Perspectives on the Albigensian Crusade

PERSPECTIVES ON THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE The denotation of the word crusade, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is "(a) military expedition undertaken by the Christians ofEurope in the 1 1th. 12th, and 13th centuries to recover the Holy Land from the Mohammedans" (2d ed.. 1989. 4.85). By transfer, according to the OED, this primary sense expands to the broadermeaning "(a]nywarinstigated andblessed bythe Church for alleged religious ends, a 'holywar·; applied esp. to expeditions under papal sanction against infidels or heretics." The same relation between these meanings is reported for French by the Trésor de la languefrançaise, which provides, as the first meaning of croisade, "(expédition dont les participants portaientunecroixd'étoffecousue sur leur habit, entreprise au Moyen Age par les chrétiens d'Europe pour délivrer la Terre Sainte de l'occupation musulmane." Par analogie, the second meaning is "[ejxpédition contre des hérétiques. Croisade contre les Albigeois, les Hussites." Lexicographers on both sides of the Channel distinguish the primary semantic field of these words from their meaning in reference to the Albigensian Crusade—while accepting the transfer as part of the word's established usage, of course. Purists might be tempted to insert quotation marks in the phrase Albigensian "Crusade ," or to regard the transfer as a naturalized or dead metaphor (Greek µetafe?e??. 'to transfer'), as a figure of speech. Such a rhetorical figure might strike some speakers as more felicitous than others. It might have seemed more congenial, say, to Folquet de Marseille, the bishop of Toulouse who helped lead the Albigensian "Crusade." than to Raymond VII ofToulouse. The form ofEnglish crusade, with its Spanish stem as in crusada and its French ending as in croisade, appeared as late as Doctor Johnson's Dictionary (1755). French croisade, in turn, developed in the fifteenth century from earlier croisée, "with the new ending -ade. adapted from the -ada of Provençal and Spanish" (OED). The role of Provençal in this development is addressed by the Trésorde la langue française (6.524). which explains that croisade arose from several Old French words (croisement, croiserie, croisière, croisée) under the influence of Old Provençal crozada, as used in the Chanson de la croisade albigeoise, while Old Spanish cruzada played an accessory ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE role, i According to thisexplanation (though not all authorities agree on the role of Provençal in the history of the French word).2 the ultimatesource ofthesecond syllableinEnglish crusadeisProvençal, aswitnessed in the textofthe Song oftheAlbigensian Crusade—even though the Albigensian "Crusade" itself was not a crusade in the primary sense. Provençal too had several words pertaining to crusade. The root croiz meant not only 'croix' but also 'croisade, les croisés'; crozada meant 'croix, emblème de la croisade; croisade; armée des croisés'; crozamen, too, meant 'croisade' (Levy, Petit Dictionnaire). It is often difficult to distinguish by context between the meanings "army sent on an expedition" and "expedition," the latter as in modem French and English. The modern languages have discarded the concrete meaning "crusading army" and kept only the abstract meaning "expedition." When we approach the medieval text, therefore, our own language leads us to believe that we are dealing with a crusade in the clear, single, unambiguous, and abstract sense "expedition," although itwas rarely the case that anymedieval word in context had this specific meaning. Our language tempts us to reify a single, primary concept ofcrusade as expedition which the Middle Ages did not have. The poem (or perhaps two poems) we call the Chanson de la croisade albigeoise, composed by Guilhem deTudela in 12 10- 13 and by an anonymous continuator about 1228. is extant in a single integral manuscript. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français 25425. written about 1275.3 The manuscript, which has been published in facsimile.4 contains neither title, incipit. nor explicit. As Martin-Chabot explains, Fauriel must have fabricated the incipit in his edition of 1837, which reads "Aiso es la cansos de la crozada contrels ereges d'Albeges."5 Martin-Chabotjustifies his own title, La Chansondelacroisadealbigeoise, on thegroundsthatit"correspond à la fois au terme par lequel l'oeuvre est désignée...