A Crusade song (Occitan (post 1500);: canso de crozada, Catalan; Valencian: cançó de croada, German: Kreuzlied) is any vernacular lyric poem about the Crusades. Crusade songs were popular in the High Middle Ages: 106 survive in Occitan, forty in Old French, thirty in Middle High German, two in Italian, and one in Old Castilian.[1] The study of the Crusade song, which may be considered a genre of its own, was pioneered by Kurt Lewent. He provided a classification of Crusade songs and distinguished between songs which merely mentioned, in some form, a Crusade from songs which were "Crusade songs". Since Lewent, scholars have added several classifications and definitions of Crusade songs. Scholars have argued for three different classifications of Crusade songs which include songs of exhortation, love songs, and songs which criticize the Crusading movement.[2]
The Crusade song was not confined to the topic of the Latin East, but could concern the Reconquista in Spain, the Albigensian Crusade in Languedoc, or the political crusades in Italy. The first Crusade to be accompanied by songs, none of which survive, was the Crusade of 1101, of which William IX of Aquitaine wrote, according to Orderic Vitalis. From the Second Crusade survive one French and ten Occitan songs. The Third and Fourth Crusades generated many songs in Occitan, French, and German. Occitan troubadours dealt especially with the Albigensian campaigns in the early thirteenth century, but their decline thereafter left the later Crusades - Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth - to be covered primarily by the German Minnesänger and French trouvères.
The following list is only of those songs defined as "Kreuzlied" in Lewent, "Das altprovenzalische Kreuzlied" (Berlin: 1905). It is important to note that Lewent only lists the Crusade songs that have a call to crusade. For a more complete list, see the new database by Paterson.[3]
| Composer | Number[4] | Incipit (i.e. title) | Date and context[5] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aimeric de Belenoi | 9.10 | Consiros com partitz d'amor | Between Battle of Hattin and January 1188. |
| Aimeric de Peguillan | 10.11 | Ara parra qual seran envejos | 1213, addressed to William VI of Montferrat to go to Syria. |
| Bertran de Born | 80.30 | Nostre seigner somonis el meteis | Early November/December 1187, or after January 1188, after Battle of Hattin when Bertran thought Philip I of France had made a crusading vow. |
| Bertran de Born | 80.40 | S'eu fos aissi seigner e poderos | |
| Elias Cairel | 133.11 | Qui saubes dar tant bon conseil denan | Before August 1219, forecasting an easy Crusader victory at Cairo. |
| Folquet de Marselha | 155.7 | Chantars mi torn' ad afan | November 1194 - 10 July 1195, probably during truce between Richard I of England and Philip I of France, before Battle of Alarcos and the German Crusade. |
| Folquet de Marselha | 155.15 | Oimais no.i conosc razo | After 19 July 1195, date of the Battle of Alarcos. A song about the Reconquista. |
| Falquet de Romans | 156.12 | Quan lo dous temps ven e vai la freidors | Before 1228, during Albigensian Crusade and conflict between Empire and Papacy. |
| Gaucelm Faidit | 167.9 | Ara nos sia guitz | 1203, but probably consisting of parts written at the time of the Third Crusade and some from the Fourth. |
| Gaucelm Faidit | 167.14 | Cascus hom deu conoisser et entendre | 1201. |
| Gauceran de Saint Leidier or Guillem de Saint Leidier | 234.10 or 168.1a | El temps que vei cazer foillas e flors | If by Gauceran, it is probably from before 1267 and contains references to Richard of Cornwall and James I of Aragon. If by Guillem, it dates to before 1183. |
| Gavaudan | 174.10 | Seignors, per los nostres peccatz | Possibly 1196 - 97, shortly after the Battle of Alarcos, but perhaps as late as 1210 - 12. A song about the Reconquista. |
| Guilhem Fabre | 216.2 | Pos dels majors / princeps auzem conten | June 1265 - February 1266. |
| Guilhem Figueira | 217.2 | D'un sirventes far | 29 September 1127 - 28 June 1228. Gormonda of Monpeslier wrote a response to this sirventes contra Roma. |
| Guilhem Figueira | 217.7 | Totz hom qui be comens'e be fenis | 1215, after the Emperor Frederick II took the cross on 25 July. |
| Giraut de Borneil | 242.6 | A l'onor Deu torn en mon chan | After 21 January 1188 but early in the year, praising Richard I of England, who is about to embark on Crusade. |
| Giraut de Borneil | 242.41 | Jois sia comensamens | After 1187, 1190 suggested. |
| Guiraut Riquier | 248.48 | Karitatz / et amors e fes | 1276. |
| Lanfranc Cigala | 282.20 | Quan vei far bon fag plazentier | 1244 - 45, to celebrate Louis IX's taking of the cross in 1244. |
| Lanfranc Cigala | 282.23 | Si mos chanz fos de ioi ni de solatz | November 1246 - Spring 1248, praising Louis IX of France for having gone on Crusade. |
| Lunel de Monteg | 289.1 | Mal veg trop apparelhar | 1326, when Charles IV of France was vowing a Crusade. |
| Marcabru | 293.21 | Emperaire, per mi mezeis | After the spring of 1148, when some Christian were trapped at Attalia and converted to Islam. |
