Between Text and Reality
The usages of Jerusalem in the Carmina Burana
and their connection to
perceptions upon contemporary practices
Virginia Brendel 10399666 30-06-2017
Table of contents
List of abbreviations 1
Introduction 2
Historiography 3
The Carmina Burana 8
Method and Structure 11
1. Jerusalem in crusading poems 13
On those who have been signed with the cross 16
Saladin's reconquest of Jerusalem 19
Connections between the heavenly and the earthly city 24
2. Textual metaphors? 30
Babylon 30
Zion 33
The End of Time 36
Other references to Jerusalem 41
3. Living closer to God 43
Crusades 44
Church reform 48
Development of cities, urbanization 51
Apocalypse 55
Conclusion 58
Bibliography 62
Sources 62
List of abbreviations
CB FKB Carmina Burana, Latin translation by Carl Fischer, Middle High German
translation by Hugo Kuhn and critical notes by Günter Bernt (Zürich and Munich 1974).
CBM Carmina Burana, translated by Tariq Marshall, critical edition, 3rd edition (Los
Angeles 2013).
CBV Carmina Burana, translated by Benedikt Konrad Vollmann, critical edition
(Frankfurt am Main 1987).
Introduction
The Carmina Burana is one of the most extraordinary manuscripts from the Middle Ages. This thirteenth-century codex contains a collection of over two-hundred songs, ranging from subjects like love and money to corruption within the Church and crusading. As Peter
Godman points out, a lot of research has already been done on this codex.1 However, many
aspects still remain untouched, one of which is the ways in which Jerusalem is being imagined within the Carmina Burana: How was it described? In which ways was the place being invoked? This is particularly interesting because Jerusalem has such an important place within Christianity. It is the city where several important moments in the life of Christ took place, amongst which the Last Supper, his crucifixion and his resurrection. Every year a stream of pilgrims would come to see his grave, and it still continues to this day.
However, most people never undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and one can therefore wonder how important Jerusalem was outside the Church. The destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009 by al-Hākim was only noted by two contemporary chroniclers, Rofuldus Glaber and Ademar of Chabannes.2 However, ninety years later a large
group of armored pilgrims conquered the city, freeing it from the hands of the Saracens, marking the end of what would later be called the First Crusade. Jerusalem, it seems, had undergone a change in the way it was perceived. In fact, Jerusalem never even had a set definition as it could mean more than just the city. For example, it could stand for the Church and the human soul.3 As Suzanne Yeager notes, Jerusalem was 'like a palimpsest ready for
inscription'.4 Every individual author could therefore mold it for his own uses. The meaning
derived through this sculpting may in turn tell us something about the author and how he understood his world. This leads to the central question of this thesis: What can the different usages of Jerusalem in the Carmina Burana tell us about the ways contemporaries perceived their world?
The Carmina Burana contains a whole range of songs with direct or indirect
references to the Holy City. The fact that these songs are not liturgical, come from different
1 Peter Godman, 'Rethinking the Carmina Burana (I): The Medieval Context and Modern Reception of the Codex Buranus', Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 45:2 (2015) 245-266.
2 John France, 'The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Crusade', Journal of Ecclesiastical History 47:1 (1996) 1-17, there 3.
3 Bianca Kühnel, From the Earthly to the Heavenly Jerusalem. Representations of the Holy City in Christian
Art of the First Millennium (Freiburg 1987) 72.
places within Western Europe and have been composed for different purposes during the eleventh until the beginning of the thirteenth century, makes them very suitable for gaining some new insights on the diverse usages of Jerusalem within texts. Songs, like other medieval texts, offer us a glimpse into the medieval world. They tell us about love, drinking, gambling, but also about celebrations or sad events. Not only can it give us a better understanding of social practices, but also how at least the author thought about it. The poems in the Carmina
Burana too tell us something about the contemporary world. Therefore, rather than only
focusing on how Jerusalem figures within these texts, I will explore what these poems are about and how Jerusalem then is featured to convey a message not necessarily centered on the Holy City. In what ways was Jerusalem mentioned and why? What can it tell us about the importance of the real city and how do contemporary events have influence on the diverse usage of Jerusalem as a topos? I will also look at different approaches amongst historians towards the significance of the city and touch upon the discussions about the crusades and the Apocalypse.
Historiography
If we take a look at the research that has already been done on the ways Jerusalem was imagined in Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages by for example the clergy and pilgrims, we can distinguish a few notable things. First, most attention for this subject seems to come from art historians. For instance, Bianca Kühnel's From the Earthly to the Heavenly
Jerusalem sets out to give an overview of the representations of Jerusalem within Christian
art.5 Here she looks mainly at the distinction between Jerusalem as an earthly city and as a
heavenly one, which St. Augustine introduced in De Civitate Dei. The former is the city which we can all visit and where the Biblical events have taken place. The latter symbolizes the perfect city made by God which will descend from heaven at the End of Time.6 According
to Kühnel these two cities were so important that contemporary Jerusalem was almost completely ignored by the church fathers.7 Even within the Carmina Burana the Biblical and
exegetical city take precedence over the contemporary one. There also seems to be less emphasis on the architectural aspects of the city, than in the art Kühnel has observed.
