munro - did the emperor alexius i ask for aid to the council of placenza, 1095

8/2/2019 Munro - Did the Emperor Alexius I Ask for Aid to the Council of Placenza, 1095

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Did the Emperor Alexius I. Ask for Aid to the Council of Placenza, 1095?Author(s): D. C. Munro

Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Jul., 1922), pp. 731-733Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1837538 .

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NOTES AND SUGGESTIONSDID THE EMPEROR ALEXIUS I. ASK FOR AID AT THE COUNCIL OFPIACENZA, I095?

ACCORDINGo Bernoldof St. Blasien, Pope Urban II. summonedbishops fromItaly, Burgundy,France, Alemannia, Bavaria, andotherprovincesto the Council of Piacenza held in March, I095."Item legatio Constantinopolitanimperatoris d hanc sinodumper-venit,qui domnumpapam omnesqueChristifideles uppliciterm-ploravit,ut aliquod auxilium sibi contra paganos pro defensionesanctaeaeclesiae conferrent,uam pagani iam pene in illispartibusdeleverant, ui partes llas usque ad murosConstantinopolitanaeivi-tatis obtinuerant. Ad hoc ergo auxilium domnus papa multos n-citavit,ut etiam jurejurando promitterent,e illuc Deo annuenteituros, t eidem mperatoriontrapaganosprQposse suo fidelissimumadiutorium ollaturos. . . In hac sinodo quatuor fere milia cleri-corum tplus quam trigintamilia aicorumfuisseperhibentur."Bernoldbegan his chronicle n I074; he died in IIOO. He prob-ablywas present t the council, s he says ntelling bout t," Missasquoque nonnunquam xtra aeclesiam satis probabiliter, ecessitatequidem ogente, elebramus." At all eventshis bishopwas present,2and Bernoldhad a good opportunityo learnwhat was done at thecouncil.Bernold's statementhas been accepted by Gibbon, Rohricht,Hagenmeyer, ertzog,Giesebrecht,nd manyothers. Sybel assertsthatthe appeal of Alexius was "the final mpulse" whichcausedthe First Crusade. Riant, Chalandon, uchaire, nd others,4n thecontrary, ave been unwilling o admit that the EmperorAlexiusmade an appeal foraid at Piacenza. Their most mportantrgumentfor notacceptingBernold'sstatement as beenthathe was theonlycontemporaryuthorwho mentioned hepreaching f thecrusadeatPiacenza. Those who have acceptedBernold's tatement ave knownof no other ontemporaryource.5

1 MonumentaGermaniae Historica, Scriptores,V. 462.2 Hagenmeyer, hron.de Zimmern,p. 5I; also in Archivesde l'OrientLatin,II. 66 and note.s Gesch. d. Erst. Kreuzzugs,first ed.,p. 223; second and thirded., p. 182.4 Cf. Tuthill, " The Appeal of Alexis for Aid in Iog' ", in Universityof

Colorado Studies, vol. IV., no. 3.5 The Annals of Jumieges M.G.SS., XXVI. 508) have however sometimesbeen cited as confirmatoryvidence. The passage reads, "Eodem anno Urbanus(7.31 )


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732 Notes and SuggestionsBut there s another. In theHistoritaMonaster' Novi Pictahi-ensis,6written y themonk Martin,we find:" Divino instinctud-

