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  • Crusading as an Act of Vengeance, 1095-1216 by Susanna A. Throop
  • Darius von Güttner-Sporzyński
Throop, Susanna A. , Crusading as an Act of Vengeance, 1095-1216, Farnham, Ashgate, 2011; hardback; pp. 242; R.R.P. £65.00; ISBN 9780754665823.

'Could anything new be said about the crusades?', asked a student of mine recently. This book by Susanna Throop demonstrates that interpretations and understandings of the crusades continue to be relevant and dynamic. Throop presents what she regards as unexplored aspects of crusading by examining examples of the actions that validated medieval Christians' belief that their faith expected them to take violent revenge against Christ's enemies.

She deliberately turns away from what she describes as reconciling Christianity (pacifist ideals) with the reality of crusading (violence). In a seeming contradiction to Jonathan Riley-Smith's proposition that crusading was 'an act of love', Throop examines crusading as an act of vengeance, offering another, but not totally alternative, view. She argues that the notion of Christian love for their neighbour could result in the desire for revenge against non-Christians. Crusaders, Throop suggests, interpreted the biblical [End Page 253] idea of the Lord's vengeance by reference to the reality that surrounded them, and interpreted historical events and their significance in accordance with their religion. Throop challenges the assumption that the notion of crusading as an act of vengeance was principally developed by non-clerical crusade participants, giving way over time to more sophisticated ideas promoted by the Church as it attempted to explain and reconcile earthly violence and the 'love of thy neighbour'.

By arguing that vengeance became a part of crusading because of the religious zeal of its participants, Throop demonstrates that crusading was primarily a religious activity. Vengeance was thus a by-product of religious fanaticism. Throop argues that an examination of the twelfth-century crusade texts of both participants and non-participants demonstrates that crusading was increasingly ideologically linked with vengeance. The origin of the theme of vengeance is found in the interpretations offered by canonists and the Bible, predominantly in the Old Testament and also, significantly, in the New Testament (for example, Romans 13. 4).These antecedents, which established the ideology of crusading as an act of vengeance, show crusading to be an integral part of God's plan for humanity and give crusading redemptive moral qualities notwithstanding its bloody nature. Throop's analysis leaves no doubt that those who sought to control and animate the crusading movement deliberatively linked religion and emotion with violence to promote crusading as the means of reforming the Church and expanding Christendom.

This is an important contribution. Its novel approach and new interpretation enriches the studies of crusading and the study of religious violence in general. Throop's work opens the way for further research that would 'integrate the overall historiography of the twelfth-century with our evolving understanding of twelfth-century crusading' (pp. 184-85).

Darius von Güttner-Sporzyński
The University of Melbourne
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