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Rebuilding Zion: the holy places of Jerusalem in the twelfth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Bernard Hamilton
Bernard Hamilton*
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
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Extract

It is unusual for a period of Christian renewal to begin with a massacre, yet that is what happened when the crusaders entered Jerusalem on 15 July 1099. Raymond of Aguilers, chaplain of the count of Toulouse, boasted that they rode through moslem corpses heaped up in the Haram al-Sharif with blood ‘even to the horse bridles’ This should not obscure the fact that the crusading movement was motivated partly by a growing devotion to the humanity of Christ in the western church in the late eleventh century, or, as the author of the Gesta Francorum expressed it, a desire to ‘follow in the footsteps of Christ, by whom they had been redeemed from the power of hell’. It was this sentiment which led the crusaders to seek to restore the shrine churches of Jerusalem and in the eighty-eight years of their rule they filled the city with fine churches and monasteries closely resembling those which were being built in the west at the same time. It should be emphasised that the crusaders were seldom concerned to rebuild existing churches in Frankish style: their primary interest was to restore churches which had been ruined by war and persecution in the centuries of moslem rule. The pilgrim Saewulf, who visited the east four years after the Latin conquest, reported that ‘nothing has been left habitable by the Saracens, but everything has been devastated . . . in all. . . the holy places outside the walls. . . of Jerusalem’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 14: Renaissance and Renewal in Christian History , 1977 , pp. 105 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1977

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References

1 Raymond of Aguilers, Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem, RHC Oιc 3p 300.

2 Southern, R.W., The Making of the Middle Ages (London 1953) pp 245-9Google Scholar.

3 Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum, ed and transl Hill, R. (London 1962) p 2 Google Scholar.

4 Saewulf[’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land], transl Brownlow, W. R., PPTS 21 (1892) p 22 Google Scholar.

5 [The Pilgrimage of the Russian Abbot] Daniel [in the Holy Land], transl Wilson, C.W., PPTS 6 (1888) pp 11–14 Google Scholar describes the rotunda as it was in 1107 before the rebuilding.

6 Couäsnon, [C.], [The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem] (London 1974) pp 54-7Google Scholar.

7 W[illiam of]T[yre, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinas gestarum], bk 9, cap 9 RHC Occ 1, pp 376-7; [Cartulaire de l’Eglise du St.-Sépulcre de Jérusalem, ed de Rozière, E.], [Collection des documents inédits sur l’histoire de France], series 1, 5 (Paris 1849) nos 36, 37, pp 71-3Google Scholar.

8 The patriarch Gibelin on his deathbed in 1112 exhorted Baldwin I to undertake this reform, de Rozière no 42, pp 79-80. It was implemented in 1114 and the canons who would not accept it were expelled, ibid no 25, pp 44-7.

9 Clapham, [A. W.], [‘The Latin monastic buildings of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem’], Antiquaries Journal 1 (London 1921) pp 3–18 Google Scholar. Enlart, [C.], [Les monuments des Croisés dans le Royaume de Jérusalem: architecture religieuse et civile], 2 vols, 2 albums (Paris 1925-8) 2 pp 173-80Google Scholar argues on stylistic grounds that the monastery is, for the most part, anterior to the Latin basilica.

10 Previously the patriarch’s apartments had connected with the gallery of the rotunda and had presumably been on the second storey of the courtyard building, Daniel p 13. Arnulf is named in an inscription in the patriarch’s palace, Enlart 2, p 137; Clapham p 18.

11 The guide-book known as Fetellus, compiled in c1130, speaks of the new church being built, Fetellus [(circa ttjo A.D.)], transl Macpherson, J. R., PPTS 19 (1892) p 2 Google Scholar.

12 Couäsnon pp 57-62.

13 Theoderich[‘s description of the Holy Places (circa 1172 A.D.)], transl Stewart, A., PPTS 17 (1891) pp 12–13 Google Scholar.

14 Ibid pp 19, 21.

15 The campanile was higher than it now is until 1719 when it was damaged by an earthquake. Enlart 2, pp 151-5.

16 John Phocas, monk of Patmos, who visited Jerusalem in 1185, talks of the gold mosaics of the Sepulchre, the gift of ‘my lord and master, Manuel Comnenus, Porphyrogenitus’. [The Pilgrimage of John] Phocas [to the Holy Land. (In the year 1185 A.D.)], transl Stewart, A., PPTS 11 (1889) p 19 Google Scholar.

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19 Enlart 2, p 248.

20 Theoderich pp 36, 41.

21 In 1107 the shrine was intact but the church which served it had been destroyed, Daniel pp 23-4.

22 Saewulf p 18.

23 This is known in a Sicilian copy of 1106, Garufi, C. A., ‘Il Tabulano di S. Maria di Valle Giosafat’, Archivio storico per la Sicilia orientale, 5 (Catania 1908) pp 337-9Google Scholar.

