Francis the Saint

In 1224, Francis of Assisi was on the mountain of Verna, enduring a 40-day fast prior to Michaelmas. He had a companion, Brother Leo, who recorded the result of a vision Francis had in mid-September: "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ."

After the vision, Francis showed stigmata. The stigmata, from Greek for "mark" or "brand," are the wounds suffered by Jesus from the Scourging and Crucifixion. They are wounds on the hands and feet, the head from the Crown of Thorns, and on the side from the Holy Lance.

He was taken for medical attention for these open wounds, but no one could help heal them. Two years after the vision and the appearance of the stigmata, he died, on 3 October 1226.

Less than two years later, Pope Gregory IX, who as Cardinal Ugolino Conti had been given the task of guiding the Franciscan Order, and who was a friend of Francis, declared Francis a saint. He also founded the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, under which Francis' body was interred in 1230. The threat of Saracen invaders caused the tomb to be hidden to avoid desecration; it was not found until 1818! His tomb was renovated between 1927 and 1930. His remains were examined, confirmed to be those of the saint, and put in the tomb in a glass urn. He was named a patron saint of Italy in 1939, along with Catherine of Siena. He is the patron saint of animals and ecology, the patron against fire, and the patron saint against dying alone.

The order he founded has about 16,000 members in 1500 houses across the world. It inspired offshoots such as the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, and the Third Order of Saint Francis (who desire a religious life but not a monastic one).

He also co-founded the Order of Saint Clare, also called the Poor Clares, after Clare of Assisi, who is sometimes referred to as Francis' sister. She wasn't, but she had a similar story to his. I'll tell you about her tomorrow, and why she is the patron saint of television.

Francis the Brother of All

One of the most familiar mental images of Francis of Assisi is his connection with Nature.

While traveling through the Spoleto Valley, Francis saw several birds of all kinds. He ran towards the birds, which did not fly away. He told them

"My brother and sister birds, you should praise your Creator and always love Him: He gave you feathers for clothes, wings to fly and all other things that you need. It is God who made you noble among all creatures, making your home in the air. Without sowing or reaping, you receive God's guidance and protection."

The birds spread their wings and started singing. Francis was able to walk among them and touch them without them flying from him. He realized that animals and birds should be exposed to the Word of God and made it his habit from then on to spend time in finding animals to preach to.

His relationship with animals produced many anecdotes. One time while preaching to people, he had to ask birds to quiet down; they did until his sermon was done. Another time he was brought a rabbit that had been caught in a trap. Francis advised the rabbit to be more careful about traps in the future, and when the rabbit was released it hopped back to Francis' lap.

One day, while in the town of Gubbio, Francis learned that a wolf was menacing the town, killing and eating animals and people. He decided to meet the wolf despite the warnings of the townspeople. He went out from the town, accompanied by a fellow friar and some townspeople who wished to witness the event. The townspeople soon gave up and fell behind. Francis and the friar went on, and were soon faced with the wolf. Francis made the sign of the Cross and said "Come to me, Brother Wolf. In the name of Christ, I order you not to hurt anyone."

He continued, explaining to the wolf that it had been killing people who are made in the image of God. "Brother Wolf, I want to make peace between you and the people of Gubbio. They will harm you no more and you must no longer harm them. All past crimes are to be forgiven." Francis asked the wolf to make a pledge. He extended his hand, and the wolf extended a paw to place in his hand. The wolf then followed Francis back to Gubbio to show the townspeople that the conflict was over. The wolf lived another two years in the town, going from door to door and being fed by the townspeople.

Francis also bought two lambs from a man who was selling them to be slaughtered. One of them followed him everywhere after that. He would return caught fish to the water, telling them to be more careful in the future. On his deathbed, he thanked his donkey for carrying him everywhere, and the donkey wept.

Francis' life was an inspiration for many, and his sainthood was predictable. Let's conclude the story of Francis with his most remarkable sign of his devoutness and his canonization.

Francis the Leader

Francis of Assisi, prior to his episode on the Fifth Crusade, traveled to Rome with his followers to request of the pope permission to found a new order. This was in 1209, a couple years after he started preaching in his home town. Although we call this order the Franciscans, the actual name is the Ordo Fratrum Minorum ("Order of Lesser Brothers"). They were also referred to as Friars Minor.

