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‘Cruce Signari’: The Rite for Taking the Cross in England*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

James A. Brundage*
Affiliation:
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Extract

A Crusader, both etymologically and historically, was a person who had ‘taken the Cross.’ The symbolic act of taking the Cross was practiced routinely from 1095 onward by all those who had made a vow to participate in the expeditions to the Holy Land and elsewhere which were proclaimed, sanctioned, and indulgenced by the papacy. In the eyes of the canonists, when they came to analyse the institutions of the Crusade, the formal taking of the Cross was viewed as a ceremony which solemnized the vow by which the Crusader bound himself, both morally and legally, to serve in the ranks of the Crusade.

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Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

1 Thus Laurentius Hispanus (t 1248) cites a gloss of Cardinalis († 1197) in his Apparatus to Compilatio Tertia, 3.26.2 (= Decretales Gregorii IX 3.34.6 Licet) ad v. sollempniter: ‘Sollempnitatem uocat impressionem signaculi sancte crucis; sed pone quod proponat in animo suo quod ibit ultra mare, numquid tenetur? Uidetur quod sic, vt XXVII Q. i proposit<o> [Decretum Gratiani C. 27 q. 1 c. 21 Proposito meliore]. Sed non est uerum, ut extra. ii. de uo. et uo. litteraturam [Compilatio II 3.21.1 = Decretales 3.34.3 Litteraturam]; nam ibi positam accipitur iam assumptam, ut patet ex littera. C<ardinalis>.’ (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Lat. 3932, fol. 167vb). Likewise, the gloss to the Summa de penitentia of St. Raymond de Peñafort († 1275) ad v. Privatum sive simplex states:’Nota quod uotum simplex est cui nulla adhibetur sollempnitas. Sollempne uotum dicitur cui certa notificatio uel expressio de iure aut de consuetudine introducta adhibetur. In voto peregrinationis adhibetur sollempnitas per susceptionem pere et baculi benedicti a sacerdote et per susceptionem crucis in uoto terre sancte.’ (Innsbruck, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 266, fol. 28v-29r). +[Decretum+Gratiani+C.+27+q.+1+c.+21+Proposito+meliore].+Sed+non+est+uerum,+ut+extra.+ii.+de+uo.+et+uo.+litteraturam+[Compilatio+II+3.21.1+=+Decretales+3.34.3+Litteraturam];+nam+ibi+positam+accipitur+iam+assumptam,+ut+patet+ex+littera.+C.’+(Paris,+Bibliothèque+Nationale,+MS+Lat.+3932,+fol.+167vb).+Likewise,+the+gloss+to+the+Summa+de+penitentia+of+St.+Raymond+de+Peñafort+(†+1275)+ad+v.+Privatum+sive+simplex+states:’Nota+quod+uotum+simplex+est+cui+nulla+adhibetur+sollempnitas.+Sollempne+uotum+dicitur+cui+certa+notificatio+uel+expressio+de+iure+aut+de+consuetudine+introducta+adhibetur.+In+voto+peregrinationis+adhibetur+sollempnitas+per+susceptionem+pere+et+baculi+benedicti+a+sacerdote+et+per+susceptionem+crucis+in+uoto+terre+sancte.’+(Innsbruck,+Universitätsbibliothek,+MS+266,+fol.+28v-29r).>Google Scholar

2 Thus Fulcher of Chartres exclaims: ‘O quam dignum erat et amoenum nobis omnibus cruces illas cernentibus, vel sericas vel auro textas aut quolibet genere pallii decores, quas in chlamydibus suis aut birris aut tunicis iussu praedicti papae post votum eundi super humeros suos peregrini consuebant! Sane pugnatores Dei merito victoriae signo insigniri et muniri debebant, qui ob honorem eius ad proeliandum se praeparabant. Et quoniam significans sub agnitione fidei circa se sic pinxerunt, denique significatum derivativum verius adepti sunt. Speciem insignierunt, ut rem speciei consequerentur.’ — Historia Hierosolymitana 1.4.4, ed. by Heinrich Hagenmayer (Heidelberg 1913) 140–142. Cf. the accounts of Baldric of Dol, Historia de peregrinatione Jerosolimitana, Recueil des historiens des croisades, 16 vols. in 17 (Paris 1841–1906), Historiens occidentaux 4.16; Guibert de Nogent, Gesta Dei per Francos, in Recueil des historiens des croisades, hist. occ., 4.140; Robert the Monk, Historia Iherosolomitana, Recueil des historiens des croisades, hist. occ., 3.729–730. Google Scholar

