtable, including lots of knights and minstrels doing their things.

1236 The Mongols* turn to eastern Europe with 150,000 men. They sweep through the Bulgars in middle Volga and Cumens in the southern steppes. The Teutonic Knights* have managed to take over all of Prussia and beyond. The Sword Brothers* have added more territory to their original Latvian holdings, but they are eventually absorbed into the Teutonic Knights*.

1236 - There is an example of another kind of entertainment, the Royal entry* and Street Pageant. These are given by municipalities in honor of coronations, royal weddings, national victories and for visiting royalty. By this date we find plays being added to these events.

1237 The Mongols* continue invading Christian Russia, overwhelming Rostov, Moscow and Vladimir.

1238 The truce in Palestine ends and everybody fights everybody else for years. 1240 The Pope gets pretty excited about things up in Russia what with the pagans, the

Christians, and now the Mongols. He calls for a crusade against the Russians of Novgorod*. But the Mongols* are busy destroying Kiev and defeating the Polish.

1241 The Mongols* devastate Moravia, Silesia and turn south into Hungary. The Baltic Crusade* is under way but they get sidetracked by fighting the Mongols*. This is a lousy 1241 The Mongols* devastate Moravia, Silesia and turn south into Hungary. The Baltic Crusade* is under way but they get sidetracked by fighting the Mongols*. This is a lousy

1242 When the Baltic Crusade gets going against Novgorod* the crusaders loose. This encourages the Prussians and they rebel against their crusader lords (those Teutonic Knights*.) It takes seven years to put the rebellion down. This is the beginning of thirty years of war. Meanwhile a grandson of Genghis Khan establishes the Golden Horde* of Mongol* warriors on the lower Volga.

1244 *The Khwarizmian Turks (The Egyptian Turks keep taking new pagan Turks for their army and they fight with all the zeal of new converts, these particular ones are from a different and more ferocious tribe) sweep into Jerusalem* and leave it in ruins. The Christians lose Jerusalem* for good. The news spreads back to France and another Crusade is planned, this one under Louis IX*, King of France (later to be known as St. Louis*.

1245 This is the first recorded European exploration of Asia. 1249 The Seventh Crusade*, under Louis arrives in Egypt (the idea is to attack the Saracens at

their home in Cairo*.) [There is a terrific account of this Crusade by one of the French participants, John of Joinville*, who keeps a journal.]

The University College, Oxford* is founded. 1250 There is a lot of fighting, then a stalemate, then the usual diseases of a military camp.

Everybody gets sick. The entire army, including Louis,* are taken prisoner. Much ransom is paid and most of the Crusaders sail for home, but Louis* stays. He spends four years trying to build up what remains of the Christian territorial holdings. Frederick II* dies and the imperial crown passes to the Hapsburgs*.