Philosophy and Christian Context of the Crusades

"The crusades were wars justified by faith conducted against real or imagined enemies defined by religious and political elites as perceived threats to the Christian faithful. The religious beliefs crucial to such warfare placed enormous significance on imagined awesome but reassuring supernatural forces of overwhelming power and proximity that were nevertheless expressed in hard concrete physical acts: prayer, penance, giving alms, attending church, pilgrimage, violence.

Merry Christmas with Medieval Carols

Merry Christmas


Medieval Carols, Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly 

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Key Qualities of the Cistercian Order - Simplicity, Practicality and Self-sufficiency

"The promotion of the tenets of their faith on one hand and desire to return to the simplicity of early monasticism on the other, permitted the Cistercians (...) art and architecture. (...) As St Bernard envisaged the Earth as the work of Divine Architect, he himself as a head of his order, actively participated in many practical aspects of founding new Cistercian monasteries, including solving concrete architectural problems. (...) 

Templars as Villains - The Abduction of Rebecca

Few authors have shaped our image of the Knights Templar as powerfully as Walter Scott. Yet his dramatic villains of pride and corruption bear little resemblance to the disciplined, austere warriors who founded the Order in 1119.

The Knights Templar - bleuprint of militarized fraternities

"Formed in the setting of the Chapter of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem from a brotherhood of Champenois and Burgundian knights, the Templars received their rule at the Council of Troyes in 1129. They inspired all the foundations that followed by showing the way to militarization of charitable fraternities. 

Did Knights Templar wear beards?

Many popular pictures show Knights Templar clean shaven. Is this correct?

The objective of the 1st Crusade - the changing Crusaders point of view

"Crusaders in the East were for the time militia (to the Byzantine Emperor, TN) who were there to serve a purpose. The question of restituting the churches of the East to Rome was not in the crusader’s plans. This position changed drastically when (Emperor TN) Alexius abandoned the Crusaders in view of the impending Muslim backlash. 

The Paris Chapter of 1147 - France, Rome, and the Temple Under One Roof

Every five years, the general chapter of the Order of the Temple convened to debate political questions, decide acts binding upon the whole Order, and serve as its internal court of appeal. Most chapters were held in the Latin East, but the first European assembly took place in Paris in 1147. What is known about that Council?

What Triggered the Crusades - the Church's Point of View

In March 1095, the devastation incurred by the onstorming Seljuk Turks in the Byzantine territories forced Emperor Alexius I to ask Pope Urban II for help. This request inspired Urban’s preaching of the crusades later that year at the church council of Clermont.