3 Conciliorum oecumenicorum decreta. ed. by Alberigo, J., Joannou, P. P., Leonardi, C. and Prodi, P., editio altera (Freiburg i/Br. 1962) 167–168.Google Scholar

4 Regesta pontificum romanorum. ed. by Jaffé, P. 2d. ed. rev. by Loewenfeld, S., Kaltenbrunner, F. and Eward, P. 2 vols. (Leipzig 1885–1888; r. p. Graz 1956) 8796 and 8876. Text in Otto of Freising, Gesta Friderici imperatoris 1.35, ed. Pertz, G. H. (Hannover 1867); (MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum) 55–57.Google Scholar

5 De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem. 1, ed. and trans. by Berry, Virginia G. (New York 1948, Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies) 8; ed. by Henri Waquet (Paris 1949) Documents relatifs à l'histoire des croisades 22.Google Scholar

6 Henricus de Castro Marsiaco, Epist. 1, PL 204.215–216. Google Scholar

7 Cambrensis, Giraldus, Itinerarium Kambriae 1.1, ed. by Dimock, J. F. in vol. 6 of Giraldus’ Opera (London 1861–1891; Rolls Series 21) 14.Google Scholar

8 Itinerarium Kambriae 1.5, ed. by Dimock, 55.Google Scholar

9 The privileges enjoyed by Crusaders included such valuable rights as an immunity from payment of interest on loans, protection against creditors, the privilegium fori, a personal protection against molestation and a similar guarantee of protection for their wives, families, and property, the right to enjoy income from benefices while non-resident, as well as the spiritual privilege of the Crusade indulgence. A brief account of Crusade privileges may conveniently be found in Michel Villey, La Croisade: essai sur la formation d'une théorie juridique (Paris 1942; L’église et l’état au moyen âge 6) 141–158; a more detailed account is that of Émile Bridrey, La condition juridique des croisés et le privilège de croix. Etude d'histoire du droit français (Paris 1900). Google Scholar

10 The manuscript is described at some length by Henderson, W. G. in his edition of the Liber pontificalis Chr. Bainbridge archiepiscopi Eboracensis (Durham 1875; Surtees Society Publications 61) xxiv-xxvii. The blessing of the scrip and staff from this MS was published by Henderson in an appendix to his edition of the Manuale et processionale ad usum insignis ecclesiae Eboracensis (Durham 1875; Surtees Society Publications 63) 207*-208*, and the present analysis is based on Henderson's edition. At least a part of this manuscript was once in the Library of Durham Cathedral, but the provenance of the pontifical itself is uncertain; see also Ker, N. R., Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, 2d ed. (London 1964; Royal Historical Society, Guides and Handbooks 3) 73 and 357 (Durham, Ereslam). Ker assigns fol. 55–113 of Vitellius E. XII to the mid-fifteenth century.Google Scholar

11 The Worcester Pontifical is now MS 146 of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and is described by Henderson, Liber pontificalis Chr. Bainbridge xxx. The blessing of the scrip and staff is edited from this MS by Henderson, Manuale Eboracense 208*. The manuscript was written during the pontificate of Bishop Sampson of Worcester, 1096–1112. See also Ker, Medieval Libraries, 206. Google Scholar

12 Michel Andrieu, ed., Le Pontifical romain du XII e siècle (Le Pontifical romain au moyen âge 1 [Studi e Testi 86: Città del Vaticano 1938]) 265. Google Scholar