The catalyst for this was a Mass in February 1208 at the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels. The Gospel lesson from Matthew was about the Apostles going out to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He began preaching and collected 11 followers who lived with him in an abandoned leper colony near Assisi called Rivo Porto.

The original rules of the order that Francis presented to Pope Innocent III are not now known, but according to his biographer and friend, Thomas of Celano, it was some passages from the Gospels. It was revised and expanded over time, but its basis was a rejection of personal property, as well as obedience and chastity. Francis and his followers were also tonsured while in Rome as a sign of their formal endorsement by the pope. Official recognition as an order and their fervent preaching helped the order to grow quickly.

The Rule of the order was revised each year, according to Jacques de Vitry in a letter he wrote in 1216. Amendments were proposed, and Francis would berate them for errors in behavior. While Francis was traveling in the East because of the Crusade, he had to leave the Order in others' hands. First was Brother Peter Catani, but he died within months. Then it went to Brother Elias. Some times, those left in charge of the Order in Italy were making changes that Francis did not want. One was a prohibition against eating meat, but Francis pointed out (on his return) that Acts 10:15 says "What God has made clean, you are not to call profane."

A final re-formulation of the Rule came in 1223, and it is what is followed today.

The most familiar image of Francis was not writing rules or traveling in the East, it is him among animals. Let's look at that facet of his life and beliefs tomorrow.

Francis the Crusader

When Francis of Assisi  looked for inspiration about how he should be organizing his new-found life of devotion to God—and because he was drawing others to him who wanted guidance—he decided to look into the Bible. The sections he randomly opened to were about a rich young man being told to give all he had to the poor, Jesus telling the Apostles to take nothing on their journey, and the idea to take up the cross every day. He told those following him that these were their guiding rules. Francis wanted them to live by the Gospel.

Becoming the leader of an organized group was not a goal he sought. That involved a formality and an authoritative role that he did not think was appropriate for him. He simply wanted to foster the idea of brotherhood among people from all walks of life who came to listen to him. He urged his followers to go forth in pairs to preach God's love, and they did. People soon realized that these poorly clothed and barefoot itinerant preachers seemed very happy with their simple life. The idea that one could be happy without owning anything became attractive to more and more people. Rather than fight poverty, they made poverty acceptable, and even more: desirable.

Although he did not want to be seen as special, he at least once did something that looked self-aggrandizing. During the Fifth Crusade in 1219 he went to Egypt to speak directly to the Muslim leader and convert him. al-Kamil was the Sultan of Egypt, and he received this beggar-looking man and listened to him. Supposedly, al-Kamil told Francis that he liked what he heard and would have converted to what Francis was talking about, "but we would both be killed." Francis' "soft approach" to Crusading was more successful than the papal legate's. al-Kamil supposedly gave Francis permission to visit sites in the Holy Land. We do know that Francis went to Acre and then took a ship to Italy. (A sermon by St. Bonaventure in 1267 claimed that al-Kamil had a death-bed conversion due to the meeting with Francis.)

The presence of "Franciscans" was growing more noticeable, and if so many people were going to be wandering and preaching, it was felt there should be some organization to control their message. Let's look at the birth of the Franciscan Order next time.

Francis the Convert

When young Francesco di Bernardone realized he wanted to live a more devout and pious life, the change did not happen all at once. His encounter with the leper (see link above) was a turning point, but there was more to do on this journey.

He went to the old church at San Damiano to pray, during which he heard Christ on the Cross say to him "Francis, repair my church." Taking this to mean repairing the building of San Damiano, he went to his father's shop and took some of the fine fabrics, selling them on the street so he could give the money to the church.

His father, Pietro, was furious. He took Francis to the bishop in the town square, accusing Francis of theft and demanding that he be forced to repay for the cloth he took. The bishop took Pietro's side and told Francis to return the money and not worry, because "God would provide." Francis not only gave his father the money, but right there in the town square he divested himself of his clothing (since it had come from his father), stripping down to just a hair shirt he had been wearing. He declared "Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father. From now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'"

He walked away from town to live in the woods, a hermit with nothing. He later begged people to bring him stones and started to rebuild the crumbling San Damiano himself. He started to preach openly about returning to God and obeying the Church. People started to listen. Then they started to adopt his lifestyle, wanting to live simply, rejecting shelter and money. They slept in the open and begged for food.

