Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Réforme, reconquista, croisade. L'idée de reconquête dans la correspondance pontificale d'Alexandre II à Urbain II

1997; CESCM; Volume: 40; Issue: 160 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/ccmed.1997.2700

2119-1026

Jean Flori,

Historical and Religious Studies of Rome

The excellent publications of J. Riley-Smith and M. Bull have led the historians to reject the old thesis wich saw the reconquista in Spain and the crusade as the logical outcomes of the idea of holy war, and to emphasize, henceforth, the idea of pilgrimage. This paper intends to reconsider these conclusions, since the arguments put forward to negate the idea of holy war in pope Alexander II's mind are not entirely convincing. The semantic study of the terms used in Pope Gregory VII's letters shows clearly that, in his mind, christians are involved in a general conflict against the Devil. The fideles sancti Petri have to take part with their arms in this warfare against all the enemies of the Church, inside Christendom as outside. In Gregory's mind, this war is a holy one because performed under God's rule, in order to liberate the Church and restore justicia. Moreover is it true in the case of military forces against the Moslems, in Spain and especially in the Holy Land, for here the reconquest of the most eminent Christian lands and people is concerned. Pope Urban II, who inherits these ideas, expresses them only a little more precisely in his preaching of the crusade.