| Marcabru | 293.35 | Pax in nomine Domini | 1149, after the failed Second Crusade, the loss of Tortosa to the Almohads, and the death of Baldwin of Marash (1146), but before the death of Raymond of Poitiers. A song about the Reconquista. |
| Olivier lo Templier | 312.1 | Estat aurai lonc temps en pessamen | 1267 - 69, about the crusade of James I of Aragon and his conquest of Majorca and Valencia. |
| Anonymous, formerly Peire d'Alvergne | 323.22 | Ab fina joia comensa | After August 1198, when Innocent III proclaimed the Fourth Crusade, once thought to be between early 1213 - July 1214, before the Battle of Bouvines. |
| Pons de Capdolh | 375.2 | Ar nos sia capdelhs e garentia | Around 1213. |
| Pons de Capdolh | 375.8 | En honor del pair'en cui es | Early 1213, refers to the Emperor Otto IV, Frederick I of Sicily, and war between John of England and Philip II of France. |
| Pons de Capdolh | 375.22 | So qu'om plus vol e plus es voluntos | June 1213, refers to the Emperor Otto IV, Frederick I of Sicily, and Peter II of Aragon. |
| Raimbaut de Vaqueiras | 392.3 | Ara pot hom conoisser e proar | 1201, in celebration of the election of Boniface I of Montferrat at Soissons to lead the Fourth Crusade. |
| Raimbaut de Vaqueiras | 392.9a | Conseill don a l'emperador | After May 1204, after conquest of Constantinople and election of Baldwin IX of Flanders as emperor. |
| Raimon Gaucelm de Beziers | 401.1 | Ab grans trebalhs et ab grans marrimens | 1270, refers to the death of Louis IX of France on the Eighth Crusade. |
| Raimon Gaucelm de Beziers | 401.8 | Qui vol aver complida amistansa | 1268, urging support for the Eighth Crusade. |
| Raimon de Cornet | I[6] | 1332, after Philip VI of France took the cross in July. The Battle of Adramyttion (1334) was a related endeavour. | |
The following table is adapted from Smith, Age of Joinville, p. 17, who cites Les chansons de croisade, eds J. Bédier and P. Aubry (Paris, 1909), p. xxxv.
| Composer | Incipit (i.e. title) | Crusade | Number of manuscripts |
|---|---|---|---|
| anonymous | Chevalier mult estes guariz | Second Crusade (1147–1149) | 1 |
| Conon de Béthune | Ahi! Amours, con dure departie | Third Crusade (1189–1192) | 13 |
| Conon de Béthune | Bien me dusse targier | Third Crusade | 7 |
| Huon d'Oisi | Maugré tous sainz et maugré dieu ausi | Third Crusade | 2 |
| Le Chastelain de Couci | A vous, amant, plus qu'a nul autre gent | Third Crusade | 13 |
| Le Chastelain de Couci | Li nouviauz tanz et mais et violete | Third Crusade | 15 |
| Guiot de Dijon | Chanterai pour mon corage | Third Crusade | 6 |
| Maistres Renas | Pour lou peuple resconforteir | Third Crusade | 1 |
| anonymous | Parti de mal et a bien aturné | Third Crusade | 1 |
| anonymous | Vos qui ameis de vraie amor | Third Crusade | 2 |
| Le Châtelain d'Arras | Aler m'estuet le u je trairai pain | Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) | 5 |
| Hugues IV de Berzé | S'onques nus hom por dure departie | Fourth Crusade | 15 |
| Hugues IV de Berzé | Bernarz, di moi Fouquet, qu'on tient a sage | Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) | 2 |
| Huon de Saint-Quentin | Jerusalem se plaint et li païs | Fifth Crusade | 3 |
| Chardon de Croisilles | Li departirs de la douce contree | Barons' Crusade (1239–1241) | 5 |
| Philippe de Nanteuil | En chantant veil mon duel faire | Barons' Crusade | 5 |
| Theobald I of Navarre | Au tans plain de felonie | Barons' Crusade | 7 |
| Theobald I of Navarre | Dame, einsi est qu'il m'en couvient aler | Barons' Crusade | 8 |
| Theobald I of Navarre | Li douz penser et li douz souvenir | Barons' Crusade | 8 |
| Theobald I of Navarre | Seignor, saichiés qi or ne s'en ira | Barons' Crusade | 8 |
| anonymous | Ne chant pas, que que nus die | Barons' Crusade | 3 |
| anonymous | Nus ne porroit de mauvese reson | Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) | 2 |
| anonymous | Tous li mons doit mener joie | Seventh Crusade | 1 |
| anonymous | Un serventois, plait de deduit, de joie | Seventh Crusade | 1 |
| anonymous | Douce dame, cui j'aim en bone foi | unknown | 1 |
| anonymous | Jerusalem, grant domage me fais | unknown | 1 |
| anonymous | Novele amors s'est dedanz mon cuer mise | unknown | 2 |
| anonymous | Oiés, seigneur, pereceus par oiseuse | unknown | 1 |
| anonymous | Pour joie avoir perfite en paradis | unknown | 1 |
The following Minnesänger are known to have composed crusade songs:[7]
Palästinalied, Elegy
Kreuzlied
Akkonsprüche
Only one vernacular crusade song is known from the Iberian Peninsula. Discovered in the second half of the twentieth century, Ay, Jherusalem! is a planto or lament in Castilian.[8] It is recruitment propaganda probably connected either with the First Council of Lyon in 1245[9] or the Second Council of Lyon in 1274.[8] The anonymous poet laments the plight of the Christians and the cruelty of the Muslims. In form, it consists of stanzas of five lines (two dodecasyllables and three hexasyllables) with the last line always ending in the refrain (estribillo) "Iherusalem".[8]