Raising Arms
Liturgy in the Struggle to Liberate Jerusalem in the Late Middle Ages
Abstract
This is the first full-scale study of the liturgical reaction of Christian Europe to the demise of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem. It surveys and analyzes the five main types of liturgy that were evolved during the last three medieval centuries in the struggle to liberate Jerusalem by means of new Holy Land crusades: the Clamor, the three principal Mass prayers, the dedicated war Mass, the English Trental of St Gregory, and the Bidding Prayers. The relevant texts - hitherto unedited, for the most part - have been identified in numerous manuscripts and are given here in critical editions, extensively annotated and commented. They constitute a new corpus of knowledge that bears on the cultural evolution of late medieval Europe in general and on specific fields of study in particular, mainly the Holy Land crusade and the crusading movement, the war liturgy, the Papacy, and several devotional practices that were introduced in this context. Their scope and novelty are such as to cast new light on several aspects of late medieval culture and to open new avenues of research.