5 Kühnel, From the Earthly to the Heavenly Jerusalem. 6 Ibidem, 55-59.
Of the more recent studies a significant part still focuses on the visual aspects of the imagined Jerusalem, as two edited volumes published in 2012 show: Jerusalem as Narrative
Space. Erzählraum Jerusalem and Imagining Jerusalem in the Medieval West.8 While the
former also has a few articles about Jerusalem within text, the latter solely concerns visual sources. By focusing on textual sources my thesis will thus form a contribution to the research on the imagined Jerusalem. One article in these volumes by Kühnel is worth noting. Here she recalls the fact that there were several places in Europe where representations of Jerusalem have been built. These places would have the function of 'bridges to the loca sancta' of Jerusalem.9 People could visit Jerusalem in their minds without physically going there by
visiting one of these places. Jerusalem could therefore also be experienced elsewhere. The development of spiritual pilgrimages to replicas of Jerusalem or the Holy Sepulchre is also mentioned by Guy Stroumsa. He connects this with other phenomena: the Crusades and the advent of Passion Plays.10 In his view the Crusades had spurred a renewed
interest in the earthly city which led to an increased construction of churches made to
resemble the Holy Sepulchre. These churches could become spiritual replacements for the real one in Jerusalem. According to Strousma this development together with the fact that Passion Plays began to be enacted in churches throughout Western Europe, led to an increase in spiritual pilgrimage. Believers could see and imagine the Passion of Christ even when they were not in Jerusalem. Especially after the Fall of Jerusalem in 1187 this caused the earthly Jerusalem to become less important, while the image of the heavenly one would become prominent, says Stroumsa.11 Jerusalem, in a manner of speaking, could be everywhere. Even a
monastery could be seen as a 'Jerusalem in anticipation', as Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) said of his abbey.12 Cities also could be imagined as being Jerusalem, like in the cases of
Rome, Aachen, Paris, Orléans, Pepuza and Tymion.13 London too has been described by
William Fitz Stephen in ways which remind us of heavenly Jerusalem.14 This significant shift
8 Annette Hoffmann and Gerhard Wolf ed., Jerusalem as Narrative Space. Erzählraum Jerusalem (Leiden 2012); Lucy Donkin and Hanna Vorholt ed., Imagining Jerusalem in the Medieval West (New York 2012). 9 Bianca Kühnel, 'Jerusalem between Narrative and Iconic' in: Annette Hoffmann and Gerhard Wolf ed.,
Jerusalem as Narrative Space. Erzählraum Jerusalem (Leiden 2012) 105-123, there 122.
10 Guy Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems' in: Lee Levine ed., Jerusalem. It's Sanctity and Centrality to Judaism,
Christianity and Islam (New York 1999) 349-370.
11 Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems', 351, 352, 357 and 364.
12 Ibidem, 361; Kühnel, From the Earthly to the Heavenly Jerusalem, 135.
13 Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems', 352-353; Kühnel, From the Earthly to the Heavenly Jerusalem, 116-118; Alexei Lidov, 'A Byzantine Jerusalem' in: Annette Hoffmann and Gerhard Wolf, Jerusalem as Narrative
Space. Erzählraum Jerusalem (Leiden 2012) 63-103, there 82.
14 Britt Rothauser, '”A reuer … brighter en bo e the sunne and mone”: The Use of Water in the Medieval ƥ ƥ Considereation of Urban Space' in: Albrecht Classen ed., Urban Space in the Middle Ages and the Early
can perhaps also be traced in the Carmina Burana where one song, CB 52, may provide a connection between Solignac, its monastery and Jerusalem. If so, perhaps even a small village could be a place where one could experience the heavenly city.
Even though the Crusades have been mentioned by Stroumsa, the impact of these events on the image of Jerusalem was far greater. Not only did it result in the building of replicas, but, as Colin Morris argues, it also led to an increase in pilgrims to the Holy Land and to a heightened interest in the city.15 This also meant that the goal of these pilgrimages,
the Holy Sepulchre, would become a symbol for the whole of Jerusalem.16 Things that
happened within the Holy Land would lead to greater reactions from the West. This too can be seen in the Carmina Burana, for instance, in the case of the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin. As my thesis will show, the event evoked different reactions in three poems. In CB 47 the listener is spurred to go and fight for Jerusalem, to regain the earthly city from those infidels. Only in CB 50, however, is Saladin explicitly mentioned. Here the author does not want the people to win it back with weapons. The fact that Saladin won was because God had let him. The cause was the bad behavior of the Christians, who have sinned too much to deserve this city. Instead of fighting, the listener is urged to do penance and to reconcile with God.
Apocalyptic elements have also played a part in the image formation of Jerusalem and the Crusades. Amongst historians there has been some discussion about the importance of apocalyptic thoughts during the eleventh century and the extent to which people, the clergy as well as laity, all over Western Europe thought that the End of Time was drawing near and what they did in recognition thereof. While at first Carl Erdmann suggested that Jerusalem was only a secondary aspect of Urban's appeal for the First Crusade, other historians like Hans Eberhard Mayer, Jonathan Riley Smith and Marcus Bull have argued that nevertheless Jerusalem was constantly on everyones mind.17 However, John France argues that the silence
surrounding the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre shows that contemporaries were more concerned with their own local community.18 Bernard McGinn also points out that the First
Crusade might not have been the result of apocalypticism even though it might have played a role amongst the motives of the crusaders. As McGinn underscores, 'After all, Jerusalem was
Modern Age (Berlin 2009) 245-272, there 245-257.
