desire of Christian princes to maintain their power vis-à-vis the popes led
to a virtual nationalization of the Church in a wide spectrum of European
polities. The kings of France and England frequently used their increased
power over their respective national churches to mobilize an extensive ar-
ray of religious rites and ceremonies on behalf of troops in the field. These
ceremonies included public masses, liturgical processions, almsgiving, and
special prayers. During the series of wars that he fought against Scotland
in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, King Edward I of England
ordered that every parish priest in the kingdom preach to his congregation
about the justness of this war and then lead the parishioners in public pro-
cessions in support of the troops. Edward also ordered the archbishop of
York to offer indulgences to every layman or -woman who would partici-
pate in liturgical rites and pray on behalf of the army in the field. Further-
more, the English king authorized the service of parish priests as chaplains
in his army for the purpose of celebrating the sacraments in the field and
in garrisons throughout Britain as well as in Edward’s continental holdings.
The English royal government also launched a successful effort to free
the chapels in royal fortresses and the priests serving in them from the over-
sight of both local bishops and papal authorities. This freedom permitted
English kings to appoint the most suitable candidates to serve as garrison
chaplains, rather than being forced to accept priests belonging to the net-
works of episcopal or papal patronage.
King Philip IV of France, King Edward’s leading competitor for lead-
ership in Europe, also pursued religious policies that allowed him to mobi-
lize clergy all over his kingdom in support of the French army. Philip issued
frequent edicts ordering his bishops to hold special religious services on be-
half of troops in the field and requiring that special litanies be celebrated
in royal abbeys for the same purpose. Philip also commissioned an entire
series of sermons to be preached across the kingdom in which French mil-
itary actions in Flanders were compared to the Maccabean holy wars
against their Hellenic oppressors.
David Bachrach
See alsoChivalry; Knights; Orders of Knighthood, Religious; Orders of
Knighthood, Secular
References
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Birely, Eric. “The Religion of the Roman Army: 1895–1977.” Aufstieg und
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Bull, Marcus Graham. 1993. Knightly Piety and the Lay Response to the
First Crusade: The Limousin and Gascony, ca. 970–1100.Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Erdmann, Carl. 1977. The Origin of the Idea of Crusade.Translated by Mar-
shall W. Baldwin and Walter Goffart. Princeton: Princeton University Press.454 Religion and Spiritual Development: Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval West