Royal power and the image of crusader king in the twelfth century: Chivalry, typology, and sacrality

This study examines crusader kingship as a unique paradigm of monarchy in the twelfth century. Using crusade chronicles, chansons de geste, trouveres poetry, coronation liturgies, letters, treatises and artwork, three themes of royal power are identified and analyzed: chivalric king and the restoration of right order in society; typology and authority based in warrior kings of the past; and, sacral kingship in the Christo-mimetic crusader rulers of Jerusalem.;On July 15, 1099 the First Crusade restored the most important city of Christendom to Christian rule and introduced a new model for medieval monarchy in the crusader kings of Jerusalem, heirs to the throne of David and vicars of Christ in His Holy City. By the time of the Kings' Crusade (1189-1192), royal leadership in Europe had been immeasurably influenced by the image of the crusader king. Monarchy was strengthened and right order was restored when twelfth-century kings were defined as roi-chevalier—the leader of the chivalric warrior aristocracy defending faith and peace against heathendom and heresy. Authority and legitimacy for Christian warrior kingship were discovered by means of elaborate typologies between crusader kings of the present and warrior kings of the past who shared in like actions in the continuum of war against God's enemies. In the liberated Jerusalem, Christ was again understood to be King in his Holy City, and crusader kings were seen as vicars of the conquering, ruling and commanding Christ. Sacrality was thus restored to monarchy in ideas associated with Christo-mimetic royalty which flowed from the kings of Jerusalem and fed the medieval imagination in a reaction to the desacralizing agenda of the Gregorian Reform. This dissertation examines the development of the image of crusader king, studying its origin, the individuals and groups who helped mold it to their own needs, and its use and exemplification in support of royalist agendas in the twelfth century.