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Going among the infidels: the mendicant orders and Louis IX's first Mediterranean campaign

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 25; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09518967.2010.540898

1743-940X

Amanda Power,

Historical Studies on Spain

Abstract The relationship between Louis IX of France and the mendicant orders is well known. Yet it has generally been studied in order to shed light on Louis' reign rather than on the development of the orders. Contemporaries tended to criticize friars who worked too closely with secular authorities and their suspicions have passed into the historiography. This means that we know less than we might about how friars created and used opportunities to carry out their mission in the wider world. This article considers how Louis and members of the religious orders worked together during his crusade of 1248–54 to bring about the conversion to Christianity of Muslims and Mongols. It looks at the ways in which they drew on ideas of the apostolic life and wider papal agendas, but also employed standard strategies of diplomacy and debate, seizing on a range of opportunities as they arose. A second strand investigates their experiences in the light of scholarship on the Mediterranean and of more global cultural encounters. How far did their time in the Mediterranean and beyond influence the way that they thought about the world and their own faith? Keywords: Louis IXFranciscansDominicansSeventh CrusademissiondialogueMongolsWilliam of Rubruck Acknowledgements I would like to thank Tim Harper and Emma Hunter for their help with preparation of this article. Notes 1. This vision of the Mediterranean, of course, owes much to the work of CitationDavid Abulafia, particularly his essay ‘Mediterraneans’. 2. These events are discussed in detail in CitationRuotsala, Europeans; also valuable on the interactions of this period are Richard, Papauté; CitationJackson, Mongols; CitationSchmieder, Europa. 3. On Louis' ‘Mediterranean’ experiences, see CitationLe Goff, ‘Saint Louis’. 4. CitationLittle, ‘Saint Louis’ Involvement'; CitationLe Goff, Saint Louis. Particularly relevant to the present essay are CitationLower, ‘Conversion’; CitationMaier, Preaching, esp. 62–84; CitationLawrence, Friars, 166–80. 5. CitationJoinville, Vie, 326. 6. The literature on the papacy and the friars is too extensive to adumbrate here, but useful on this particular topic are Richard, Papauté; CitationTugwell (ed.), Humberti, esp. 361–80; CitationPowell, ‘Papacy’; CitationLapsanski, Evangelical Perfection, 220–36; CitationKedar, Crusade, 136–69; CitationBird, ‘Crusade’. Important bulls touching on mendicant mission were: Vineae domini (1225); Cum qui recipit (1235); Cum hora undecima (1235, reissued 1245, and on several further occasions); Quoniam abundavit (1237) in Bullarium franciscanum, vol. 1, respectively 24, 127–28, 269–70, 214–15. For the theory in place by the seventh crusade, see CitationMuldoon, Popes, 3–49. 7. ‘Si il dient … de ce ne les crois je pas’, Joinville, Vie, 326. Possibly he had a point. Salimbene described (Cronica, 339) the meal Louis set before the friars in 1248, which included cherries, fine white bread, fresh beans, fish, crab, eel-cakes, rice in almond milk and cinnamon, roast eel in ‘optimo salsamento’, cakes, cheese, and fruit. 8. For his ideas on the proper conduct of those ‘going among Saracens and other infidels’, see his Rule Commentary, XII, 191–4; Lapsanski, Evangelical Perfection, 177–90. On his agenda for the order and its influence, see CitationDalarun, Francis, esp. 147–51, 159, 211. 9. On recent trends in historiography, see CitationPowell, ‘Mendicants’; on the larger problems of the ‘Franciscan question’, see CitationDalarun, Malavventura. 10. For example, CitationDaniel, Franciscan Concept, makes no reference to John of Plano Carpini and only fleetingly to William of Rubruck, while neither appear in Kedar, Crusade. They are of course extremely well-served by the literature on Mongols, geography, travel, and exploration. 11. CitationTolan, Saint Francis; Daniel, Franciscan Concept; Daniel, ‘Desire for Martyrdom’; CitationTolan, Saracens, esp. 214–74; Schmieder, Europa, esp. 128–51. 