As word reached Rome of the Ottoman advance toward Hungary, Pope Callixtus III issued a general call to prayer. After an initial publication of the decree on June 19, the pope then reissued it ten days later, on the feast of saints Peter and Paul in Rome, to broaden its reach. Though the battle for Belgrade was already over only weeks after its publication, the decree enjoyed a long afterlife. Copies of the text circulated relatively widely in both manuscript and print through the second half of the fifteenth century, and its provisions inspired both devotion and debate in the same period. The text offers a strong example of several key themes in fifteenth-century crusading: the intersection of liturgy, piety, and memory; the intersection of communication and culture, and of preaching and pastoral care in a crusade context; and the deployment of longstanding tropes of crusade theology in a new fifteenth-century circumstance. As a solemn papal pronouncement, the language of the document is intentionally florid and intricate, its often paragraph-length sentences and their complex clauses intended to convey the gravity of the moment and the seriousness of the document’s purpose.
5.1. CALLIXTUS III, CUM HIS SUPERIORIBUS
June 29, 1456 (Rome)
Source: Trans. J. Mixson, from Zsolt Visy, ed., La campana di mezzogiorno: Saggi per il quinto centenario della bolla papale (Budapest: Mundus, 2000), 192–201.
Bishop Callixtus, servant of the servants of God, to our venerable brother patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, along with their beloved sons in spiritual affairs, vicars and abbots and other ecclesiastical persons, wherever they may be established in the Christian world, greetings and apostolic blessings.
Since in these last years the wicked persecutor of the Christian name, the tyrant of the Turks, has taken Constantinople, and in doing so carried out every kind of cruelty, burning against not only its people – because he could do nothing against our God – but also against the relics of his saints, striving with all of his might to persecute the faithful, whom he wished to oppress, striking them with such unceasing slaughter that every day now brings word of new plagues and new calamities;
And since – which is even more outrageous – he has not been content with all of this, but has instead climbed into a chariot of pride and put it into his mind that he should establish an empire over all of the Christian people and of the West, preparing himself day by day to invade it with violence, working to wipe the holy name of Christ from the earth and to establish the damnable and horrendous blasphemy of the dog Muhammad;
So it is that some time ago, amid such harsh times and circumstances, we (though of insufficient merit) were called to the pinnacle of the highest apostolate and had compassion for the Lord’s flock as it fell everywhere under the sword of the infidel. The Lord our Savior thus charged us to guard and feed that flock, and we have tried up to this day (insofar as divine grace has seen fit to be generous) to fight back against such perniciousness as best we can, with all of our strength and that of the Roman Church.
To this end we press onward with an attentive mind and spirit. And indeed we have already imposed a tithe on all clergy throughout the Christian world; we have summoned the Christian people for the common cause of the faith through our letters; we have sent ambassadors to preach that all should gird themselves as best they can to come to the defense of the holy cross of the Lord, and to collect the aid offered by Christians; we have also sent our legates in part to pacify kingdoms, in part to inspire kings and princes, and also in part to gather and lead troops against this second Muhammad, who follows in the footsteps of the old; and not long ago we commanded our beloved son Ludovico, cardinal priest of San Lorenzo in Damaso and our chamberlain, to depart under the Lord’s command with a maritime fleet.1 In the end we have omitted nothing, insofar as the Lord has seen fit to help us, that might be of profit, on both land and sea, for this salutary expedition.
But since, as the Apostle says, it is for us to labor and for God alone to ensure that our actions have results,2 we see that nothing will be accomplished in all of the effort of these great deeds unless we return to the Lord in fasting, weeping, and lamenting and prayer, so that God might return to us – who, with lashes of this kind, bruises the Christian people because our sins demand it, just like a slave who knows the master’s will and does not do it.
