Preaching the Crusades to the Eastern Mediterranean

Propaganda, Liturgy and Diplomacy, 1305–1352

Preaching was an integral part of the crusade movement. This book focuses on the efforts of the first four Avignon popes to organize crusade preaching campaigns to the Eastern Mediterranean and on the role of the secular and regular clergy in their implementation. Historians have treated the fall of Acre in 1291 as an arbitrary boundary in crusader studies for far too long. The period 1305–1352 was particularly significant for crusade preaching, yet it has not been studied in detail. This volume thus constitutes an important addition to the flourishing field of late medieval crusade historiography. The core of the book deals with two interlocking themes: the liturgy for the Holy Land and the popular response to crusade preaching between the papacies of Clement V and Clement VI. The book analyses the evolving use of the liturgy for the crusade in combination with preaching and it illustrates the catalytic role of these measures in driving popular pro-crusade sentiments. A key theme in the account is the analysis of the surviving crusade sermons of the Parisian theologians from the era. Critical editions of these previously neglected propagandistic texts are a valuable addition to our corpus of papal correspondence relating to the crusades in the later Middle Ages. This book will be of interest both to specialized historians and to students of late medieval crusading.