Western Civilization

Rhineland. Bands of Christians set upon Jews in Speyer,

Worms, Mainz, and Cologne.

In the thirteenth century, in the supercharged

atmosphere of fear created by the struggle with the

heretics, Jews were persecuted more and more (see the

box on p. 240). Friars urged action against these

“murderers of Christ,” contending that the Jews, hav-

ing turned Jesus over to the Roman authorities, were

responsible for his death, and organized the public

burning of Jewish books. The Fourth Lateran Council

in 1215 decreed that Jews must wear distinguishing

marks, such as ribbons, yellow badges, and special veils

and cloaks, to differentiate themselves from Christians.

The same council encouraged the development of Jew-

ish ghettos, neighborhoods built behind walled enclo-

sures to isolate Jews from Christians. The persecutions

and the new image of the hated Jew stimulated a tradi-

tion of anti-Semitism that proved to be one of Chris-

tian Europe’s most insidious contributions to the

Western heritage.

European kings, who had portrayed themselves as

protectors of the Jews, had so fleeced the Jewish com-

munities of their money by the end of the thirteenth

century that they no longer had reason to resist the

mob fury. Edward I expelled all Jews from England in

1290. The French followed suit in 1306. As the policy
      of expulsion spread into central Europe, most northern
      European Jews were driven into Poland.

INTOLERANCE AND HOMOSEXUALITY The climate of into-

lerance that characterized thirteenth-century attitudes

toward Muslims, heretics, and Jews was also evident

toward homosexuals. Although the church had con-

demned homosexuality in the early Middle Ages, it had

not been overly concerned with homosexual behavior,

reflecting the attitude prevalent in the secular world.

But by the thirteenth century, these tolerant attitudes

had altered drastically. Some historians connect this

change to the century’s climate of fear and intolerance

against any group that deviated from the standards of

the now strictly Catholic majority. A favorite approach

of the critics was to identify homosexuals with other

detested groups. Homosexuality was portrayed as a

regular practice of Muslims and such notorious heretics

as the Albigensians. Between 1250 and 1300, what had

been tolerated in most of Europe became a criminal act

deserving of death.

The legislation against homosexuality commonly

referred to it as a “sin against nature.” This is pre-

cisely the argument developed by Thomas Aquinas

(see Chapter 9), who formed Catholic opinion on the

subject for centuries to come. In hisSumma Theologica,

Aquinas argued that because the purpose of sex was

procreation, it could only legitimately take place in

ways that did not exclude this possibility. Hence,

homosexuality (like all other sexual practices that

could not result in pregnancy) was “contrary to

nature” and a deviation from the natural order estab-

lished by God. This argument and laws prohibiting

homosexual activity on pain of death remained the

norm in Europe until the twentieth century.

The Crusades

Q FOCUSQUESTION: What were the reasons for the

Crusades, and who or what benefited the most from

the experience of the Crusades?

Another manifestation of the religious enthusiasm that

seized Europe in the High Middle Ages was the series

of crusades mounted against the Muslims. These cam-

paigns gave the revived papacy of the High Middle

Ages yet another opportunity to demonstrate its influ-

ence over European society. The Crusades were a curi-

ous mix of God and warfare, two of the chief concerns

of the Middle Ages.

Background to the Crusades

Although European civilization developed in relative

isolation, it had never entirely lost contact with the

lands and empires to the east. At the end of the elev-

enth century, that contact increased, in part because

developments in the Islamic and Byzantine worlds

prompted the first major attempt of the new European

civilization to expand beyond Europe proper.

CHRONOLOGYThe Catholic Church in the High

Middle Ages

Foundation of abbey of Cluny 910

Pope Gregory VII 1073–1085

Decree against lay investiture 1075

Pope Urban II 1088–1099

Founding of Cistercians 1098

Pope Innocent III 1198–1216

Start of crusade against the Albigensians 1209

Fourth Lateran Council 1215

The Crusades 239

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