1456 (Germany/Austria)
In recent years scholars have turned with great interest to church liturgy as a key source for understanding the history of the crusades. The ceremonies of the church, their words, music, and gestures, their theology and symbolism – all are now seen as crucial points of contact between the ideals and practices of crusade and medieval culture. Among the many liturgies of crusade, one of the most central was of course the ceremony for taking the cross, which survived in many varieties and remained a vibrant tradition throughout the later Middle Ages. One of those many ceremonies is preserved here, in a text translated directly from a fifteenth-century manuscript from the Austrian abbey of Saint Peter in Salzburg. The manuscript also contains Robert the Monk’s famous Historia Hierosolymitana and other crusading materials, as well as brief narratives of the victory at Belgrade. This liturgy is copied into the manuscript alongside other materials associated with the Benedictine abbey of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria, suggesting their possible origin in that setting.
Source: Trans. J. Mixson, from Salzburg, Stiftsbibliothek St. Peter, MS B.IX.28, fols. 125a–b.
First, Let Them Take a Vow in This Manner:
I, N., promise to almighty God, the blessed Mary, forever virgin, and to all the saints, and to you, Father, that I will undertake the journey to fight against the Turks, freed of any legitimate impediment, offering myself to God, whether dead or alive. Amen.
The Form for Giving the Cross:
If anyone should desire to set out on campaign against the Turks, the cross should be imposed upon him in this way, since it is first blessed in this way and then imposed.
Blessing of the Cross:
First let the versicle “Adiutorium nostrum,” etc., be said.1 The Lord be with you. Prayer:
Almighty, eternal God, who gave the sign of the cross by the precious blood of your Son, and who through the same cross of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, desired to redeem the world, and through the power of the same venerable cross freed humankind from the bonds of the ancient enemy, we your suppliants ask that you see fit to +2 bless these crosses with paternal piety, and impart unto them heavenly power and grace, so that whosoever might bear this sign of the Passion and the cross of your only begotten Son for the protection of body and soul would receive, through them, the fullness of heavenly grace, and the protection of your + blessing. And just as you blessed the rod of Aaron so he could put down a treacherous rebellion,3 may you also bless these signs with your right hand and infuse them with your power to defend against all diabolical deceit, so that they might confer upon those who carry them saving prosperity of both soul and body and multiply their spiritual gifts. Through the same Christ.
Here They Kneel, and This Prayer Is Said Over Those Receiving the Cross:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who are true and almighty God, the splendor and image of the Father and eternal life, who said to your disciples that whoever wanted to follow after you should “deny himself and take up his cross and follow you,”4 we seek your immense mercy, that you might always and everywhere protect and save from all dangers these your servants, who, in accordance with your word, desire to deny themselves and take up their cross and to follow you and fight against the Turks. May you also absolve them from the bond of sin and lead them from the vow they have taken to their desired goal. You, Lord, who are “the way, the truth, and the life,” and the strength of those who hope in you5 – we ask that you clear the way and grant prosperity to all, so that amid the trials of this passing world they may be always guided by your aid. Send them, Lord, your angel Raphael, who accompanied Tobias on his journey and freed his father from blindness, so that in going out and in returning he might be their defender against the treacheries of all enemies both visible and invisible.6 And may you drive from them all blindness of mind and body.
After This Let Him Begin, Saying:
Accept this sign of the holy cross in the name of the Father + and the Son + and the Holy + Spirit, in the image of the Passion and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the defense of your body and soul, so that by the grace of divine blessedness, after the completion of your journey, you may return to us healed and corrected. Through the Lord, etc.
Finally let him [the priest] sprinkle them with holy water.
Form of absolution for those marching personally against the Turks.
May our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you. And by his authority, and that of the most holy lord Pope Callixtus III granted specially to me in this region, I absolve you from all sins which you have now confessed to me, and which you would freely confess should they come to your mind. In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. By the same authority I grant to you full remission of all your sins and restore you to baptismal innocence. Know also that I commend your soul to the angels, so that should death befall you on your journey against the Turks, they will bear it away to the heavenly realms without delay, and without any taste of the pains of purgatory. Amen.
I impose nothing upon you for satisfaction except that you fight against the Turks without fraud or deceit, and that you persevere until the task is complete, or at least for the course of one year. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Form of absolution for those remaining, that is contributing [financially], sending [support], or praying.
May our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you. And by his authority, and that of the most holy lord Pope Callixtus III granted specially to me in this region, I absolve you from all sins which you have now confessed to me, and which you would freely confess should they come to your mind. I also grant to you full remission of all your sins. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
1 A “versicle” is a short passage read by a worship leader, leading to a response by the congregation. The versicle noted here is “Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini,” or “Our help is in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 123:8).
2 In the manuscript, this sign instructs the presiding cleric to make the gesture of the cross at various points in the liturgy.
3 Cf. Numbers 17.
4 Cf. Matthew 16:24.
5 Cf. John 14:6 and Isaiah 40:31.
6 The tradition of Christian pilgrimage, and eventually crusading liturgy, had deep roots in the story of Tobias and Raphael (from the Book of Tobit, ch. 5 ff.). See Gaposchkin, Invisible Weapons, ch. 1, especially p. 37 and nn. 42 and 43. See the introduction, n. 37.