15 Colin Morris, The Sepulchre of Christ and the Medieval West. From the Beginning to 1600 (Oxford 2005) 180-184 and 201.
16 Morris, The Sepulchre of Christ, 182; Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems', 351. 17 France, 'The Destruction of Jerusalem and the First Crusade', 2.
the apocalyptic city par excellence'.19 Even though it might not have been the motive behind
the movement, according to McGinn the First Crusade 'was a notable stimulus to the revival of apocalyptic themes'.20 Changes in the political situation of the city thereafter could lead to
suggestions of the coming of the End, an idea which can be seen in CB 47 where the Fall of Jerusalem is compared to a second crucifixion of Christ.
The studies mentioned so far share common ground with my own research. However, none of them are purely based on secular texts, which is the focus of this thesis. Two earlier studies have examined the image of Jerusalem through secular texts. The first case is a book by Alexandre Winkler in which he looks at crusade literature and how the meaning of
Jerusalem changes throughout it.21 However, even though he remarks that Jerusalem can have
different meanings, he mainly focuses on the role the city played as a crusading stronghold within the literature. His study is thus a linguistic one with almost no connection to historical events. This thesis will fill this gap by providing both a literary analysis of the texts and making a link between the texts and social reality. Another problem of Winkler's study is that he focuses solely on literature about the crusades directed to Jerusalem, thus ignoring military expeditions to other places like the Baltic region that could also be called crusades. Especially if we take into account the remark by Norman Housley that these expeditions, even though they were not directed to the earthly Jerusalem, still had heavenly city as a goal, as the participants would gain entrance to it.22 However, for Winkler the city remains a physical,
earthly one embedded within a text from which he does not depart.
Another study is one by the briefly mentioned Yeager.23 Despite the fact that her focus
has been on the fourteenth century whereas mine will be on the eleventh to early thirteenth century, her book is a real inspiration since the way she has approached her research is close to my own design. Like Winkler's, her book is completely focused on Jerusalem within narrative, like the Middle English romans The Siege of Jerusalem; Richard, Coer de Lyon; and The Book of Sir John Mandeville. However, whereas Winkler stayed within the text, Yeager also steps outside them to take a look at the social reality. Hence, she answers not only to the question of how Jerusalem was portrayed, but also how this in turn can be related to
19 Bernard McGinn, Visions of the End. Apocalyptic Traditions of the Middle Ages (New York 1979) 88. 20 McGinn, Visions of the End, 89.
21 Alexandre Winkler, Le tropisme de Jérusalem dans la prose et la poésie (XIIe – XIVe siècle). Essai sur la
littérature des croisades (Paris 2006).
22 Norman Housley, 'Crusades against Christians: Their origins and early development, c. 1000-1216' in: P.W. Edbury ed., Crusade and Settlement: Papers read at the first conference of the SSCLE (Cardiff, 1985) 17-36, there 20.
external realities. It leads to her conclusion that ongoing wars between France and England found their reflection in portrayals of the English king as the true heir of Jerusalem. The reason for the loss of Jerusalem was accorded to the French king, whose behavior was so wicked that God had decided it was better for the city to fall into the hands of the Saracens. According to Yeager, Jerusalem here plays the role of separating good from evil. Through it the English people were marked as a chosen group, thus creating a form of proto-national sentiment.24 Even though these kinds of references are absent in the Carmina Burana, I am
certain that social reality has had an impact in how the songs were written and the subjects that were chosen. The few songs that I have mentioned so far promise as much since they are most likely a reaction to what has happened within the Holy Land. In this thesis social reality is used to refer to the interaction between historical events like the crusades and how people thought about it.
Another interesting research has been done by Philippe Buc who states that attitudes towards Jerusalem and thoughts about the End of Time had a deep impact on the way violence was used and interpreted. He shows how conflicts like the American Civil War (1861-1865) and even the Iraq War (2003-2011) cannot be fully understood if one leaves Christian exegesis out of the picture. More than that, he even states that medieval Christian thought has
influenced later violence.25 According to Buc the End of Time plays an important part in this,
as its coming was signaled by 'Events' which were 'way stations toward the apocalyptic war to end all wars'.26 Important events like the First Crusade could be seen as apocalyptic moments
by contemporaries. According to Buc the thought of war to end war that rises from this, can be found throughout modern history and is a thought that can be traced back to medieval exegesis. Jerusalem played a role in this violence. Not only the actual earthly city where the Last Judgment would take place, but also the cities that were imagined as Jerusalem, states Buc. 'Precisely because cities were Jerusalems, one fought hard, and one executed justice harshly, to make them pure.'27
Some poems from the Carmina Burana too, contain clear connection between Jerusalem and violence, especially the crusading poems, but also some poems regarding the state of the Church like CB 34. However, even when violence is not mentioned, there is some
24 Ibidem, 164-166 and 171.
25 Philippe Buc, Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror. Christianity, Violence, and the West (Philadelphia 2015) vii, 40-44, 54 and 63.
26 Buc, Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror, 279. 27 Ibidem, 292.
urgency present to change the way things were going. The Church should be like Jerusalem and therefore it should be pure, which in fact it was not according to the authors. Even though there is not always an urge for violence, we can see some sort of link to Buc's statement on imagined Jerusalems mentioned above. It seems surprising to me that although Jerusalem had an important role in the End of Time, Buc does not really dive into this aspect. Something I will take a closer look at in the third chapter.