13 The Ely Pontifical survives in two MSS, both of which are now at Cambridge: Cambridge University Library, MS L1.2.10 (blessing of pilgrims at fol. 74r-75v) and Trinity College, Cambridge, MS B.XI.10 (blessing of Crusaders and pilgrims at fol. 100r-103v). The two manuscripts are obviously very closely related and are nearly contemporaneous, but since the formula for the blessing and bestowal of the cross occurs only in the Trinity College manuscript, I am inclined to believe that this manuscript is slightly the later of the two. The fact, moreover, that in the Trinity manuscript the ceremony for blessing the cross is separated from the blessing of pilgrims’ insignia by a group of miscellaneous blessings—for new wine, for bread, fruit, what-you-will (ad omnia que uolueris), bread (a second formula), salt (with an alternate formula), and salt and water—together with the omission of this formula altogether from the University Library MS, strongly suggests that this blessing may be an addition to the parent text. The MSS of the Ely Pontifical are described by Henderson, Liber pontificalis Chr. Bainbridge xxxi-xxxii, and by Wilson, H. A. in the preface to his edition of The Pontifical of Magdalen College (London 1910; Henry Bradshaw Society Publications 39) xiv-xvi. The text of the blessing of pilgrims and Crusaders from the Ely Pontifical was published by Henderson in an appendix to his edition of the Manuale Eboracense 209*-210*, and the blessing of pilgrims alone by Wilson in the appendix to The Pontifical of Magdalen College 239–241. As neither of these editions is entirely satisfactory, however, a fresh edition is presented in Appendix II below. The Trinity College MS is an octavo volume (6½×9½”) of 120 folia, with added gatherings of six and four leaves respectively at the beginning and end. It was written in England, probably at Christ Church, Canterbury, during the third quarter of the twelfth century. The MS was given to Trinity College by Thomas Neville, who was both Master of the College (1593–1615) and Dean of Canterbury (1597–1615). The binding is stamped with Neville's arms. The University Library MS is a folio, containing 92 leaves written on vellum. The text is imperfect at both beginning and end. It appears to have been written at Ely during the last half of the twelfth century.Google Scholar

14 Some further accounts of Continental formulas for the rite of blessing pilgrims’ insignia and taking the Crusader's cross may be found in Adolph Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen im Mittelalter, 2 vols. (Freiberg i/Br. 1909; r. p. Graz 1960) 2.271–89, 302–7. Other texts for these ceremonies may be found in the French pontificals whose contents were analysed by Leroquais, V., Les pontificaux manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France, 4 vols. (Paris 1937). Leroquais’ analyses, unfortunately, do not include any substantial reports of the texts of these formulas or even of their incipits and further investigation will be required to determine their relationships with the rites of English provenance which are discussed here.Google Scholar

15 The manuscript of this pontifical, now No. 226 in the Library of Magdalen College, Oxford, is described by Wilson in the preface to his edition of the text vii-xiii. Google Scholar

16 MS. B.3.6. It is described by Wilson, Pontifical of Magdalen College xvi-xxi, who also edited its texts for the blessing of pilgrims’ insignia, 241–242. Google Scholar

17 Andrieu, , Le pontifical romain au moyen âge 2.418–20.Google Scholar

18 The sole manuscript is described by Henderson, Liber pontificalis Chr. Bainbridge XXXV, and the texts for the blessing of pilgrims’ insignia and the taking of the cross are published in his Manuale Eboracense 210*. As Henderson's edition is marred by some omissions, however, a new edition is presented in Appendix II below from MS Ff.6.9 of Cambridge University Library fol. 85r-86r. The manuscript is of quarto size, written on parchment in a hand of the early thirteenth century, and contains 104 leaves. The Catalogue of the Manuscripts Preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, 6 vols. (Cambridge, 1856–1867) 2.513–514, describes it as a ‘Pontificale ad usum Ecclesiae Sarum,’ but the blessings for Crusaders and pilgrims are clearly not of the Sarum type, as Table VII shows. The Coventry connections of the pontifical were pointed out by Henderson in his introduction to the Bainbridge pontifical. Ker, Medieval Libraries, 49, identifies this manuscript as one of those bequeathed to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Werberg, Chester, by Richard of Chester (t 1347), Canon of York Minster. Google Scholar

19 The Pontifical of Durandus is edited by Andrieu in vol. 3 of Le pontifical romain. The rites for blessing pilgrims’ insignia and taking the cross occur in lib. 2, tit. 30–31 (pp. 541–545). Google Scholar

20 Pontificale romanum in tres partes distributum Clementis VIII ac Urbani VIII auctoritate recognitum. ed. by Catalani, J. (Paris 1851) 2.538–545. I have also used the three volume edition published at Malines in 1873, in which this rite occurs at 2.268–270.Google Scholar