12. CitationGuéret-Laferté, Sur les routes. On interpreters, see: CitationSinor, ‘Interpreters’, 311–20. Moreover, as Vose has pointed out, even these men were exceptional; most friars were ‘neither able nor particularly willing to work toward the conversion of non-Christians’. CitationVose, Dominicans, 250. He goes on: ‘It would be a distortion of history to take their few theoretical statements on mission, combined with an equally few examples of proselytizing behaviour, and conclude that “serious missionizing” characterised relations between Dominicans and non-Christians throughout the Middle Ages’. Elsewhere, he notes that ‘mainstream’ Franciscans were no more inclined towards external missions than the Dominicans (29). 13. ‘il dure de ça mer et de la’, Joinville, Vie, 326. On the mendicant presence in the Holy Land, see CitationHamilton, ‘Ideals’, 708–12. 14. This is discussed in CitationTsougarakis, Latin Religious Orders. I am grateful for the opportunity to see this material before publication. See also Vose, Dominicans, who makes a similar argument at 56–9 and elsewhere; Bird, ‘Crusade’; CitationEuben, Journeys, 18, 181–97. 15. There is a growing historiography of interfaith and cross-cultural interactions in the eastern Mediterranean. See CitationKedar, Franks. 16. Eudes de Châteauroux, ‘Sermo in eodem anniversario’, trans. CitationJackson, Seventh Crusade, 173; CitationParis, Chronica majora, vol. 5, 108–9, 169–70, 254. The point is further demonstrated by the fascinating case of Riccoldo da Monte Croce, whose knowledge of and – by contemporary standards – respect for Islam were a factor in his horrified questioning of God's judgement when Acre fell in 1291. 17. Kedar does note (xii) that the term ‘mission’ did not exist at the time, although he uses it. It now carries a heavy cultural and conceptual baggage (see CitationDunch, ‘Beyond Cultural Imperialism’) that can seep unhelpfully into discussions of medieval experience. For the same reason, I have avoided the anachronistic word ‘crusade’ (CitationTyerman, Invention, 49–55), preferring to leave Louis' intentions and experiences more open. 18. The relevant sections in both the Rule of 1221 and that of 1223 were entitled: ‘De euntibus inter saracenos et alios infideles’. ‘Regula non bullata’, 16; ‘Regula bulllata’, 12, in CitationEsser (ed.), Opuscula, 237, 268. 19. ‘inter eos possunt spiritualiter conversari’, Regular non bullata, 16, in Esser (ed.), Opuscula, 237. Although this advice was removed in the final version, it was known, sometimes reinstated in commentaries, and reitered in context. See Citation Hugh of Digne's Rule Commentary , XII, 191–5; ‘Letter 246’, Citation Adae de Marisco, Epistolae , 431–6. 20. ‘predicationem et animarum salutem’ quoted in Vose, Dominicans, 34. See his valuable discussion on the development of ‘concepts of mission’, at 21–59; also Tugwell's explication of the ideas developed by Gregory IX in his bull canonizing Dominic: Fons sapientiae (Humberti, 329–80). 21. Citation Bullarium franciscanum , vol. 1, 269–70, translation from Muldoon, Popes, 36–7; Richard, Papauté, 65. 22. CitationWadding (ed.), Annales minorum, III, 380–1. For the use of Joachim of Fiore by the mendicants, see CitationReeves, Influence of Prophecy. 23. On Louis' lack of interest in eschatology, see Le Goff, Saint Louis, 456–60; for attacks based in apocalyptic thought see Geltner, ‘Introduction’ to CitationWilliam of Saint-Amour, De periculis, 9–18. On the atmosphere ca. 1245, see CitationFlori, L'Islam, 354–63, although Flori considers it to have been more intense at the time of Louis' 1270 expedition (371). 24. On criticisms of Louis see CitationJordan, ‘Case’. 25. Maier, Preaching, 62; CitationMaier, Crusade Propaganda, esp. 52–68; CitationGaposchkin, Making, 173–80; CitationSmith, Crusading, 75–108. 26. See CitationBachrach, ‘Friars’; CitationHoose, ‘Francis’; Kedar, Crusade. 27. There are numerous examples, some transparently ideological, e.g., CitationGallant, ‘Francis’. More realistic are the competing interpretations offered in Maier, Preaching, 8–19, 161; CitationPowell, ‘St. Francis’; Hoose, ‘Francis’. 28. For a compelling argument along these lines, see CitationCaldwell Ames, Righteous Persecution. She notes the difficulty that (western) historians still have in getting past the notion that ‘genuine Christianity’ must equate with tolerance (11). 29. Powell, ‘St. Francis’. 30. Muldoon, Popes, 3–18. On the prehistory and influence of the idea, see CitationThroop, ‘Combat’; Bird, ‘Crusade’. 31. Kedar, Crusade, 161–5. 32. CitationJordan, ‘Anti-corruption Campaigns’; Le Goff, ‘Saint Louis’, 125–7. 33. Lower, ‘Conversion’, 230–1. 