In September 1099 a letter addressed to Pope Paschal II despatched from Latakia, in present-day Syria, recounted numerous necessary occasions going down through the First Campaign. In addition to Latin Christian victories, it described moments of struggling and wrestle – and two events wherein crusaders had turned cannibal.
The primary incident came about at Antioch. The Christian military was so weakened, having besieged the town for numerous months, that the letter – attributed to Archbishop Daimbert of Pisa, and two of the First Campaign’s leaders, Raymond of Saint-Gilles and Godfrey of Bouillon – recorded how the Christians ‘might scarcely chorus from consuming human flesh’. The second occurred following the sieges of al-Bāra and Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘mān, throughout which period famine hit the military and ‘the Christian individuals’ have been so determined that they ‘ate the putrid our bodies’ of Muslims. The accusation was stunning: in line with the letter – one of many earliest Latin Christian sources for the First Campaign – at occasions of hunger, God’s chosen individuals have been able to cannibalism.
This letter is just not an outlier. Quite a few histories, lots of them written by monks and clerics within the marketing campaign’s aftermath, referenced this excessive act. Particulars differ: some acknowledged that cannibalism occurred twice, others that it came about at both Antioch or Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘mān. Accounts additionally disagreed on how widespread it was. Some, such because the Latakia letter, referred vaguely to ‘the military’; others represented it as a fringe occasion, going down away from the principle camp by outsiders or a handful of poor crusaders. Regardless, it was extensively accepted that cannibalism came about through the First Campaign, and that it was dedicated by the crusaders.
The unprecedented successes of the First Campaign, together with the conquest of the Holy Metropolis of Jerusalem, led to an outpouring of writing looking for to grasp the occasions and file them for posterity. A army marketing campaign aimed toward ‘reclaiming’ Jerusalem, the Campaign was additionally thought of an ‘armed pilgrimage’. The expedition was framed as divinely willed; the crusaders as God’s chosen individuals and the rightful heirs to the Holy Land. God’s hand is current all through these texts, and the crusaders are represented as heroes. We would subsequently ask why so many authors included references to crusaders consuming human flesh of their in any other case optimistic data of the marketing campaign, and if this behaviour was thought of past redemption.
Fulcher of Chartres, a cleric and participant within the First Campaign, mirrored in his historical past of the marketing campaign the horror felt by many contemporaries. He ‘shuddered’ to recount what had occurred, writing that the Latins have been ‘terribly tormented’, and ‘savagely devoured’ the flesh of their lifeless enemy. He concluded that ‘the besiegers have been harmed greater than the besieged’. His disgust is obvious, however even in essentially the most horrific tales concerning the crusades, sin might all the time be adopted by repentance – and salvation.
In historic accounts of the First Campaign, written within the aftermath of the expedition, biblical narratives have been necessary sources of inspiration. The Bible comprises quite a few references to cannibalism, some rhetorical, others practical. The Eucharist is maybe the very best identified instance of what may be thought of rhetorical cannibalism. Although the doctrine of transubstantiation was not but formalised, Twelfth-century commentators understood that consuming bread and wine, which remodeled into the physique and blood of Christ, was required for salvation. Matthew 26:27-28 explicitly associates the shedding and ingesting of Jesus’ blood with the remission of sins. However that, in fact, is a far cry from consuming the our bodies of precise individuals, together with Muslims, whereas on campaign.
The Previous Testomony consists of numerous accounts of what may be thought of ‘practical’ examples of cannibalism. Context varies, however throughout quite a few books cannibalism is offered as an excessive punishment inflicted by God. Deuteronomy 28, for instance, discusses punishments for many who don’t observe God’s commandments, together with Verse 53: ‘And also you shall eat the fruit of your womb, and the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the Lord your God shall give to you, within the misery and extremity by which your enemy shall oppress you.’ Throughout the Bible, discussions of cannibalism and different punishments are sometimes adopted by teachings on repentance, forgiveness, and redemption, as discovered all through Deuteronomy 30, wherein those that repent are promised prosperity, for instance: ‘And the Lord your God will make you abound within the fruit of your womb, and within the fruit of your cattle, within the fruitfulness of your land, and in loads of all issues.’ The message was that transgressors could be punished, but when they sought forgiveness they’d be redeemed, thus remaining God’s chosen individuals.
Medieval accounts of the First Campaign equally adopted a sin-to-redemption arc, and even crusader cannibals weren’t past salvation. Some accounts made this hyperlink immediately. Certainly, following the cannibalism at Antioch, the Latakia letter mirrored that, ‘God regarded down upon His individuals who He had so lengthy chastised and mercifully consoled them’. Different sources have been much less express, constructing the redemption arc right into a broader narrative. The second-hand account of Robert the Monk, for instance, recorded how following an extended interval of delay, in-fighting, and cannibalism, the crusaders have been rewarded as they resumed their journey in the direction of Jerusalem by way of a ‘land of milk and honey’.
As an ‘armed pilgrimage’, struggling and redemption through the First Campaign have been to be anticipated, however partaking in cannibalism was nonetheless stunning and excessive. The Bible, nevertheless, supplied a method of presenting cannibalism in a manner that was not irredeemable – so long as these accountable repented. As a substitute, it was a type of punishment inflicted by God as a part of a divinely willed endeavour by way of which salvation – and Jerusalem – could possibly be received.
Katy Mortimer is Lecturer in Medieval Research at Canterbury Christ Church College.