The Carmina Burana
The Carmina Burana is a manuscript containing, as the name suggests, a collection of poems, songs and a few short plays. Even though the manuscript itself has not been mentioned in any kind of medieval document – which makes its dating more difficult – researchers have been able to date its composition to the first half of the thirteenth century, around 1230, based on codicological evidence.28 The songs within the manuscript originate from the eleventh to the
early thirteenth century, with a majority from the twelfth century. Despite the fact that the codex does not seem to have been well-known during the Middle Ages, the
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of the Holy Roman Empire was a first step toward making the
manuscript known to a wider public. Due to the German secularization, during which the possessions of ecclesiastical estates were inventoried, the codex was found in 1803 in the abbey of Benediktbeuern, after which it was brought to the court library in Munich, nowadays the Bavarian State Library. When Carl Orff stumbled upon a Latin edition of the Carmina
Burana and decided to set a few of the songs to music, the stage was set for accessing a wide
audience.29
Despite the fact that some songs are well-known today, the origins, goals, audience and composition of the manuscript itself are still shrouded in mystery. Even though
researchers agree that it was not written at the abbey of Benediktbeuern, the question of where it was composed and for what purpose is still heavily debated, with the discussion focusing on two places in particular both in Austria: Seckau and Neustift in Tirol .30 In a recent article,
Godman states that the manuscript has been written in Neustift.31 However, he barely
mentions the discussion, nor does he explain his choice for Neustift. Instead, he sets out to
28 CBV, 900. 29 Ibidem, 904-905. 30 Ibidem, 900.
give a picture of the conditions there which led to the production of the Carmina Burana. Although part of his analysis is not specific to Neustift, his argumentation still remains of interest as it opens up to new ideas about why the codex was produced.32 He rejects the earlier
thesis that the manuscript was commissioned by a rich lord, and instead puts forward the possibility that it was intended for the monks themselves.33 This would mean that the monks
did not take their religious vows very seriously as most of the texts, according to Godman, do not fit 'into the pattern of piety laid down by the Rule' of St. Augustine.34 It also shows us that
poems could travel over long distances from France to the southern border of the German-speaking parts of Europe. Even a song such as CB 47, which has probably been composed near Limoges, found its way into the Carmina Burana. This does not mean that traveling groups of musicians brought these songs to the abbey where the monks heard them and wrote them down. A close inspection of the manuscript reveals that the codex has been formed by the copying of other song collections. Benedikt Konrad Vollmann backs this by referring to the fact that one of the songs has been written down twice as CB 85 and CB 159.35
Even though the Carmina Burana is a unique collection of songs which can tell us much about medieval culture, according to Albrecht Classen most of the songs have remained unstudied so far.36 The number of complete translations and critical editions of the whole
manuscript too are few. The first of the critical editions of the complete Carmina Burana was published in 1930 under the editorship of Alfons Hilka and Otto Schumann.37 This edition did
not yet contain a translation of the, mostly, Latin songs. However, corrections had been made to the original text and gaps had been filled, thus presenting a collection of songs as they might have been written by their composers. Even though Hilka and Schumann have noted the differences between their amended text and the Carmina Burana, the later edition by Vollmann is more practical for my thesis.38 This diplomatic edition shows only the text as it is
written within the Carmina Burana with a few minor corrections of missing letters. By setting it beside the edition of Hilka and Schumann one may discover significant changes over time, including the way Jerusalem is described.
32 Ibidem, 249-254. 33 Ibidem, 249 en 252. 34 Ibidem, 248. 35 CBV, 902.
36 Albrecht Classen, 'The Carmina Burana: A Mirror of Latin and Vernacular Literary Traditions from a Cultural-Historical Perspective: Transgression is the Name of the Game', Neophilologus 94 (2010) 477-497, there 478.
37 Carmina Burana, critical edition by Alfons Hilka and Otto Schumann (Heidelberg 1930). 38 CBV.
Since the first critical edition by Hilka and Schumann many paleographers have studied the different hands at work in the codex, as well as its illuminations and ornaments. The musical aspects have also been examined as all the songs have been written with a certain rhythm conforming to certain types of songs. Some of them also have neumes written for musical accompaniment.39 Even though this is intriguing, as it tells us something about how
music was composed, the rhythm and tones themselves do not tell us much about how these composers perceived their world. The number of studies about the content of the songs has, however, been surprisingly small.
It is notable that Winkler, whose book is about crusade literature, never even mentions the Carmina Burana even though it contains no less than eight songs concerning the crusades to Jerusalem.40 This absence together with the general lack of much historical research on
these songs, may be explained partly by the fact that scholars have often called these songs vagabond songs.41 For this reason the songs within the manuscript are associated with
wandering folk who go from place to place to make a living by performing music with subjects like love, drinking and gambling. This reputation, however false it might be, has found its way into the songs and themes which have been studied, leading to the fact that 'drinking, gambling and sexuality have been noted many times' by scholars, despite the fact that a significant part of the songs have other topics.42
Classen tries to break away from this stigma by arguing that the Carmina Burana has been studied for far too long as a collection of special songs written by students, scholars and minstrels.43 He also points out that most of the songs have never been the subject of study and
that there has been more research done on specific songs or their ensemble than on groups of songs or at themes preceding throughout the manuscript. He then goes on to analyze a
selection of songs about courtly love. The problem with earlier studies, according to Classen, is that they have seen these as simple songs about love. Classen, on the other hand, makes it clear that these texts are not what they seem to be. At first sight the songs tell us about courtly love, but in fact the composer may have only used the form. The woman mentioned in the
39 CB FKB 861; Bernard Bischoff, Carmina Burana. Einführung zur Faksimile-Ausgabe der Benediktbeurer
Liederhandschrift (Munich 1970) 10-11.