Now that he had followers, Francis became concerned about the responsibilities of leadership. He now had to think about how his actions were influencing others. To do that, he had to think more deliberately about what his actions should be. He decided to open the Bible randomly and take its advice. He opened it in three places, and his inspiration formed the basis for his life and the Order he reluctantly founded. The first steps on the path to the Franciscans were taken. We will see how that turned out next.

Francis the Youth

About 1181 in Assisi in Umbria, Pica di Bourlemont gave birth to a son. Her husband, the cloth merchant Pietro Bernardone, was in France on business at the time, and returned home to find that she had named the boy Giovanni, after John the Baptist. Pietro was not happy: he did not want his son associated with religion; he wanted his son to eventually join him in business. Because Pietro had trade connections in France, he re-named his son Francesco, "Frenchman."

Francesco was a happy child, with no wants because of his father's wealth. He had a very permissive lifestyle in a permissive time and was well-liked by everyone. He took trips to France with his father, falling in love with the country and its troubadours. A natural leader, his biographer (Thomas of Celano, who knew him) said "In other respects an exquisite youth, he attracted to himself a whole retinue of young people addicted to evil and accustomed to vice."

When Assisi declared war on its neighbor, Perugia, Francesco saw an opportunity to win attention and glory. Assisi lost, horribly, and it was only Francesco's family wealth that saved him to be imprisoned and ransomed, not killed.

When the Fourth Crusade came along, Francesco saw a better opportunity for glory. He needed a horse and armor—an easy "get" for someone with his family wealth. He had the armor decorated with gold, and accompanied by a magnificent cloak. With all in place, he set off from Assisi to go and free the Holy Land.

One day out from Assisi, he had a dream in which God told him to return home. He followed the dream, even though it led to ridicule from neighbors and anger from his father for the money wasted on the armor and horse. He worked in his father's business, and waited for God's plan to unfold. He started praying more, looking for guidance. Finally, a simple yet profound moment came.

He was riding his horse through the mountains when he came upon a leper. Despite the fear of leprosy, he dismounted and kissed the leper's hand. When the kiss was reciprocated, he felt a sense of joy. Remounting and riding away, he turned to wave goodbye and could not see the leper anywhere. He saw this as a test from God that he passed.

Francesco now had a better idea of the direction of his life, but his first obstacle was his father. We'll see how that turned out tomorrow.

John of Plano Carpini

Marco Polo is known for traveling to the Far East from Europe and observing things unknown to Europeans, but there were many travelers from Western Europe who went into unfamiliar lands for various reasons. One of these reasons was to bring Christianity to the inhabitants. The Franciscan John of Plano Carpini was one of those.

Carpini (c.1185 - 1 August 1252) was from central Italy. He was a companion of St. Francis of Assissi. In 1245, he was sent by Pope Innocent IV to the east with a letter for Ögedei Khan, who had defeated European forces four years earlier at the Battle of Legnica and almost took over all of Eastern Europe. The pope's intention was to protest the Mongol intrusion into Christendom, and to bring Christianity to the East. Incidentally, the mission could learn more about the enemy's intentions and strength.

Carpini had been at that time the Franciscan provincial in Germany. He set out with the pope's letter on Easter Day 1245 (16 April), with a fellow Franciscan, Stephen of Bohemia. They passed through Kyiv, where Stephen became ill and was left behind. They passed the rivers Dnieper, Don, and Volga; those names were first recorded by Carpini.

At the Volga they came to the camp of Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, where they were made to walk between two fires (similar—but not as dangerous—as the Ordeal of Fire endured by Peter Bartholomew) to remove any impure thoughts or poisons before they were bought before Batu. Batu sent them on to the court in Mongolia. This second part of the journey set off on Easter Day 1246 (8 April).

This was arduous, and they had suffered through Lent, melting snow for water and eating millet with salt for their sustenance. Their journey of 3000 miles took 106 days. Before they arrived at their destination, Ögedei died, and the envoys were in time to witness the instatement of the new Supreme Khan, Güyük Khan. You can see his response to the pope's letter here.