24 Morphia, , wife of Baldwin II, Kohler, [Ch.], [‘Chartes de l’Abbaye de Notre-Dame de la Vallée de Josaphat en Terre-Sainte (1108–1291)—Analyses et extraits’], R[évue de l’]O[rient] L[atin], 7 (Paris 1899), no 18, p 128 Google Scholar; and her daughter, queen Melisende, WT bk 18, cap 32, RHC Occ 1, p 877. The location of the mortuary chapels is discussed by Vincent, [H.], Abel, [F. M.], [Jérusalem. Recherches de topographie, d’archéologie et d’histoire], 2 vols in 4 parts (Paris 1912-26) 2, part 4, p 815 Google Scholar.

25 [Description of the Holy Land by] John of Würzburg [(A.D. 1160-1170)], transl Wilson, C.W., PPTS 14 (1890) p 51 Google Scholar.

26 Theoderich p 38.

27 Saewulf p 18.

28 Theoderich p 39.

29 Delaborde, [H-F.]. [Chartes de la Terre Sainte provenant de l’Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Josaphat], Bibliothèque des Ecoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome, 19 (Paris 1880) no 19, pp 47–49 Google Scholar.

30 Enlart 2, pp 233-6; Orfali, G., Gethsemani (Paris 1924)Google Scholar. There is no necessary conflict between Theuderich p 40 who speaks of ‘a new church . . . being built’ and John of Würzburg p 27, who seems to have been there a few years earlier, and speaks merely of ‘a new church’. John’s phrase is not precise and cannot be construed to mean that the church was completed when he saw it, and work on it probably continued for several years.

31 Theoderich p 38.

32 In 1099 there was only a hermit there, Ralph of Caen, Gesta Tancredi in expeditione Hierosolymitana, cap 113, RHC Occ 3, p 685. The shrine was rebuilt by 1103, Saewulf p 19.

33 Their presence is first attested in 1112, C[artulaire] G[énérale de l’]O[rdre des] Hospitaliers de St-Jean de Jérusalem (1100-1310)], ed Roulx, J. Delaville Le, 4 vols (Paris 1894-1906) no 25 Google Scholar.

34 Theoderich p 44.

35 In 1103 it was a ruin, Saewulf p 19; by 1107 it had been rebuilt, Daniel p 24.

36 Vincent, Abel, 2, part 1, pp 401-2; Riant, P., Expéditions et pèlerinages des Scandinaves en Terre Sainte au temps des croisades (Paris 1865) pp 226-9Google Scholar.

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38 This foundation was attributed to duke Godfrey, WT bk 9, cap 9, RHC Occ 1, pp 376-7, but the earliest evidence for Austin canons there dates from 1112, CGOH no 25.

39 John of Würzburg p 16.

40 Fulcher of Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana, bk 1, cap 26, 7, ed Hagenmeyer, H. (Heidelberg 1913) pp 287-8Google Scholar; WT bk 8, cap 3, RHC Occ 1, pp 326-7.

41 Photograph in Enlart, album 1, pl 40, figs 132-3.

42 Theoderich pp 25-6.

43 John of Würzburg p 18; Phocas p 20; The Autobiography of Ousama, transl Potter, G.R. (London 1929) p 177 Google Scholar.

44 WT bk 15, cap 18, RHC Occ 1, p 687.

45 Ibid bk 12, cap 7, p 520.

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47 Theoderich pp 31-2.

48 Ibid pp 32-3. This shrine was established by 1130, Fetellus p 3.

49 Saewulf p 17. There is only presumptive evidence that this house was at first of eastern rite. Queen Arda was Armenian and is therefore unlikely to have sought admission to a Latin house.

50 WT bk 11, cap 1, RHC Occ 1, pp 451-2.

51 Ibid bk 15, cap 26, p 699. An inscription attests that the nuns owned part of the market of Jerusalem, Enlart 2, p 191.

52 Theoderich pp 43, 47.

53 WT bk 18, cap 5, RHC Occ 1, pp 824-6.

54 CGOH nos 1-29, which date from before 1113.

55 The bull Pie postulatio voluntatis, CGOH no 30.

56 For the history of the order, Riley-Smith, J., The Knights of St. John in Jerusalem and Cyprus, 1050-1310, (London 1967)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 Vincent, Abel 2, part 2, pp 642-68.

58 WT bk 18, cap 3. RHC Occ 1, pp 820-1.

59 John of Würzburg p 44.

60 de Marsy, A, ‘Fragment d’un cartulaire de l’Ordre de St.-Lazare en Terre Sainte’, Archives de l’Orient Latin, 2 vols (Paris 1884) 2, pp 121-57Google Scholar. The earliest document dates from Fulk’s reign.

61 Enlart, album 2, pl 102.

62 [Le Livre de] Jean d’Ibelin, cap 261, RHC, Lois, Les Assises de Jérusalem, 2 vols (Paris 1841-3) 1, p 415.

63 Theoderich p 23.

64 Ibid p 45. Saewulf p 21 reports that the Byzantine church was in ruins in 1103.

65 Stephanie, daughter of Jocelyn I of Edessa, was abbess c1163-c1177, WT bk 19, cap 4, RHC Occ 1, pp 898-9; Kohler no 45, pp 153-4.