40 Winkler, Le tropisme de Jérusalem; for the songs concerning Jerusalem see CB 46 to CB 53.
41 See for example Eberhard Brost, Carmina Burana: Lieder der Vaganten. Lateinisch und Deutsch nach
Ludwig Laistner (Heidelberg 1954) and W. van Elden, Carmina Burana: kleine bloemlezing uit de middeleeuwse vagantenpoëzie ('s-Gravenhage 1967).
42 Albrecht Classen, 'The Carmina Burana: A Mirror', 477-478. 43 Ibidem, 476.
song is actually only there for the sexual need of the man.44 The songs about drinking and
gambling too, as Classen points out, are not just merry songs. They also contain a deeper message in which the author reflects upon cultural aspects of his society.45 Classen himself
does not delve deeper into these reflections, although he urges that more research should be done on this topic to uncover not only more about medieval culture, but also how
contemporaries perceived it.46
This thesis will be a response to Classen's call for more research to themes within the
Carmina Burana, as I set out to uncover the usages of Jerusalem in several of the songs. It
might not only tell us more about how the city was perceived but it will also give us a better insight to what occupied the minds of these people, how they reacted to historical events and how this was conveyed in their description of the city or by the usage of Jerusalem as a metaphor. In this way, I will also try to contribute to the small amount of research done on the diversity of textual images and usages of Jerusalem. I expect to find not only Jerusalem as the earthly and heavenly city, as Church and as human soul47, but also that each usage will be
unique and embedded with different meanings depending on the message the author wanted to convey, as CB 47 and CB 50 have illustrated.
Method and structure
The questions of how and why the imagined Jerusalem was used within the Carmina Burana will be answered by close-reading several songs. This selection has been made based on whether there were clear references to Jerusalem. This does not mean that all usages of Jerusalem will be discussed here, but rather the more explicit ones, although a few indirect references will also be examined. Because the few translations of the Carmina Burana are mostly of the amended manuscript and are not always true to the Latin original, the selected songs have been translated anew to get translations as close as possible to the original texts. This way I have avoided researching translations which are in fact interpretations by others and thus could have been adjusted. It has in fact turned out that the translation by Vollmann
44 Ibidem, 483 and 486. 45 Ibidem, 490.
46 Ibidem, 491-493.
47 Kühnel and Ariane Westphälinger note that Jerusalem, viewed morally, is the human soul. Kühnel, From the
Earthly to the Heavenly Jerusalem, 72; Ariane Westphälinger, 'Real-Geographische Gegenwart und
Vergangenheit' in: Annette Hoffmann and Gerhard Wolf, Jerusalem as Narrative Space. Erzählraum
stay close to the Latin original. The songs have then been analyzed on a literary level. What are they about? How is Jerusalem described? Which meaning does it have; a city, a metaphor or anything else? What is the purpose of Jerusalem in the text? The date of composition and the authors, if they are known, have also been explored as they give us a background for the social realities these poems might be reacting to.
In the first two chapters I will conduct a close-reading of the poems. I will demonstrate the different ways Jerusalem is mentioned, both as a city or as a metaphor. In fact, as we shall see, 'Jerusalem' as a name is hardly mentioned at all. Instead, the authors refer to it by using synonyms or descriptions. By scanning the texts for the exact words used and by analyzing the different contexts, I will show the diverse applications of 'Jerusalem'. The first chapter contains the poems that are about crusading. Since they form a demarcated whole even in the manuscript itself, they will be treated apart from the other poems. These other poems will be categorized in the second chapter in three themes closely connected to the usage of or reference to Jerusalem: Babylon, Zion and the Apocalypse with a last category reserved for other usages. Throughout these two chapters it will become clear that even though there were general views of Jerusalem as the city of David, the place of Christ's grave and the stage of the Last Judgment, the usage of Jerusalem in these poems was very diverse as the authors were not bound by Biblical texts but adapted the usage of Jerusalem to their own needs, like warning their audience. In the third chapter I explore these needs further. How did
contemporary events and developments shape the world of the authors? What did they think about the crusades and church reformation? I will also try to take into account the landscape the authors were living in: the urbanization of Western Europe. All these things not only influenced the authors but also shaped the ways in which they used Jerusalem. The diversity is a reflection of their individual responses. At the same time, I will argue that even though they all refer to Jerusalem differently these references can all be linked in some way to general themes, which leads us to the question at which extent and in which ways contemporaries were thinking about the Apocalypse. The answer to this question may very well be as complex as the answer to what Jerusalem exactly means.