Güyük kept Carpini and his party until November, and then sent them on their way during winter. Carpini records that they often slept on ground after scraping away the snow. It took them until 10 June 1247 to reach Kyiv. From that point their journey became easier: Slavonic Christians welcomed them and treated them hospitably.

Carpini was given the archbishopric of Serbia and became papal legate to Louis IX of France, a much more comfortable task after his grueling journey eastward. He wrote a record of his trip, the Ystoria Mongalorum ("History of Mongol People"), the first European history of the Mongols. Not long after, a much more accurate account of Mongols was written by William Rubruck.

Rubruck, like Carpini, was a Franciscan. Tomorrow I will start an account of the life of their founder.

The Cumans

Several years ago I mentioned the Codex Cumanicus, a lexicon of the Cuman language designed to help Christian missionaries preach to the Cumans. Thanks to this document, of the many variations of Turkic languages in the Middle Ages, Cuman is the best-known. They are mentioned in ancient Roman texts. Pliny the Elder mentions a fortress named Cumania in the area where there was a Cuman-Kipchak confederation (shown in yellow here) in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe.

Although they were a nomadic people, and therefore putting boundaries on their territory is a very fluid prospect, by the 11th and 12th centuries this confederation was the dominant force in the areas that are now Kazakhstan, southern Russia, Ukraine, southern Moldavia, and eastern Wallachia (in Romania).

This widespread area meant they were in contact with many others. They fought against the Kingdom of Hungary. They fought against the Byzantine Empire. They fought against each other: they were employed as mercenaries by Byzantium to fight against their ethnic cousins, the Pechenegs, with offers of gold from Emperor Alexios I. They had a specific use for gold: armor. Their higher-ranking members wore gold face plates in battle.

They were described as a handsome people, with blond hair and blue eyes. The Russian aristocracy sought Cuman women due to their beauty. Men and women both wore pants, tunics, and caftans, although women's tunics were shorter. Deep crimson was a popular color for clothing. Men shaved the tops of their heads and wore the remaining hair in braids. They wore conical hats made of felt with a broad brim or leather with fur trim. Women also wore conical hats, but with a veil that hung down the back.

A 13th century archbishop records a marriage between a Cuman princess and a Hungarian prince. Ten Cumans swore an oath that they would defend the Kingdom of Hungary. When swearing, they did so with a sword in hand, the sword touching the body of a dog that had been cut in half. A crusade historian also reports something similar: at an alliance between the Cumans and Byzantines, the Cumans had a dog walk between the two groups, then they cut the dog and had the Byzantines do the same. They swore that if the two groups failed in their oath that they would be cut in pieces.

The Cumans were overwhelmed by the Mongols in the 1230s, with the option to be destroyed or to become part of the Golden Horde. They chose the Golden Horde, and eventually blended in with other ethnic groups.

The story of the marriage above comes from one of those Christians who took an interest in the Cumans and their neighbors. Tomorrow I'll tell you about John of Plano Carpini. See you then.

The Pechenegs

While Bishop Adhemar was traveling through Slavonia with the First Crusade, he was accosted by a group of Pechenegs. They were described in an 11th century dictionary of Turkic languages as one of a group of several Turkic nations living in Anatolia, in the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Pechenegs fought with their neighbors extensively, battling the Kievan Rus for generations. At an important battle between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks—the Battle of Manzikert—Pecheneg mercenaries were employed by both sides! (The Turks won.)

In 1091, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Comnenos, allied with a Cuman army, destroyed the Pechenegs as a nation at the Battle of Levounion in 1091. The Pechenegs had attacked the empire, which had been recently weakened through internal strife. Alexios' victory was the start of a Byzantine revival. The defeated Pechenegs were recruited by Alexios as a military division and settled in Macedonia. Cumans, themselves related to the Pechenegs, attacked their "cousins" in 1094, reducing their numbers.

An uprising of Pechenegs in 1122 was once again defeated by the Byzantines. Over time, those living south of the Danube were absorbed into Romanians and Bulgarians. The last recorded mention of Pechenegs was in 1168. A Byzantine historian referred to Pechenegs as "Chorni Klobuky" (Russian: "black hats"), referring to their national costume. Except for a few names of Pecheneg origin, their national identity has faded away.

So who were the Cumans, and why were they ready to ally with Byzantium against their ethnic cousins? Gold, of course. I'll explain tomorrow.