monitus [Urbanus] gentes Christianorumqueopulos coepit com-monere tque ad sepulchrum omini ocaque sanctade manu niquo-rum auferenda piorum animas coepit invitare: contigit eundemPapam ejusmodigratia ad Galliarum egna transitum acere. Namcelebratoquadragesimali emporeconcilio apud Placentiam taliaeurbem nquo huiussanctipraecinctus rimaverba prolata unt dempraedictusvenerabilisPapa Alpes transcenditJtilias; perveniensautemArveniamUrbem, uae alio nomineClarus-Monsdicitur. ..Et sic illa verba quae quasi praeoccupando n Placentino onciliopro-lata sunt, n evidentiamtostentationemanctaemilitiae." .This statements very mportant,s it confirms ernold's state-ment that Urban preached the crusade at Piacenza, althoughthecouncil had been called " contra schismaticos. Baldric of Dol'sstatementmay also be cited: " Publicae praedicationis ausa, papaRomanus,Urbanus nomine,venit in Gallias. . . . Sane Placentiaeconciliogeneralicelebrato, raelibatus ontifexpaulo postArvernisadvenit."The probable xplanation f theintroductionf thisnew subjectintotheagenda of theCouncil of Piacenza is the appeal of the Em-peroras recordedby Bernold. Confirmationsf his statement reto be found nthereferences o Constantinoplend the GreekEmpirein Urban's speechat Clermont s reported y RoberttheMonk andFulk of Chartres;and in Guibert's tatements to the causes ofUrban'saction.Robertreports hepope as saying: " Ab Iherosolimorum inibuset urbeConstantinopolitanaelatiogravisemersit t saepissime ampapa, qui prius in Italia concilium enueratpro exortationeYerosolimitani tineris,iterum pud Clarum-montemoncilium enuit t constituit, t christiani ixiscruci-bus in vestibus erusalempergerent." The author of this part of theAnnals andthe date when it was written re not known. Consequently his noticehas little,if any,value.The so-called Epistola Spuria has also been muchdiscussed in this connec-tion. It is certainlynot genuine in its presentform, nd its date is uncertain,so that it can have no value as evidence for Piacenza. Cf. Hagenmeyer,Byzant.Zeitschrift, I. i ff.;Chalandon,Alexis I.; Pirenne, nRevue de l'Instruction ub-lique en Belgique,L. (1907) 2I7-227; see also Kohler, n Revue de l'OrientLatin,VIII. 564.

6 Watterich, ontificumRomanorum . . Vitae, I. 598; previouslyprinted nMartene,Thesaurus Anecd., II. The authorwas a contemporarysee Bouquet,XI. ii8, note a). The fragment f thiswork stops at Jan., 096. Cf. Molinier,Sources, no. 1435.

7 Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Hist. Occid., IV. I2.


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Allison: irst ndowed rofessorshipfHistory733ad aures nostraspervenit. . . RegnumGraecorumam ab eis itaemutilatumst."Fulk, n his brief ummaryf Urban's speech, lso records efer-enceto the Greek Empireand theneed of aid for t. " Necesse estenim, uatinus onfratribusestris n Orientaliplaga conversantibus,auxilio vestro am saepe acclamato ndigis, ccelerato tinere uccur-ratis. Invaserunt nim eos, sicutiplerisquevestrumam dictum st,usque mare Mediterraneum,d illud scilicetquod dicuntBrachiumSancti Georgii,Turci, gens Persica,qui, apud Romaniae fines, errasChristianorummagis magisqueoccupando, itebellica jam septupli-cata victossuperaverunt,multosoccidendovel captivando, cclesiassubvertendo, egnumDei vastando."Guibert ays: "Is itaquevireximius [Urbanus], quumab AlexiGraecorum rincipemagnishonorareturxeniis [exequiis], et preci-bus quidem,sed multo propensiusgeneraliChristianitatis ericulopulsaretur . . .10Further orroborationor the connection f the Greek emperorwith he nception f the crusade s to be found n the factthatCon-stantinople as made the officialendezvous orall the bands, nd inthe relations etween he emperornd the Western eaders, speciallyBohemond. But the accountof thesecannotbe compressedntoabriefnote, ntendedmerely o call attentiono a new tem f evidenceand to indicatehow this supplements,nd is supplementedy, otherinformation." D. C. MUNRO.THE FIRST ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP OF HISTORY AND ITS FIRST

INCUMBENTON the I7th of May, I622, at the Convocation f theUniversityof Oxford, ormalnnouncementas made of a giftbyWilliamCamden, larenceux ing t Arms, stablishinghat asbeenknown

as theCamden Ancient)History rofessorship.t isprobablehatsome ittingommemorationf this oundationillbe held tOxfordnextOctober.8Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, III. 727-728.9 Ibid., III. 323-324.10 Ibid., IV. 135.11The fact that Alexius had frequently sked for aid before the Councilof Piacenza is universally dmitted. Consequently have not cited any of thesources whichprove this fact, e.g., Ekkehard's statement, per legationes tamenfrequentissimas t epistolas" (Hagenmeyer, Hierosolymita, p. 8o), which hasoftenbeen used in connectionwith the emperor's'appeal at Piacenza, but mayreferto the earlierappeals.AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XXVII.-49.

munro - did the emperor alexius i ask for aid to the council of placenza, 1095

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