1. Jerusalem in crusading poems
The Carmina Burana is a fascinating collection of songs, most of which can be seen as a product of the Renaissance of the twelfth century, according to Günter Bernt.48 It was a
century which saw developments on different fronts; from the rise of towns and the revival of Romanesque art to the beginning of Gothic and the emergence of vernacular literature.49 Since
most of the poems of the manuscript were written during that century they might be seen as part of this cultural renewal. Apart from this there are several reasons why researchers have found it an intriguing manuscript. First, because of the sheer number of works that it contains, namely more than two-hundred poems. A second point is the geographical range from where these songs originate. It contains not only songs from the German-speaking, but also from the French-speaking region, and some songs might even come from present-day Spain and England. The manuscript thus gives us a broader picture of the song and poem culture in Western Europe in this period. A third point would be that whereas most medieval
manuscripts containing songs for liturgical use, this is not the case with those in the Carmina
Burana. The topics are ostensibly secular: love, drinking, gambling, fortune and money. There
are also poems dealing with religion, but these are for a great part seemingly satirical.
As Bernhard Bischoff states, the Carmina Burana as a whole presents a cross section of the Latin lyric poetry of the late eleventh to early thirteenth century.50 These centuries saw
an increase in people traveling between Western Europe and the Holy Land. Jerusalem was at the center of attention during the crusading campaigns and pilgrims went back and forth to visit it. All these people brought information with them as they traveled back to Europe, leading to an increase in texts about Jerusalem.51 To research all these texts would be too
much for this thesis, which is why I have confined the amount of works to the poems of the
Carmina Burana. If the manuscript indeed is representative of medieval poetry as stated by
Bischoff, then the different definitions of Jerusalem found here and its usages, too, should give us a broad impression of what Jerusalem meant and how this meaning changed
depending on circumstances. In other words: the authors could bend the meaning of Jerusalem to their own needs. In the first two chapters I will show many examples of how they did this.
48 CB FKB, 856-857.
49 Charles Haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge 1927) viii. 50 Bischoff, Carmina Burana. Einführung, 5.
51 Sylvia Schein, Gateway to the Heavenly City. Crusader Jerusalem and the Catholic West (1099-1187) (Aldershot 2005) 189.
This chapter will focus on a particular section of poems about the crusades. Jerusalem, as a city, was a very important focus in this movement. However, as we will analyze the poems by close-reading and by comparing them to other documents we shall see that it was not only the earthly city that mattered, nor did it have it the same importance for everyone. Before I go on with a literary analysis I will first give some more background about the manuscript, most notably the authors of the poems and its audience.
According to Bischoff, we have to keep in mind the specific kind of people who wrote these poems and the public they were writing for.52 Even though most of them could not be
traced back to a specific author, those whose name we do know were clerics, theologians, teachers and people who belonged to or had ties with noble society. The collection includes authors such as the Archpoet, Otto von Botenlauben, Peter of Blois, Phillip the Chancellor, Walter of Châtillon and Walther von der Vogelweide, all of whom are recognized contributors to medieval poetry.53 The songs whose authors are unknown were also written by people who
were well versed in Latin, or in the case of the Middle High German ones, who had enjoyed a privileged formal education, well before the rise of urban universities in Western Europe.54
Instead, one could enjoy an education at a monastic school or even better a cathedral school where the educational level was a bit higher.55 According to Schumann, some of these songs
may very well have been written by students, either for fun or even as an exercise demanded by their teachers.56 We see here that, although the songs in the Carmina Burana have been
called a collection of goliard and vagabond songs, we must not assume that these were written by simple or even secular men. Instead, the authors belonged to a privileged group of those who had enjoyed an education and some of them even belonged to nobility.
The songs they wrote were presumably intended for their peers and for others within their social circle, which according to Bernt consisted of clerics and scholars who had mastered the Latin language. This led to his conclusion that the songs were written for an international public as these clerics where everywhere and the songs seem to have spread across the continent.57 However, Bernt does not account for the possibility that these songs
might have been intended for local or regional clerics and were only afterwards circulated to
52 Bischoff, Carmina Burana. Einführung, 23-5. 53 See for a full list: CBM, 415-420.
54 Around 1300 the number of urban universities was still very small, perhaps twenty, see: Joseph Lynch and Phillip Adamo, The Medieval Church. A Brief History (New York 2014) 267.
55 Lynch and Adamo, The Medieval Church, 268-269 and 270-273.
56 Schumann, Carmina Burana. II. Band. Kommentar. I. Einleitung (Die Handschrift der Carmina Burana) by Alfons Hilka and Otto Schumann second edition (Heidelberg 1961) 84*-85*.
other parts of Western Europe. After all, as Bernt claims, Latin songs could be heard not only amongst scholars, but also at courts and in cloisters and abbeys. Even the common,
uneducated, people could have played the Latin songs, especially if they had an appealing melody and were suitable for dance.58 Furthermore, merchants brought Latin songs with them
on their journeys as an archeological find in Bergen has shown. There, two wooden sticks were found inscribed with parts of two specific poems also occurring in the Carmina Burana: CB 71 and 88.59
Dissemination or origins could be even wider. According to Lars Boje Mortensen, Latin songs also likely had vernacular versions.60 This could be supported by the fact that
even though the official calls for a crusade have all been written in Latin, when the
messengers spread the word of the crusade it would be a translation to the vernacular of the original Latin papal letter, according to Jonathan Riley-Smith.61 That a vernacular version of
the Latin songs and poems, while still keeping the rhyme, rhythm and general meaning of the text, is possible, can be seen in translations of Carl Fischer.62 In his German translation of the
Carmina Burana he has made an enormous effort to keep the rhyme as well as the rhythm and
the meaning. This leaves at least one question open: Why have the High Middle German poems not been translated to Latin in the manuscript? Or have all texts been copied in their original language? Although we cannot answer this question, it might help me in making some more general conclusions later on.