The Mugging of Bishop Adhemar

Besides sharing the story of Peter Bartholomew and his finding of the Holy Lance and his subsequent Trial by Ordeal, Raymond of Aguilers' Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem ("History of the Franks who captured Jerusalem") offers so much more. He was attached to the retinue of Bishop of Le Puy, Adhemar, who was named papal legate and responsible for the spiritual guidance of the First Crusade. Adhemar (and Raymond) followed the army of Count Raymond IV of Toulouse.

Many Crusaders chose to head to the Holy Land by water, potentially a faster route, but prone to the changeability of the weather and severe storms. Many ships of Crusaders were lost at sea. Traveling over land had its own dangers. One was finding supplies, another was meeting up with hostile folk.

A third was meeting up with folk made hostile because you were an army that was commandeering supplies from them. The "People's Crusade," an enthusiastic and less-organized group led by Peter the Hermit—that started out early without waiting for the nobles and their armies to make better plans—alienated many of the people whose countries had to be crossed: they thought their cause would mean being welcomed and provisioned by any and all.

Count Raymond and Bishop Adhemar took the land route and had to deal with populations who were therefore understandably wary of these large Western European armies marching through their homeland. Fortunately, compared to the People's Crusade, Count Raymond's army was better able to handle opposition. That did not mean complete freedom from hostile actions, however. As Raymond records:

On a certain day, moreover, when we were in the valley of Pelagonia, the Bishop of Puy, who, in order to find a comfortable resting place, had withdrawn a little distance from the camp, was captured by the Patzinaks. They knocked him down from his mule, robbed him, and beat him severely on the head. But since so great a pontiff was still necessary to the people of God, through God’s mercy he was saved to life. For one of the Patzinaks, in order to obtain gold from him, protected him from the others. Meanwhile, the noise was heard in the camp; and so, between the delay of the enemy and the attack of his friends, he was rescued.

Adhemar survived, and reached Constantinople where Alexios I was emperor. Alexios was also very concerned about the large groups marching through his lands, even though his request to Pope Urban II for help with the Turks had been the catalyst for the Crusade. Adhemar went on to Nicaea and Antioch, where he died on 1 August 1098, never living to see Jerusalem conquered by the Europeans.

Who were the Patzinaks that attacked him? We more commonly call them the Pechenegs, and they were a thorn in the side of the Byzantine Empire in which they lived. I'll tell you who they were next time.

Raymond of Aguilers

One of our sources for the events of the First Crusade was the participant Raymond of Aguilers of Provence. Raymond was a lay canon (a lay person who has a role in the administration of a church) of the cathedral of Le Puy, and he probably joined the Crusade in the entourage of the bishop of Le Puy, Adhemar, who was also the papal legate.

During the Siege of Antioch in 1098 (pictured here: Kerbogha outside the city) he was ordained and made chaplain to Count Raymond IV of Toulouse. From his extensive Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem ("History of the Franks who captured Jerusalem"), we learn a lot of what went on among those leading the Crusade, since he was positioned to be close to their discussions.

He was also close to the lesser population of the Crusade: he says he spent seven months sharing the sleeping quarters of Peter Bartholomew, whose story of visions and finding the Holy Lance that was used to pierce Jesus' side during the Crucifixion is told in Parts One, Two, and Three. Raymond was a firm supporter of Peter's sincerity, but even Raymond noticed that there were discrepancies between Peter's visions and the actual finding of the Lance.

Since it does not mention the demise of Raymond's patron, Count Raymond of Toulouse (28 February 1105), it is likely the Historia was probably written during the Crusade and completed shortly after, and so can be counted on as an accurate memory of events. On that score, however, we must always apply critical thinking: what motives would the medieval historian have for writing? It would be unusual to find a medieval historian who recorded events objectively. There was always an agenda to follow, such as the goodness of a patron or the holiness of an individual who deserved sainthood. Raymond is always careful to record that his observations had witnesses other than himself; however, those witnesses are often anonymous. There is circumstantial evidence that it was completed in 1101, or that at least parts were in circulation, because it is certainly a source used by Fulcher of Chartres for his history.

Raymond's original "boss," Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, died along the way, but there's an anecdote shared by Raymond about him being "mugged." It shows how both those marching on Crusade and those whose lands were being marched through were exposed to danger. Have a Happy Easter, and I'll see you here tomorrow.

