Law and the Illicit in Medieval Europe

10. Crusaders' Rights Revisited: The Use and Abuse of Crusader Privileges in Early Thirteenth-Century France

Chapter  Crusaders’ Rights Revisited: The Use and Abuse of Crusader Privileges in Early Thirteenth-Century France Jessalynn Bird Although the legal and spiritual privileges theoretically accorded to crucesignati have long been mapped out, their practical implementation in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries remains far less explored.1 Enforcing the privileges claimed by individual crusaders required the collaboration and interaction of multiple ecclesiastical and secular authorities during a period marked by crucial developments in governmental apparatuses , law, and church-state relations. Often presented as an exceptional and urgent project that ought to have enabled secular and ecclesiastical authorities to put aside traditional rivalries and long-simmering conflicts to cooperate in defending Christendom, the organization of the crusade tested the effectiveness of governance and the parameters and conditions of church-state relations, creating precedents and habit patterns that influenced quotidian interactions in crucial matters such as taxation, keeping the peace, and law enforcement. Christopher Tyerman has argued that in this period royal governments in England and France collaborated with local ecclesiastics in defining and enforcing privileges often vaguely outlined in crusade bulls. Despite occasional tensions, these authorities typically respected each other’s prerogatives . Provided that individuals did not attempt to (ab)use crusader privileges for political, legal, or financial advantage, their rights were generally upheld, although in certain instances personal or political interests dictated otherwise. However, he also unearthed haunting evidence of the difficulties royal and ecclesiastical judges faced in guaranteeing English crusaders ’ rights during the close of King John’s reign and the minority of Henry III (–), despite unusual secular-ecclesiastical cooperation at  Jessalynn Bird the highest levels; both kings had become papal vassals and had taken the crusader’s cross seeking papal protection against rebellious barons supported by Louis VIII of France and some prelates. Individuals from both sides of the conflict soon sought the coveted privileges granted to crucesignati , complicating and facilitating the labors of papal legates granted carte blanche authority to promote the Fifth Crusade (–) and the crusade of Frederick II, create peace, and restore the authority of papal, royal and prelatial governance after a long interdict and civil war.2 The enforcement of crusaders’ rights would prove even more problematic in France. Philip Augustus had not taken the cross and tenaciously opposed any extension of prelatial or papal authority at the expense of royal or baronial prerogatives. In this climate, Paris-educated reformers and their colleagues in the episcopate, diocesan clergy, and monastic orders were appointed as crusade preachers, legates, and judge delegates and became responsible for defining the amorphous rights granted to crusaders in papal letters. Faced with reconciling and implementing the often contradictory demands of the papacy and Philip Augustus, they also engaged in delicate negotiations with the local authorities ultimately entrusted with enforcing crusader privileges. Many used their legal expertise and personal networks to navigate potentially conflicting jurisdictions and legal systems, balancing promoting reform and protecting individual crusaders’ rights with organizing a viable crusade, keeping the peace, and preventing abuses. Yet the crucial function these men played in defining crusaders’ privileges has received relatively little attention compared to that lavished on legal treatises, popes, kings, and certain papal legates. Masters educated in Paris and other centers of higher learning were employed as judges, assessors , and arbiters by papal, secular, and episcopal administrations anxious to expand the influence of their courts and thereby their authority and revenues .3 Delegated judges’ consultation of previous compositions and decretals , their queries to Rome, and their decisions on individual cases not only immediately affected the implementation of crusader rights in France and other regions but generated important legal precedents and material. One of the most influential was Robert Courson, a Paris master appointed protector for crucesignati (c.  ff) and papal legate for the crusade (–).4 Trained in canon law and previously involved in key cases regarding the respective jurisdictions of feudal, royal, and episcopal courts over persons of ambiguous status (including clerics, widows and orphans, heretics, and usurers), Robert and his colleagues would be faced with interpreting and Use and Abuse of Crusader Privileges  enforcing the rights promised to crusaders in Quia maior () and Ad liberandam () in France. Prior to Robert’s appointment, Philip Augustus and Henry II of England had utilized preparations for the royally led Third Crusade (–) to increase their jurisdiction. However, the privileges hypothetically granted to crusaders in Quia maior (including freedom...