A final observation before we move on to the crusading songs. Jürgen Leonhardt remarks that most of the medieval Latin poems are not to be understood as a direct reflection of social reality.63 Whether 'most' might be an exaggeration remains debatable. However,
Classen has also argued that the poems regarding love in the Carmina Burana do not show real practices as much as they mock concepts of courtly love.64 In the same way Leonhardt
suggests that we can only understand these poems 'if we recognize them as witty allusions to both spiritual and worldly literature'.65 However, the collection may still be relevant to
58 Ibidem. 59 Ibidem.
60 Lars Boje Mortensen, 'The Study of Medieval Latin Literature' in: Hans-Werner Goetz and Jörg Jarnut ed.,
Mediävistik im 21. Jahrhundert. Stand und Perspektiven der internationalen und interdisziplinären
Mittelalterforschung (Munich 2003) 135-147, there 137-138. 61 Jonathan Riley-Smith, What were the Crusades? (London 1977) 41. 62 CB FKB.
63 Jürgen Leonhardt, Story of a World Language. Latin, translated by Kenneth Kronenberg (London 2013) 179. 64 Albrecht Classen, 'The Carmina Burana: A Mirror', 478-485.
historians in different ways. Even though it can be difficult to distinguish between literary convention and thoughts generally accepted by a large group of people during a certain period, it would be wrong to assume that these poems do not reflect upon reality. For instance, the fact that things were mocked tells us something about how the authors thought about them. It leaves open the possibility that praise is not meant as such, but it could be sarcasm.
Stephen Rigby and Alastair Minnis reflect upon this connection between imaginative literature and social reality. They argue that even though a text might be about an imagined world or event, the content was still 'to some extent determined by contemporary social structures, institutions, conventions, and behaviour'.66 In turn the texts would even participate
in these social structures and influence them, state Rigby and Minnis. The poems of the
Carmina Burana, like other kinds of texts, then also would have such a connection to social
reality. To uncover this I will first take a closer look at the poems themselves to uncover the subtle differences in their usage of 'Jerusalem' which will then be connected to the social reality they are alluding to. I will argue here that although the poems may all refer to the city Jerusalem, they all imagine it differently. It will show us that although there were authorities who propagated a certain view on Jerusalem, not everyone followed these views. There was enough space for contemporaries to diverge. Some of these crusading poems will show us that even though they are based on official documents, the authors imposed their own thoughts upon them. The usages of Jerusalem in these poems may therefore give us some insight into individual perceptions of the city.
On those who have been signed with the cross
The last poems at the end of the collection's first section – 'moral and satirical songs' – are announced by a simple header: 'on those signed with the cross', announcing songs about what we now call crusaders.67 Thus, it may come as no surprise that we find most of the allusions to
Jerusalem in this section of the Carmina Burana. These songs are all written in the twelfth century, by unknown authors. Some of them have only been found it this manuscript so far. For instance, CB 48 posits the holy city at its center even though Jerusalem is only mentioned at the very end. The poem begins by informing us that the grave of the crucified one has been
66 Stephen Rigby and Alastair Minnis ed., Historians on Chaucer. The 'General Prologue' to the Canterbury
Tales (Oxford 2014) v-vi.
defiled by the Saracen. This clearly refers to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the place where Christ was laid after he had died on the cross. The Saracen mentioned can be Saladin, thus pointing to the recapture of Jerusalem in 1187 and its consequences. However, according to both Vollmann and Marshall, 'Saracen' here means not Saladin but the Seljuks, who reigned over Jerusalem until the crusaders conquered the city in 1099.68 Neither the author nor the
date of production are known to us, but if we take the song which has been inserted at the end we might get a hint. These other lines in Middle High German have been written by Otto von Botenlauben (1177- ca. 1245) somewhere after the conquest of Saladin, making it more possible that he is 'the Saracen'. Especially since Bruce Beatie argues that the author of CB 48 was inspired by this German song by reusing its melody.69 This estimation of the date of
composition and who the 'Saracen' might have been is important for the third chapter when I will try to link the poems to social reality.
The song then moves on to say that it was Christ who ceded his burial place himself to the Saracens. This is amplified in the last few lines where it says that Christ wanted to lose Jerusalem. 'He wanted to lose Jerusalem so that we, through this meritorious deed [of winning the city back] could wash our sins away. For if he wanted to destroy the enemy and to free the land, he could have done it without us, since nothing can withstand him.'70 Here Jerusalem is
presented as the earthly city. The only characteristic we are given is the defiled grave of Christ. The text also relates to his crucifixion by referring to his cross and to his resurrection: 'Exurrexit'. The image conveyed is not of a contemporary Jerusalem, but of the city during Jesus' last moments on earth.
Going to Jerusalem is also presented as a way for remitting one's sins, especially in the context of taking up the cross as crusader who are described as 'those who have been signed with the sign of the cross'.71 According to Vollman this is not a call for a crusade, as the people
are presented as already having taken the cross.72 Instead, this song should be read as a call to
depart with a different mindset. The crusaders should not think that they will win because God will help them. They should rather be aware that they have to fight with all their might to achieve their goal. The message is clear: God does not need help, he could have done it all by
68 Ibidem, 987; CBM, 375.
69 Bruce Beatie, 'Carmina Burana 48-48a: a case of “irregular contrafacture”, MNL 80:4 (1965) 470-478, there 477-478.
70 'Hierusalem uoluit perdere, ut hoc opere sic possemus culpas diluere. Nam si uellet hostes destruere, absque nobis, et terram soluete posset propere, cum sibi nil possit resistere' in: CBV, 138.