The Holy Lance, Part Three

So Peter Bartholomew was about to undergo Trial by Ordeal to verify whether he was being honest about his visions and  discovering the Holy Lance. Two fires had been lit, each 13 feet long and four feet high with a single foot of space between them. Peter, carrying the "lance" and wearing only a light tunic, would walk between them. If he and the lance were unharmed, then it could truly be believed that his visions were real and this was the spear that had pierced the side of Jesus while on the Cross. It was 8 April 1099, Good Friday.

Raymond of Aguilers, from whom we have the details of this entire incident regarding Peter Bartholomew, was the "master of ceremonies." He announced the purpose of the test to the crowd, that Peter and the lance would be consumed if Peter were lying. To this the crowd responded "Amen."

When the flames were 40 feet high, Peter bowed before Bishop Peter of Narbonne and again swore that his visions were true. The bishop handed him the lance, and Peter walked through the flames, although at one point inside he stopped briefly.

(The illustration here is by Gustave Doré, showing he moment when Peter approaches the waiting crowd and a bishop—probably Peter of Narbonne—with the fire behind him.)

Once through, he shouted Deus adjuva! "God help (me)." The crowd was amazed and elated, and rushed toward him. Some rushed to grab sticks from the fire as souvenirs of the miracle. He was surrounded by a mass of supporters.

He was dead by 20 April.

What happened? According to Raymond of Aguilers, the burns were minimal. He was, however, physically wounded in the crowd that surrounded him after the ordeal. Was it accidental? Crushed in the throng? Raymond says his spine was shattered; also, that his legs were cut three or four times. The theory is that, even though the trial was doable—the pause inside the flames, Peter says, was because Christ spoke to him—he had detractors among the nobles because of the way he tried to trade on his popularity and criticize the Crusade's leaders and take over the spiritual leadership. These detractors had their agents in the crowd, with the intent to make sure he did not survive the day, even if he survived the ordeal. Maybe God was on his side, but he had made human enemies that were determined to eliminate him. In the crowd that rushed to him after he came through the fire there were men with knives who cut him.

We have this story in far more detail than I have shared here thanks to Raymond of Aguilers, who wrote a history of this part of the Crusade. I want to talk more about his role as a historian and participant, next time.

The Holy Lance, Part Two

After the "finding" of the Holy Lance, the Crusaders in Antioch felt emboldened to break the siege around the city by Kerbogha, the atabeg of Mosul.

Peter the Hermit was sent to Kerbogha to suggest settling the conflict with a duel, but Kerbogha declined. A different Peter, Peter Bartholomew, whose "visions" led to the "buried" "Lance," joined the fight against the Muslims. Unknown to the Crusaders, Kerbogha's army had some internal conflicts and was not as powerful as it appeared. His superiors decided to teach the arrogant Kerbogha a lesson by not sending reinforcements. Kerbogha was forced to retreat to Mosul.

Inside Antioch afterward, the issue of the Holy Lance was re-examined, even though some attributed their military victory to its presence. Peter Bartholomew's vision of the Lance suggested it was buried just below the surface, but teams of men dug far down without success, until Peter went alone into the hole and "found" the lance point sticking up from the ground. Even though Peter's vision predicted a win against the Muslims, there were those who questioned Peter's truthfulness. One was papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy, who may have already been aware that a piece of the Lance was said to be in Constantinople. 

Then, Adhemar died from plague on 1 August 1098, and Peter put himself forward as the spiritual leader on the Crusade. Peter actually claimed that Adhemar appeared to him in a vision and said he had suffered in Hell for three days because he had doubted the discovery of the Lance.

Peter claimed that Christ told him the Crusaders must march barefoot to Jerusalem, and other visions from Jesus and St. Andrew expressed anger at the sins of the Crusaders. When his further visions were ignored, and the veracity of the Lance was questioned, Peter volunteered to submit to a Trial by Ordeal to prove his innocence.

As a result, he went through trial by fire on 8 April 1099, which was Good Friday*. Peter would walk through a fire. Two piles of dry olive branches were made, four feet high and 13 feet long, with a one-foot space between them for Peter to walk through. Peter came to the trial wearing a simple tunic and prepared to walk through, carrying the Lance. If both appeared unharmed after the ordeal, he would be vindicated.

