Jerusalem in the North: Denmark and the Baltic Crusades, 1100-1522 / Edition 1

by Ane Bysted, Kurt Villads Jensen, Carsten Selch Jensen, John Lind

Overview

'God wills it, God wills it!' - this was the response to the sermon of Pope Urban II at Clermont in 1095, in which he exhorted his audience to take the cross and liberate Jerusalem. And his words spread, even to the remotest islands in the north of Christendom. For the first time since the mid-nineteenth century, historians have investigated Latin, Danish, German, and Russian source materials about the Danish Crusades in the Baltic region. This team of four Danish medievalists describe how the idea of crusading reached the North and how Scandinavia became involved in the Western European crusading movement. Crusading ideology inspired Danish wars for hundreds of years against the Wends, Prussians, Lithuanians, Estonians and other pagan peoples along the coasts of the Baltic Sea so that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Denmark became the dominant crusading power in the region: a Jerusalem in the North. Indeed, crusading remained an important political reality in Denmark until the Lutheran Reformation in the early seventeenth century. Ane L. Bysted holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern Denmark with a dissertation on the development of the crusade indulgence, and has written on crusade theology and preaching. Carsten Selch Jensen is Associate Professor in Church History at the University of Copenhagen. Has written on crusading history, especially in the Baltic Region as well as on holy and just war in the Middle Ages. Kurt Villads Jensen is Associate Professor in Medieval History at the University of Southern Denmark and chair of the Medieval Centre. He has written on Christian mission and crusades, especially in the Baltic region and Iberia.John H. Lind has written extensively on the Baltic crusades and on relations between Scandinavia, Finland and Russia from the Viking Age up to modern times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782503523255
Publisher:	Brepols Publishers
Publication date:	06/19/2012
Series:	Outremer. Studies in the Crusades and the Latin East , #1
Pages:	407
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Ane L. Bysted holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern Denmark with a dissertation on the development of the crusade indulgence, and has written on crusade theology and preaching. Carsten Selch Jensen is Associate Professor in Church History at the University of Copenhagen. Has written on crusading history, especially in the Baltic Region as well as on holy and just war in the Middle Ages. Kurt Villads Jensen is Associate Professor in Medieval History at the University of Southern Denmark and chair of the Medieval Centre. He has written on Christian mission and crusades, especially in the Baltic region and Iberia. John H. Lind has written extensively on the Baltic crusades and on relations between Scandinavia, Finland and Russia from the Viking Age up to modern times.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

I Introduction 1

1 'Nomen (est) Omen' 1

2 To Take up One's Cross and Follow Christ 5

3 The Tradition of Valour 14

II The Wendish Crusades 15

1 Wends and Danes before the Crusades

2 The Early Crusades against the Wends 18

3 A Crusade to Småland? 30

4 Otto of Bamberg's First Missionary Journey 31

5 Danish-Slavic Parallel Alliances in the Struggle for the Wendish Territories 34

6 Otto of Bamberg's Second Missionary Journey 36

7 The Crusading King Faces the Crusading Saint 38

8 Erik Emune's Conquest of Arkona 44

III The Wendish Crusade of 1147 45

1 Aims and Ideology of the Crusade against the Wends 46

1 Heathen or Christian 53

3 The Sources for Danish Participation in the Wendish Crusade of 1147 55

4 The Second Phase of the Wendish Crusades 59

5 The Conquest of Arkona and the End of Svantevit 66

Helmold's Version 66

Saxo: Absalon Takes Charge 67

6 Were the Wendish Campaigns Really Crusades? The Religious Aftermath 76

7 Later Danish Expeditions to the Wendish Regions 81

8 Conclusions 85

IV Danish Crusading Institutions 89

1 Drunken Fornicators: Crusading Preachers in Denmark 89

1 Equipping and Financing the Crusades 93

3 Equipment 94

4 'To Redeem my Cross': The Financing of Crusades 103

5 The Militarisation of Society 108

6 Castles and Fortifications 108

7 Towns 115

8 The Military Orders 118

9 The Leding 115

10 The Crusader's Spiritual Rewards: Crusading Indulgence and Crusading Theology 119

11 The Spiritual Reward for the First Crusade 131

12 The Theologians' Discussions and the Development of Indulgence in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries 135

V Danish Attention Turns to the Eastern Baltic 139

VI The Danish Crusades to Finland 145

VII The Crusades to the Baltic Lands 157

1 The Mission to Livonia and the First Crusades, 1186-1201 161

2 Bishop Albert and the Foundation of Riga 168

3 The Permanent Crusade 171

4 To Take the Cross: Crusading Vows and Crusading Privileges 171

5 King Valdemar's Secret Vow 173

6 Crusading Privileges and Indulgences in Danish Sources 175

7 The Length of Crusader's Vows 177

8 The Fight against the Pagans 178

VIII The Russians and the Early Phase of the Baltic Crusades 185

IX The Danish Crusades to Estonia up to 1236 195

1 Anders Sunesen: The End of the Mission to Livonia? 195

2 The Danish Conquest of Estonia 199

3 The Danish Attack on Estonia 103

4 The Legend of the Flag 205

5 The Christianisation of the Estonians and Danish Relations with Livonia 209

X Denmark and the Crusades to Prussia 217

1 The Prussians, Christianity and the Early Crusading Movement 227

2 From the Wendish Lands and Pomerania to Prussia 228

3 Geo-Political Complications 229

4 The Competition over the Prussian Mission: Bishop Christian and the Danish Crusades 232

5 The Consequences of the Danish Collapse in 1223 239

XI Teutonic Knights and Mendicants: New Actors in Prussia and Livonia 243

1 From Palestine to Prussia 244

2 Military Orders: Monks or Warriors? 248

3 The Military Orders in Prussia: Mission or War of Conquest? 251

4 Castle Building and Town Foundations in Prussia 254

5 The Mendicants and Mission in the Territories of the Teutonic Knights 260

6 The Recruitment of Crusaders for the Campaigns in Prussia and Livonia 265

XII From the Battle of Saule to the Battle on the Ice 269

1 The Arrival of the Teutonic Knights in Livonia: The Treaty of Stensby 269

2 Crusades against the Russians: Pope Gregory IX's Russian Policy 272

3 The Mongol Hordes and the Russian Principalities 272

4 The 'Russian' Crusades 274

XIII Papal European Policies: Crusading with the Russians? 281

1 Innocent IV Sets New Priorities for Crusading 281

2 Alliance and Church Union with the Russians 284

XIV Denmark and Estonia, 1250-94: Danish Impotence 191

XV The Dream of the Baltic Empire 303

1 Erik VI Menved and Riga 303

2 Erik VI Menved, Novgorod and Sweden 308

3 Erik VI Menved, the Archbishops, the Teutonic Knights and the Curia 311

4 Erik VI Menved and the Danish Vassals 314

XVI The Dissolution of the Danish Crusading Empire 311

XVII The Crusades after 1346 333

1 Continuing Preaching, Continuing Indulgences 333

2 Valdcmar IV Atterdag's Crusading Plans 335

3 A Crusade for Queen Margaret 338

4 Danish Crusading Activity after the Fall of Constantinople 340

5 The Stockholm Bloodbath: The Last Danish-Swedish Crusade 347

XVIII Crusades to Greenland and India 353

Maps 355

Bibliography 359

Index 377