For this reason, we think it necessary and especially appropriate that we beg for God’s mercy with groans and cries; that we humble our souls in prayer, trusting not in our human strength alone, which is fragile and faltering, but in the army of the Lord, who is truly a “tower of strength,”3 and who once gave to Abram and his small band, trusting in the Lord, victory over powerful kings.4 For victory in war is his. “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.”5 “Behold,” says the Psalmist, “the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”6
Was it not more through prayer than through weapons that the people of Israel overcame the Amalekites, as divine scripture bears witness? And when Moses raised his hands, Israel conquered, but when he lowered them only a little, Amalek had the upper hand. And preparing to fight the Philistines, they also said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.”7 And when he prayed and offered a sacrifice for them, the Lord “thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.”8 And did not the humble and devout prayer of King Hezekiah destroy the pride of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who gloried in all of his chariots and horses, until an angel’s blows struck down 185,000 of his soldiers?9
For who is not admonished, amid troubles and challenges of this kind, to flee to prayer as if to an unconquerable fortress? Is not King Jehoshaphat more to be admired than any great victory, [a king] who, when surrounded by the neighboring Gentile nations and struck with fear, offered himself completely to the Lord and preached a fast for all of Judah, and with all of the people gathered together offered a most devout supplication to the Lord – who then sent his spirit on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, and so responded to him: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. It will not be you who will fight. Only be strong, and you will see the Lord coming to your aid.”10 Jehoshaphat then embraced fervent prayers and divine praises, and established singers who praised the Lord and who went before each of the army’s divisions like a most firm and unassailable fortress, saying with a resounding voice: “Confess to the Lord, for his mercy endures forever.” And as they began to sing praises, the Lord set ambushes against them, so that they turned against one another and began to wound and kill each other.11
By these same powers Judith, so illustrious among women, a woman sustained by prayer in tears of weakness, killed Holofernes and broke the swollen pride of the great king Nebuchadnezzar. “For thy power, Oh Lord, is not in a multitude, nor is thy pleasure in the strength of horses, nor from the beginning have the proud been acceptable to thee: but the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased thee.”12
And what shall we say about Maccabeus, the strongest of men, glorious for all ages, who as often as he went out in battle and was filled with prayer came back victorious? Yet when he neglected prayer and failed to call on God and went to fight with King Antiochus, he fled in defeat. He also neglected the protections of prayer in the war against Bacchides, and so was conquered and killed, and the people of God were defeated.13
We say then that you are just, oh Lord, and your judgments are proper. We deserve all that we suffer, because we have sinned against you and have not obeyed your commands. Divine mercy does not strike a sinful people with such a severe punishment without seeing them wander stubbornly from its commands. Achior of the Ammonites, though he was a pagan, offered this advice to Holofernes: “Now therefore, my lord, search if there be any iniquity of theirs in the sight of their God: let us go up to them, because their God will surely deliver them to thee, and they shall be brought under the yoke of thy power: but if there be no offense of this people in the sight of their God, we cannot resist them because their God will defend them: and we shall be a reproach to the whole.”14
So it is that we ought to have fear and great dread, because the furor of the infidel could never prevail against the people of faith unless the Savior has seen something in them that offends the eyes of His Majesty. He often crushes and corrects the corrupt ways of mankind through war and avenges his enemies by way of their enemies. We should therefore hasten to penance and prayer, lest in putting off our emendation and our return to the Lord our God worse things should happen to us. For it is certain indeed that if we return to the Lord, he will return to us. Seeing the affliction of the sons of Israel in Egypt and hearing their cry, he gave them a most glorious triumph over the Egyptians, freed them, and led them with joy across both the sea and the vast solitude of the desert to the promised land. And when they joined new evils to old and found themselves oppressed at various times from all the surrounding nations, as often as they turned back to seek the help of the Lord, he freed them through divine mercy. God heard David himself, penitent and in tears, when he said, “I have sinned, Lord!” and immediately forgave his sin; when Ezekiel prayed, God extended his life and put off the hour of his death; and when those who were about to die under the just sentence of the Ninevites turned to him in weeping and prayer, God heard them in his mercy. And now, too, “the hand of the Lord is not shortened,”15 for “he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil”16 of his people.
Moved by these witnesses of holy scripture and by many other examples, we therefore exhort you, brothers and sons, through the merciful heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, that by virtue of the pastoral duty with which you have been entrusted, you insist diligently on the moral reform of the people under your care, according to the canons and decrees of the holy fathers, since, as our predecessor blessed Gregory says, the wolf does not tear apart the Lord’s flock secretly in the night, but in the light of day.17 Let us be vigilant, therefore, that none are lost, and that if any are captured let us call them back to the Lord’s flock with voices of divine eloquence; and let us not be afraid of the task, because we have taken up the title of pastor not for rest but for labor. For a pastor who refuses to reprove the errant surely kills them. But nothing is closer to our heart, and there is nothing we desire more (as we ought to do, according to God, and as we are obliged to do) than to reform the life and customs of the people. And with God’s help we intend to do so in due time. But because at the present moment this storm of the Turks is the most urgent matter, we labor to confront it with all of our effort and strength. And just as we have required bodily aid from all the Christian faithful, both clergy and laity, through the bull we crafted for that reason18 (so that we ourselves might not seem to be lacking in commitment) we now turn all the more fervently to spiritual matters, which are the greater ones.