..and I will leave you there until tomorrow.

*Coincidentally this post has been made on Good Friday in 2024.

The Holy Lance, Part One

One of the "side-effects" of the Crusades was allowing Western Europeans to look for artifacts connected to the Bible and the life of Jesus. One member of the First Crusade claimed to have found one of those artifacts.

Peter Bartholomew was a French peasant from Provençe who, while on Crusade, began having visions. He functioned as a soldier after the capture of Antioch on 10 June 1098 when reinforcements came from Muslims, and in the ensuing siege of the city, suffered from famine like the rest of the Christian occupiers. In this weakened state, he had visions of St. Andrew, which he shared with the Crusade's leaders.

In the visions, St. Andrew took him to the Church of St. Peter inside Antioch and showed him the resting place of the Holy Lance. This was the spear of the Roman soldier called Longinus who used it to pierce the side of Jesus while on the Cross. (The True Cross was another relic that was found in the east.) The leaders were skeptical, and Peter warned them that their disbelief would cost them three days in hell's fires. As Peter's news spread to the rest of the army, excitement grew, and the boost in morale was seen as a good thing, so Peter's story wasn't challenged. The visions also singled Raymond of Toulouse out for a special role in the Crusade. (Although Raymond would make a more humble decision later.)

Raymond and 12 select men went to the place where the Lance was supposedly buried and began digging. After a day of digging, they found nothing. Peter's vision claimed that he had seen St. Andrew place the lance in the ground; it should have been closer to the surface, but a day's worth of digging found nothing. Another twelve were chosen to continue digging, but they found nothing.

Peter was then dropped into the hole to see for himself. He urged everyone above to pray, and while they were praying and no one could see him clearly, Peter shouted the discovery of the Lance, its point sticking up from the earth.

This was fortuitous, but also questionable. As with the visions themselves initially, the sudden discovery by Peter alone was hard to believe and yet a source of great joy and morale for the troops. A letter was even sent to Pope Urban II from Bohemund of Taranto mentioning the Lance and that its presence emboldened the troops.

This morale boost was important, because Antioch was surrounded by the forces of Kerbogha, the atabeg of Mosul. The next step for the Crusaders (and a test for the importance of the finding of the Lance), came next. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. And we are not done with Peter Bartholomew.

Trial by Ordeal

Trial by Ordeal took many forms in the ancient world and the Middle Ages. In a sense, it was an appeal to God to reveal the culprit. In Old English it was called Godes dōm, "God's doom/judgement"; in Latin it was known as jūdicium Deī.

One simple method was cruentation, from Latin ius cruentationis, "law of bleeding," used in Germanic law. The belief behind cruentation was that the corpse of a murder victim would indicate the presence of its murderer by moving or spouting blood. It was used into the 18th century, even though after the Lutheran Reformation the application of a religious test in law was rejected in Denmark and Norway.

Another approach to Trial by Ordeal was the idea that God would not allow an innocent person to suffer. The accused would plunge his or her hands into boiling water, or carry red hot iron. Ordeal by fire was also tried, with the person walking at least three paces or walking across nine feet of coals. Of course this would produce burns, but they would be bandaged and re-examined in three days' time. A priest would then judge whether God had chosen to heal the innocent person's burns or let the guilty person's worsen and fester.

In Constantinople, before Michael VIII Paleologos (1224 - 1282) became emperor, he was accused of treason by Emperor John III Vatatzes and was ordered to go through trial by fire. He said he would hold the red-hot iron if the metropolitan bishop Phokas would take the hot iron from the altar with his own hands and place it in Michael's. This the bishop refused to do; the idea that innocents would not also be harmed by red-hot iron helped to discredit the practice. In fact, when Michael became emperor, he abolished the practice.

Pope Innocent III at the Lateran Council of 1215 forbade priests to take part in such things, and promoted compurgation instead.

The Byzantine Empire got the idea of trial by ordeal from the West, as the Crusades brought Western Europe ideas to Constantinople. One example they would have witnessed was the French mystic Peter Bartholomew, who submitted himself to ordeal by fire to prove his sincerity about a claim considered outlandish by others. What was he trying to prove, and how did it turn out? I'll tell you tomorrow.