Crusades and Crusaders in Medieval Greece 51
ambiguity goes back to the contemporaries’ own views of crusading, or rather
the absence of any systematic effort on their part to define it. In the early days,
there was no dedicated terminology and old terms were used to describe this
new activity. An expedition was simply called a passagium, iter, and other such
non-specific terms, while the participants were referred to as pilgrims or ‘sol-
diers of Christ’. The term crucesignati was not used before the late 12th century
and even after that point it did not really replace the other appellations.77 This
terminological vagueness highlights the ill-defined status of crusading in the
early period, which has led one scholar to question whether we can even speak
of an identifiable type of crusade expeditions in the 12th century.78
However, by the time the crusade was introduced in Romania, after 1204, it
had acquired a more or less stable institutional framework. It was crucial that
the crusades in Frankish Greece were first launched under Pope Innocent iii,
the man who did the most to regularise the wars of the cross, as exemplified
in the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). In the 13th century, therefore, any crusade
could be expected to exhibit a number of common traits, such as the initial
proclamation by the papacy; the preaching of the cross in various areas; the
grant of indulgences (remission of sins), as well as a number of other privi-
leges to those who would fight or contribute financially to the crusade; the
act of taking the cross and the crusade vow by the various participants; and
the raising of funds through ecclesiastical taxation, donations and redemption
of crusade vows (i.e. the payment of an appropriate sum in place of personal
participation in the campaign).79
All the above characteristics can indeed be found in most of the crusades
in Frankish Greece. However, some ambiguities or marginal cases remain.
Charles of Anjou’s projected campaign to restore the Latin Empire, in 1267–82,
is a frequently cited example of “crusading” against the Byzantines. However,
this expedition was hardly a crusade: despite support from the papacy, no cru-
sade indulgences were granted to the participants, no orders for preaching
were issued, and no crusade funds were raised for it. Nevertheless, Angevin
propaganda made conscious and extensive use of earlier crusade rhetoric
and presented the campaign in that framework; so this incident forms part
77 Michael Markowski, “Crucesignatus: Its Origins and Early Usage,” Journal of Medieval
History 10 (1984), 157–65; Christopher Tyerman, The Invention of the Crusades (Basingstoke,
1998), pp. 49–55.
78 Christopher Tyerman, “Were there any Crusades in the Twelfth Century?”, English
Historical Review 110 (1995), 553–77.
79 For the characteristics of crusading see e.g. Housley, Contesting, pp. 48–74; Maureen
Purcell, Papal Crusading Policy (Leiden, 1975).