We therefore admonish you in the name of the Lord, and by the authority granted to us by almighty God and by blessed Peter and Paul, his apostles, we direct and command, that each and every priest, even if a cardinal, or of whatever other dignity, whether secular or regular, exempt or nonexempt, whenever they may celebrate Mass, should remember and recite the established prayer against the pagans: “Almighty and eternal God, in whose hand are the power and rule of all kingdoms, in your mercy look upon the Christian armies, that the heathen who put trust in their own ferocity may be vanquished by the power of your right hand.”19
For both those who celebrate this Mass and those who say this prayer, from the spiritual treasury of the church and in the name of the Lord we mercifully release them from one hundred days of any penance imposed upon them. And so that all people – of both sexes and all kinds – can participate in the prayers and indulgences offered here, we order and command that in each individual church, of whatever city, land, or locality, between nones and vespers (that is, before the ringing of vespers and separated from it by at least half an hour), on each day one or more bells should be rung three times – richly, that they might be heard well, just as the customary evening salutation for angelic protection.20 And at that time each individual ought to say the Lord’s Prayer (that is the Our Father) and the angelic salutation (“Hail Mary, full of grace,” etc.) three times. To those who do so once, we mercifully grant in the Lord forty days’ indulgence; and for those who do it three times, with genuflections, one hundred days.
Moreover, we command and order that in each of the cities, lands, fortresses, and villages or locales of your dioceses, administrations, or jurisdictions, you should hold general processions on every first Sunday of each month. All of the people should come together for these, along with all of the clergy, whether secular or regular, mendicant or not mendicant, exempt and nonexempt, whether outside or inside the walls of the cities, lands, fortresses or towns, or in the suburbs. But those religious who dwell in solitude21 and who are not accustomed to come together for such processions when they are found in cities, lands, fortresses, and towns or other locales, should not be compelled to do so. Rather, on these days let them gather either within their own monasteries, or around them, or in a nearby basilica – whatever will inspire greater devotion for them – and hold their processions there. As for nuns, whether they live within or outside their city walls, let them hold their processions within their convents, singing the seven penitential psalms with litanies. Moreover, if on any of these Sundays some legitimate obstacle should arise that would prevent these general processions from being done devoutly and peacefully, we ask that each parish or monastery or other church carry them out inside their churches or monasteries, or however else might be judged best for the devotion and peace of the people. We leave this matter to your conscience. But let the prayers, songs, and other ceremonies in these processions be done in whatever way is customary in each city, land, fortress, town, or locale, or however you think best to arrange devoutly for a matter so pious and necessary. Only make sure that the solemn Mass to be said in these processions is the one ordained by the church “against the pagans.”22
But since the faith and its works come from hearing23 – as the Apostle says – and no one can hear without preaching, we wish and command that in all cities, fortresses, towns, and locales that might be able to host a preacher of the word of God, he should preach a sermon to the people on the occasion of this solemn procession. In that sermon he should first work to confirm the faith, and to encourage patience in tribulations of this kind. Let him also teach how the “trying of faith works patience,” and how “patience has its perfect work,”24 and that (as blessed Augustine says) as often as we suffer some oppression or tribulation, we are given admonitions and corrections. For sacred scripture does not promise us peace, security, and rest, but warns of tribulation, oppression, and scandal. What unusual things does humankind suffer that our fathers did not suffer? The church is indeed (as Ambrose says) a ship sailing on the sea of this world, tossed by the winds and the waves (that is, the lashes of temptation) while the angry tides (that is, the powers of this world) try to drive it on to the rocks. But even if it is often cast about by waves and storms, there will never be a shipwreck, because on its mast (that is, the cross), Christ is raised up; the Father guides the rudder; and the comforter Spirit guards the prow. Twelve oarsmen guide the ship through the straits of this world, that is the twelve apostles and the same number of prophets. Here, I say, is the ship that, even though it might be tossed about by this world as if on the open sea, will never founder on the rocks or sink in to the deep. Divine Providence has arranged that it find consolation in prosperity, insofar as it was not destroyed by adversity; and that in adversity it should be tested, so that it will not be corrupted by prosperity. In this way the two circumstances compensate for one another.
Let the preacher also lead the people to penitence, since both the master of truth and his precursor John began their work of preaching by saying, “Do penance! The kingdom of heaven is near!”25 Let them also consider, with an anxious mind, the day of eternal judgment and its terror, and embrace penance; and let them bathe in tears the stains of all of their sins, so that our pious Creator, when he comes for judgment, will console them all the more with grace, insofar as he now sees they are punished for their sins.
