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| In Praise of the New Knighthood | |
|---|---|
| Title | In Praise of the New Knighthood |
| Original title | De Laude Novae Militiae |
| Author | Pope Urban II (attributed), Bernard of Clairvaux (attributed) |
| Language | Latin |
| Date | 11th century |
| Genre | Monastic treatise / sermon |
| Subject | Knighthood, Crusades |
In Praise of the New Knighthood is a Latin tract traditionally associated with Bernard of Clairvaux that reframes the knight as a consecrated instrument of Christianity during the era of the First Crusade and the rise of military orders. The work argues for a synthesis of monastic ideals and armed service, praising a new form of religious life exemplified by the Knights Templar, Hospitallers, and related institutions. Its circulation influenced debates among figures such as Pope Urban II, Hugh of Payens, Fulk of Chartres, and regional powers across France, Spain, and the Holy Land.
Scholars debate whether the tract was authored by Bernard of Clairvaux or by contemporaries in his circle, with competing attribution to clerics close to Pope Urban II or Templar founders like Hugues de Payens. Manuscript evidence ties the text to monastic centers such as Clairvaux Abbey, Cîteaux Abbey, and Abbey of Saint-Denis, and to episcopal see libraries in Chartres, Reims, and Tours. The work circulated among patrons like Eleanor of Aquitaine, Louis VII of France, and military leaders including Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin I of Jerusalem. Later authorship theories invoke scribes tied to Stephen Harding and the Cistercian Order.
Composed during the aftermath of the First Crusade and the consolidation of crusader states such as County of Edessa and Kingdom of Jerusalem, the tract responds to ecclesiastical questions sparked by councils like Council of Clermont and disputes involving Gregorian Reform. It addresses contemporaries engaged in conflicts with polities such as the Seljuk Empire and Fatimid Caliphate, and interacts with legal codifications like the Peace and Truce of God movement. The document aimed to legitimize the militarization of religious life at a time when institutions like the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar were seeking papal privileges from figures such as Pope Paschal II and Pope Callixtus II.
The treatise adopts the sermonic register familiar from preachers like Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter the Hermit, structured in exhortatory sections that praise armed religious service, condemn mercenary violence linked to nobles like William the Conqueror and Robert Guiscard, and juxtapose monastic vows with chivalric duties owed to rulers such as Alexios I Komnenos and Henry I of England. It deploys exempla drawn from saints like Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Benedict, Saint George, and martyrs venerated at shrines in Santiago de Compostela and Canterbury Cathedral. The language echoes canonical texts such as the Rule of Saint Benedict and liturgical forms used at Cluny Abbey.
The tract articulates a theology of armed sanctity linking concepts from Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas's later reception to the contemporary ethos of Cistercian spirituality, invoking sacramental categories administered by bishops like Anselm of Canterbury and theologians of Chartres School. It frames knighthood as a vocation analogous to priesthood, reconciling martial action with vows reminiscent of Benedictine and Cistercian observance, and situating military orders within canonical structures recognized at councils like Lateran Council gatherings. The text also addresses the relationship between Latin Christendom and Eastern Christians such as the Byzantine Empire and interlocutors in Antioch.
Reception ranged from enthusiastic endorsement by founders of the Knights Templar and advocates at courts of Flanders and Normandy to criticism from skeptics in episcopal chapters of Chartres and Toulouse. The tract influenced constitutions of military orders, diplomatic petitions to popes including Innocent II and Eugene III, and literary portrayals in chansons de geste linked to figures like William Marshal and Richard I of England. Later medieval jurists and historians—such as William of Tyre and scribes of the Chronicle of the Morea—cite its themes while councils and royal chancelleries across Castile and Portugal adapted its rationale for royal militias.
Manuscript witnesses survive in scriptoria associated with monastic centers including Clairvaux, Cîteaux, Saint-Victor, Paris, and cathedral libraries at Chartres and Reims, as well as in crusader archives in Acre and Jerusalem. Variants appear in compilations alongside works by Guibert of Nogent, Fulcher of Chartres, and Gilo of Paris, and in collections used by Templar masters like Hugues de Payens. Copies influenced vernacular translations across Occitan and Old French milieus, finding their way into cartularies and chronicle margins in regions from Brittany to Catalonia.
Contemporary historians—such as scholars publishing in venues concerned with Crusader Studies, Medieval Latin philology, and monastic history—debate attribution, dating, and rhetorical function, invoking methodologies from paleography, diplomatics, and intellectual history used by researchers at institutions like École des Chartes and University of Oxford. Recent work situates the tract within debates over sanctified violence, engaging comparative studies of Islamic jurisprudence, Byzantine practice, and secular chivalric literature, while archival finds in repositories like the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Vatican Library continue to refine its textual tradition.
Category:Medieval texts