21 Henderson, , Manuale Eboracense 103106.Google Scholar

22 Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.3.21. The ceremony for blessing pilgrims and bestowing the cross occurs at fol. 194v-196v and is edited in Appendix II below. The MS is of folio size, written in a fifteenth-century hand on vellum in double columns of 33 lines. It contains 286 folia in all. Google Scholar

23 The Sarum Ordo ad servitium peregrinorum faciendum is reprinted by Henderson, Manuale Eboracense, 26*-28*, from the 1506 edition of the Manuale ad usum Sarum. But especially to be commended now is the edition prepared by Collins, A. J. for the Henry Bradshaw Society, vol. xci, published in 1960; for the present Ordo, see pages 60–63.Google Scholar

24 The insignia of the pilgrim and the development of the rite for conferring the insignia have recently been dealt with by Francis Garrisson, ‘A propos des pèlerins et de leur condition juridique’ Études d'histoire du droit canonique dediées à Gabriel Le Bras 2 vols. (Paris 1965) 2.1168–1177. Garrisson also concludes, as I have, that the ceremony of conferring the Cross develops as an extension of the ceremony for bestowing the scrip and staff, not the other way around, as was held by Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen 2.273. Google Scholar

1 Ps. 90.Google Scholar

2 Ps. 120.Google Scholar

3 Ps. 129. a Gloria patri: om. A. Google Scholar

4 Ps. 40.5.Google Scholar

5 Ps. 85.2.Google Scholar

6 Ps. 89.13.Google Scholar

7 Ps. 60.4.Google Scholar

8 Cf. Ps. 19.3. Google Scholar

9 Ps. 101.2.Google Scholar

10 Also in Franz, Die kirchlichen Benediktionen 2.263, 278; see in addition the other citations noted in Table IV. Google Scholar

11 Cf. Franz, , Die kirchlichen Benediktionen 2.279.Google Scholar

b Sane anima: A.

c Oratio: om. A.

d confidentibus: considerantibus B.

e Per: om. B.

f Dandas: benedicendas B.

g Accipite: accipe B.

12 Cf. Franz, , Die kirchlichen Benediktionen 2.265, with interpolations.Google Scholar

h Mansuetum: manifestum B.

i Dominus uobiscum: rubr. in A. et B.

j Eundo: om. A.

k Magdalena: Magdalene B.

1 Benedictio usque finem: om. B.

13 Cf. Franz, , Die kirchlichen Benediktionen 2.265, without interpolations.Google Scholar

1 Cf. Franz, , Die kirchlichen Benediktionen 2.264.Google Scholar

2 Ps. 40.5.Google Scholar

3 Ps. 118.Google Scholar

4 Cf. Ps. 24.4. Google Scholar

5 Ps. 43.26.Google Scholar

6 Ps. 101.2.Google Scholar

7 Franz, , Die kirchlichen Benediktionen 2.263–278.Google Scholar

1 Ps. 24.Google Scholar

2 Ps. 50 (or 55, or 56).Google Scholar

3 Ps. 90.Google Scholar

4 Ps. 40.5.Google Scholar

5 Ps. 24.4.Google Scholar

6 Cf. Ps. 118.133. Google Scholar

7 Cf. Ps. 118.5. Google Scholar

8 Cf. Ps. 16.5. Google Scholar

9 Cf. Ps. 67.20. Google Scholar

10 Cf. Tob. 5.21. Google Scholar

11 Ps. 118.1.Google Scholar

12 Ps. 43.26.Google Scholar

13 Cf. Ps. 79.8. Google Scholar

14 Ps. 101.2.Google Scholar

15 Ps. 30.3-4; cf. Ps. 17.3.Google Scholar

16 Ps. 30.2 and 70.1.Google Scholar

17 Gen. 24.7.Google Scholar

18 Ps. 30.3-4; cf. Ps. 17.3.Google Scholar

19 Ps. 30.2.Google Scholar

20 Cf. Eccl. 2.9. Google Scholar

21 Matt. 10.7-15.Google Scholar

22 Cf. Ps. 9.11–13; offertory of the third Sunday after Pentecost. Google Scholar

23 Ps. 118.4-5. Canterbury Proctors at the Court of ‘Audientia Litterarum Contradictarum’Google Scholar