And so, in the end, as it becomes clear just how savage the Turks are and what great harm they try to bring to Christians, the prayers and pious vows of all are directed to God against them. To be sure, we (who are assured of the mercy of almighty God) have granted a generous indulgence entailing bodily labor, and we have also granted an indulgence to those who take up a spiritual task. Therefore, to all who are truly penitent and confessed and who take part in these processions, we grant seven years (and the same number of Lents) of true indulgence. To those who offer a pious vow and fulfill it, however, whether of prayer or pilgrimage or the offering of alms, so that almighty God might see fit to come to the aid of pious Christians, we offer two years (and the same number of Lents), as contained in our present apostolic letters or bulls, to be valid for as long as our holy crusade should last, and until victory be granted – as we have faith it will – against the treacherous Turks and the other followers of the damnable sect of Muhammad in the East.
Therefore let no one diminish or with reckless daring presume to contradict this record of our warning, encouragement, command, release, grant, and concession. But if someone should presume to do this, let them know that they incur the wrath of almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul.
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, in the year of our Lord’s Incarnation one thousand fourteen hundred and fifty-six, on the third kalends of July,26 in the second year of our pontificate.
1 Ludovico Trevisan. See document 3.4, n. 3.
2 Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:58.
3 Cf. Psalm 60:4.
4 Cf. Genesis 14.
5 Psalm 32 (33):16.
6 Psalm 32 (33):18–19.
7 1 Samuel 7:8.
8 1 Samuel 7:10.
9 2 Chronicles 32:20–1. See document 1, n. 7.
10 A paraphrase of 2 Chronicles 20:15–17.
11 A paraphrase of 2 Chronicles 20:21–2.
12 Judith 9:16.
13 1 Maccabees 9.
14 Judith 5:24–5.
15 Isaiah 59:1.
16 Joel 2:13.
17 Gregory the Great, Epistolae 2: 39. See The Letters of Gregory the Great, vol. 1: Books 1–4, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2004), 218.
18 Under his own name, Callixtus III had reissued and revised Nicholas V’s call to crusade with the bull Ad summum pontificates apicem (May 15, 1455).
19 For the origins of this traditional prayer, see Gaposchkin, Invisible Weapons, 198–9, where it is described as “one of the most important prayers in the history of crusade liturgy” (198). See the introduction, n. 37.
20 The tradition referenced here is that of the liturgy of the hours, specifically the afternoon hours between “nones,” i.e., the ninth hour of the day (roughly 3:00 p.m.), and “vespers,” at nightfall. These lines, along with later traditions of commemoration (see document 24) would eventually inspire the legend of a bell rung at noon in commemoration of the victory.
21 A reference to those who led the life of hermits, or who belonged to religious orders that emphasized solitude, such as the Carthusians.
22 For the origins of the Contra paganos mass, see Gaposchkin, Invisible Weapons, 222–5. See the introduction, n. 37.
23 Cf. Romans 10:17.
24 Cf. James 1:3–4.
25 Cf. Matthew 3:2.
26 June 29.
5.2. BULLA TURCORUM / “TÜRKENBULLE”
Cum his superioribus in Gutenberg type (Mainz, 1456)
The text of Callixtus’s call to prayer circulated widely in manuscript after 1456, especially across the regions of Central Europe (e.g., southern Germany and Austria) that were nearest the Ottoman advance. The publication of the text also coincided with the advent of the printing press, making it among the very earliest examples of what would become a long tradition of crusade indulgences and other papal propaganda in print.1 In Erfurt in October 1454, an indulgence inspired by appeals from Cyprus and authorized by Pope Nicholas V came into print and circulated widely across Germany. Soon after, in December 1454, a German pamphlet exhorting European powers to action was published in Mainz in the circles of Johannes Gutenberg, its imprint in a rough version of the same type (the so-called DK) that Gutenberg would use for his famous 42-line Bible. In 1456, Gutenberg’s circles in Mainz used the same type to publish Callixtus III’s call to prayer, in both Latin and German.
Source: Catholic Church. Pope Callistus III (1455–1458), “Bulla Turcorum” (Mainz: Johann Gutenberg, 1456). (Donatus and Kalendar Type.) Princeton University Library, Scheide Collection. https://dpul.princeton.edu/scheide/catalog/0v8380652.
Bulla Turcorum/“Türkenbulle”
1 For this broader context see Margaret Meserve, Papal Bull: Print, Politics, and Propaganda in Renaissance Rome (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021).