66 CGOH 464.

67 Jean d’Ibelin cap 261, RHC Lois 1, p 415.

68 Ibid pp 415-16.

69 Saewulf p 22 records the shrine of Lazarus; Daniel p 22 mentions both shrines but does not name the second; Fetellus p 6 names the second as Saint Mary Magdalen.

70 de Rozière no 25, pp 44-7.

71 WT bk 15, cap 26, bk 21, cap 2, RHC Occ 1, pp 699-700, 1006; de Rozière nos 33, 34, pp 60-8.

72 Saller, S. J. Excavations at Bethany (1949-1953), Publications of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 12 (Jerusalem 1957)Google Scholar.

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74 S. Bernardi . . . Claraevallensis Epistolae, 253, 355, PL 182 (1879) cok 453-4, 557-8. The exact date of the foundation of this house is not known, but L’Obituaire de l’Abbaye de Prémontré ed Van Waefelghem, R. (Louvain 1913) p 75 Google Scholar records the death of abbot Theoderic of Saint Samuel’s in 1145.

75 Savignac, R., Abel, F. M., ‘Neby Samouil’, Révue biblique internationale, ns 9 (Paris 1912) pp 267-79Google Scholar.

76 Roulx, J. Delaville Le, ‘L’Ordre de Montjoye’, ROL 1 (1893) pp 42–57 Google Scholar.

77 John of Würzburg p 47.

78 For example, Saint Thomas’s near the tower of David, described in 1919 as ‘a small church of no architectural character . . . which has been abandoned to ruin, apparently for centuries’. Jeffery, G., A brief description of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem and other Christian churches in the Holy City (Cambridge 1919) p 148 Google Scholar.

79 The following examples must suffice: to the Holy Sepulchre, de Rozière nos 29, 53, 144, pp 54-5, 97-101, 262-8; to Josaphat, Delaborde nos 4, 6, 18, 28, pp 26-7, 29-32, 45-7, 63-7; to Richard, Latina, J., ‘Le chartrier de sainte-Marie-Latine et l’établissement de Raymond de Saint-Gilles à Mont Pèlerin’, Mélanges d’histoire du moyen âge dédiés à la mémoire de Louis Halphen (Paris 1951) pp 605-12Google Scholar; to Mount Sion, Rey pp 37-53; to Templum Domini, Chalandon, F., ‘Un diplome inédit d’Amaury I Roi de Jérusalem en faveur de l’Abbaye du Temple Notre-Seigneur’, ROL 8, (1900-01) pp 311-17Google Scholar; to Mountjoy, Mayer, H-E., ‘Sankt Samuel auf dem Freudenberge und sein Besitz nach einem unbekannten diplom König Balduins V’, QFIAB 44 (1964) pp 68–71 Google Scholar. Almost all the documents in the cartulary of Saint Lazare (see note 60 above) relate to small gifts of land and money in the crusader states. The hospital of Saint John was so richly endowed both in east and west that it would be otiose to list examples, see CGOH I passim. WT bk 15, cap 26, RHC Occ 1, pp 699-700 gives details of the endowments of the convent of Bethany in the kingdom of Jerusalem. Little is known about the endowments of Saint Anne’s, Sainte Marie la Grande, the abbey of the Mount of Olives or of the Syrian endowments of the templars in the twelfth century.

80 Instances of this: to the Holy Sepulchre, de Rozière nos 16, 17, 20, 23, 166, 171, 172, pp 18-24, 29-32, 36-41, 296-300, 309-11; to Josaphat, Delaborde, nos 3, 21, 31, pp 24-6, 50-4, 72-8; to Latina, Holtzmann, W., ‘Papst-Kaiser-und Normannen-urkunden aus Unteritalien. I. San Filippo-S. Maria Latina in Agira’, QFIAB 35 (1955) nos 5, 7, 8, pp 65-6Google Scholar, 70-2; to Mount Sion, work cited in n 79 above; to Templum Domini, di Prologo, A, Le carte che si conservano nello Archivio del Capitolo Metropolitano della città di Trani dal secolo IX fino all’anno 1266 (Barletta 1877) no 60, pp 132-3Google Scholar; to the hospital of Saint John, CGOH 1, passim; to the knights templar, d’Albon, Marquis, ed, Cartulaire générale de l’Ordre du Temple, 1119?-1150, 1 (Paris 1913)Google Scholar. Saint Lazare does not seem to have had any possessions in the west, but the paucity of evidence makes it impossible to decide whether Saint Samuel’s, Saint Anne’s, Sainte Marie la Grande, or the convent of Bethany had any lands in the west or not.

81 John of Würzburg p 69. Capheturici may have been Ethiopians who are otherwise missing from the list.

82 Theoderich p 20.

83 Ibid p 51.

84 Quoted by Ibn Khallicân, Extraits de la Vie du Sultan Salâh-ed-Dîn, RHC Or 3 pp 421-2.