34. ‘magis erat dicendus monachus quantum ad devotionem cordis, quam quantum ad arma bellica miles’, CitationSalimbene, Cronica, 336. There are reports of Louis' humble requests for prayers before both of his departures. For the 1270 expedition, see CitationField (ed. and trans.), Writings, 48/49. 35. ‘ad honorem Domini nostri Iesu Christi et ad dandum Terre Sancte succursum et ad debellandum hostes et inimicos fidei et crucis Christi et ad honorem universalis Ecclesie et totius fidei Christiane et pro salute anime sue et omnium qui secum transfertare debebunt’. Cronica, 337. On Louis' ‘preaching’, see CitationJordan, ‘Louis IX’. 36. Compare Joinville, Vie, 166–70 (and for the death threats, the less reliable Guillaume de Chartres, ‘De vita et actibus inclytae recordationis regis francorum ludovici et de miraculis’ in CitationBouquet (ed.), Recueil, vol. 20, 31), and Thomas of Celano's account of Francis' experiences in his 1229 Vita prima, I.20; CitationMenestò (ed.), Fontes, 331–2. Louis could also have heard the version of Henri d'Avranches. Tolan, St Francis, 73–9. For the mapping of Louis' sanctity on to that of Francis, see Gaposchkin, Making, 158–80. See also CitationAnnala, ‘Brother Francis’; Smith, Crusading, 139–49. On the gifts, see: CitationCutler, ‘Everywhere and Nowhere’, 256–7; Shreve Simpson, ‘Manuscripts’, 354–5. On ideas about converting sultans, see CitationKnobler, ‘Pseudo-Conversions’. 37. Joinville, Vie, 256–9; ‘Rothelin Continuation’, 111–2. 38. On this point, see: CitationD'Alverny, ‘La connaissance’. 39. ‘Animan tuam, quam diabolus sibi vendicat in baratrum detrudendam’; ‘si totus iste mundus visibilis meus esset, totum darem pro luero animarum’; ‘nunquam ad regnum meum Franciae curo remeare, dummodo tuam et aliorum infidelium animas Deo lucrifaciam’; ‘qui tot et tam praecipit et permittit inhonesta (aspexi enim et inspexi suum spurcissimum Alchoranum)’; ‘Sed nec unquam post hanc confabulationem salutiferam tam pronus ut ante exstitit vel devotus Machometicae supersititioni’, Chronica majora, vol. 5, 309–10. On the background, see CitationRichard, Saint Louis, 134–40. The episode is discussed in Le Goff, Saint Louis, 646–9; Kedar, Crusade, 161–2. Both, however, locate it during the time of Louis' captivity in 1250. This would be more plausible, since Louis did have direct conversations with the Ayyubid sultan, Tūrān Shāh. Like his grandfather, Tūrān Shāh was known for his scholarly interests and had a Christian secretary. However, Matthew was quite clear that the discussion was later, several years after the assassination of Tūrān Shāh. On Matthew Paris' reliability as a chronicler, see CitationVaughan, Matthew Paris, 131–44. 40. Joinville, Vie, 166–8; Geoffroi de Beaulieu, ‘Vita Ludovici Noni’ in Bouquet (ed.), Recueil, vol. 20, 15; Guillaume de Chartres, ‘De vita et actibus’ in Bouquet (ed.), Recueil, vol. 20, 30; Jackson, Seventh Crusade, 129, 135, 140, 15–4, 160. 41. Ibn Wāsil, Mufarrij al-kurūb fi akhbār banī Ayyūb, trans. Jackson, Seventh Crusade, 153–4. 42. ‘Vovi et juravi huc venire … sed non vovi nec juravi hinc recedere’, Letter of Gui de Burcey, in Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 6, 163; trans. Jackson, Seventh Crusade, 92. 43. ‘Non illa vel illa die ipsum Christi inimicum diffiducio, nec terminum quietis constituo, sed cras et omnibus diebus vitae meae, ex hoc nunc et deinceps, diffiducio; donec animae suae propriae misereatur, et ad Dominum convertatur’, Letter of Gui, in Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 6, 161; trans. Jackson, Seventh Crusade, 90–1. 44. ‘Novit Omnipotens, quod huc de Francia veni, non ut terras adquirerem vel pecuniam mihi, sed tantummodo ut animas vestras periclitantes Deo lucrifacerem’, Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 5, 160. See also CitationCole, ‘Application’, 227–9. 45. For example, Louis' refusal to cheat the Muslims out of part of the ransom was noted. Joinville, Vie, 190; 46. He expressed this idea to Joinville in relation to debating with Jews (Vie, 26–8), but it was equally applicable here. 47. CitationMoorman, History, 228, 230. 48. ‘li enseigna moult de bones paroles’, Joinville, Vie, 226–8. Louis also sent Yves with his envoys to the Sultan of Damascus (Vie, 218). 49. It was also alleged that some Muslims regarded the capture of Damietta as so miraculous that they converted. Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 6, 160–1. 50. ‘Et haec fuit eorum causa conversionis’; ‘in adversitate patientiam, in proposito inflexibilem constantiam’; ‘fidei suae firmitatem’; ‘pro animabus infidelium lucrandis omnem operam impensurus’; ‘quod Machometi lex spurcissima animarum est intoxicativa’, Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 5, 425. 51. Other sources, including the royal accounts, testify to the arrival of the converts, although it was suggested by another witness that they were interested only in the money Louis offered. Kedar, Crusade, 163–4. 52. ‘pro tota terra reddenda cultui Christiano’, Letter of Guilliaume de Sonnac, quoted in Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 6, 162. 53. Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 6, 166–7. 54. ‘expiato loco et asperse per aquam benedictam’; ‘spurcissimus Machometus cum detestabilibus immolationibus et vocibus altisonis et tubarum clangore magnificabatur’, Letter of Gui, quoted in Paris, Chronica majora, vol. 6, 160; trans. Jackson, Seventh Crusade, 89–90. 55. CitationSouthern, Western Views. See Daniel, Franciscan Concept, 176–80; CitationWhalen, Dominion, 149–74. On the conversion of rulers, see Knobler, ‘Pseudo-Conversions’, and on Louis' Tunis strategy: Lower, ‘Conversion’. 56. Paris, Chronica, vol. 4, 111–2. 57. John's report, together with that of another envoy, Simon de Saint-Quentin, was incorporated by Vincent de Beauvais into his Speculum historiale, which was written under Louis' patronage. See CitationGuzman, ‘The Encyclopaedist’; Le Goff, Saint Louis, 475–6. 58. On these episodes, see CitationPaviot, ‘Joinville’; CitationRichard, Au-delà, 159–73; CitationRichard, ‘La lettre’; Jackson, Seventh Crusade, 65–9, 74–85; CitationRuotsala, ‘Crusaders’, and Europeans, 44–7, 60–7. 59. For the range of efforts across the eastern regions, see CitationRichard, Papauté. All the missions sent out by Innocent IV in ca. 1245, usually presented in the historiography as missions to the Mongols, had broader targets. John called himself: ‘Sedis Apostolice nuntius ad Tartaros et ad nationes alias orientis’, and said that he had only gone to the Mongols first because they seemed to present the most pressing danger to Christendom. ‘Ystoria mongolorum’ in Van den Wygaert (ed.), Sinica Franciscana, vol. 1, 27. 60. E.g., John of Plano Carpini with the Russian princes. ‘Ystoria mongolorum’, 103, 127. 61. Ruotsala, Europeans, 88–100; CitationRachewiltz, Papal Envoys, 84–124. William of Rubruck complained that he was ‘sent back’ to Christendom, even though he had hoped to remain among the Christian captives as their priest. Itinerarium in Van den Wygaert (ed.), Sinica Franciscana, vol. 1, 289–90, 299–300; trans. 226, 238–9. 62. ‘quia nulli nuntiorum, nisi adeurate vestito vultum Regis electi et coronati licuit intueri’, ‘Relatio Fr. Benedicti Poloni’ in CitationVan den Wyngaert (ed.), Sinica Franciscana, vol. 1, 139. See Ruotsala, Europeans, 74–88; CitationGuéret-Laferté, ‘Les gestes’. 63. ‘Ystoria mongolorum’, 118–21. 64. ‘monstrer et enseigner comment il devoient croire’, Joinville, Vie, 66, 232; report of Eudes de Châteauroux in Jackson, Seventh Crusade, 82. See CitationShreve Simpson, ‘Manuscripts’, 356–61. 65. ‘ibam apud illos incredulos secundum Regulam nostram’, Itinerarium, 168; trans. CitationJackson, Mission, 67. 66. When he returned from his travels, he was ordered to teach in the convent in Acre for a time, but he did eventually reach Louis who had by then returned to Paris. Jackson, Mission, 40–42; CitationBacon, Opus maius, vol. 1, 305. 67. On the nature of Louis' letter, see Itinerarium, 243; CitationRichard, ‘Sur les pas’, 55–61. The debate (described at Itinerarium, 277–82) is the subject of an extensive literature. See in particular CitationKedar, ‘Multilateral Disputation’. 68. ‘exercitus Ecclesie’; ‘ire sicut vadunt Reges Tartarorum et talibus esse cibariis contenti, possunt acquirere totum mundum’, Itinerarium, 331; trans. Jackson, Mission, 278. John of Plano Carpini had made a similar suggestion. ‘Ystoria mongolorum’, 96–101. 69. Itinerarium, 326, 331–2; trans. Jackson, Mission, 270, 278. 70. ‘Si habuissem potestatem faciendi signa sicut Moyses, forte humiliasset se’, Itinerarium, 300; trans. Jackson, Mission, 239. 71. ‘c'est le plus large que je veisse onques’, Joinville, Vie, 326. 72. Joinville, Vie, 198. 73. ‘In terram alienarum gentium transiet, bona et mala in omnibus temptabit. Hoc opus, domine mi Rex, feci’, Itinerarium, 164. 74. Indeed, Hoose suggests that Francis of Assisi was able to speak so freely to al-Kamīl as a consequence of the same considerations (‘Francis’, 467–8).