71 'quos signauerit signo crucis' in: Ibidem, 138. 72 Ibidem, 986-987.
himself. The reason he is doing nothing is so that the people can prove themselves worthy of his salvation by achieving victory themselves. This line of thought about the Fall of Jerusalem is not unique to this poem. Bernard of Clairvaux has said something very similar when he explained that God allowed earthly Jerusalem to be attacked frequently 'in order that you [Jerusalem] might be an occasion both of virtue and salvation for brave men'.73
Even though the Jerusalem mentioned here is clearly an earthly one, there are hints for the heavenly city too. Each strophe is ended by 'May God rise'.74 This line can refer to
different things. First, after the report of the defilement of the grave, this can be read as an exhortation to God to rise against the Saracens. The line also is connected to the references to the grave of Christ, from where he, son of God, has risen at the first resurrection. In CB 50 Christ is actually described as God, born as man. Thus, 'May God rise' could also refer to Christ's resurrection. The last strophe, however, begins with the fact that 'he' has already risen and that 'he willed the loss of Jerusalem'.75 When the phrase is invoked for the last time, it
seems that it can neither mean that God should rise to fight, nor that it is a reference to the first resurrection. It is, rather, the second coming of Christ at the Last Judgment that is meant here. Even though there is no direct reference to the heavenly city, depending on the listener, this song can be interpreted as a call to fight for Jerusalem as a way to do penance and to gain entrance to heaven; or, if Christ is coming again, to be welcomed into heavenly Jerusalem. It is, however, not clear for which occasion this song has been composed. As mentioned, Beatie has pointed out that the short Middle High German song of Otto von Botenlaube which has been placed at the end of CB 48 is the original song for the musical notations given at CB 48. The melody of Von Botenlaube's song was reused for the 'crusading song'.76 This would mean
that CB 48 has been composed somewhere after the Fall of Jerusalem. However, it is possible that it is an adaptation of an earlier version of the poem, which could explain why Saladin is not named. On the other hand, the Church is presented as having lost the cross, which points to the capture of the cross by Saladin at the Battle of Hattin in 118777, making it more likely
that this song was composed as a reaction to the actions of Saladin and of the crusaders who have gone to the Holy Land so far.
73 Giles Constable, 'Jerusalem and the sign of the cross' in: Lee Levine ed., Jerusalem. Its Sanctity and
Centrality to Judaism, Christianity and Islam (New York 1999) 371-381, there 374-375.
74 'Exurgat Deus' in: CBV, 136 and 138.
75 'Exurrexit', 'Hierusalem voluit perdere' in: Ibidem, 138. 76 Beatie, 'Carmina Burana 48-48a', 475-478.
Saladin's reconquest of Jerusalem
We now have one possible reference to the reconquest of Jerusalem by Saladin. This event, however, is also reflected upon in two other songs, which both deal with it quite differently. In CB 47 the loss of the city is presented as a second crucifixion of Christ who had been
wounded anew. His cross is destroyed and his grave is demolished by a foreign people. Jerusalem is described as a once bustling city, which now stands empty. The bride Zion is wailing over the loss of her wedding gifts: the cross and the grave of Christ. According to Vollmann-Profe Zion refers to the Church as bride of Christ in the entire Carmina Burana. However, Zion could also refer to Jerusalem, whether earthly or heavenly or even be a synonym for Solomon's Temple78. Its exact meaning seems to be as elusive as 'Jerusalem',
although both seem to be connected. According to Kühnel, early Church fathers such as Hilary, bishop of Poitiers (315-367), and St. Augustine made a link between Zion and
heavenly Jerusalem and between heavenly Jerusalem and the Church. However, she suggests that there might be a difference between Zion and Jerusalem. The former applying to the earthly, present Church and the latter to the future, eternal one.79 In CB 47 it remains unclear
what the exact meaning of Zion is. It can both be read as the heavenly city, which is described by John as the bride of the lamb, Christ, and as a reference to the Church if we follow the equation between Jerusalem and the Church.80 Both interpretations can be retained, since the
Church had lost two of its important possessions and the heavenly city too, if we think of it as being the image of the earthly city, no longer has them as the cross had vanished and the grave had been destroyed. Even though it is not mentioned as a possibility, it might also be possible that Zion is a personification of the city Jerusalem: The city that was once filled with people now sits alone and is crying. The other lines in the first strophe support all of these three views. The second crucifixion of Christ could be a preview of the coming of the heavenly city. Ananias, who was slain, refers to the Church as he was a disciple of Jesus. Lastly the
mentioned horn of David refers to psalm 132 which says that God has chosen Zion for his dwelling and where he would make a horn for David, who would then become king. Thus, Zion is David's city.
The loss of Jerusalem in CB 47 is in contrast to CB 48 not presented as a punishment
78 Vollmann-Profe, 'Verzeichnis der Eigennamen' in: CBV, 1299-1354, there 1354. 79 Kühnel, From the Earthly to the Heavenly Jerusalem, 77-78.
of God, although a different cause is given: Moses has gotten tired. According to Marshall this is a reference to the fight between Joshua and the Amalekites.81 Moses ensured the victory of
Joshua by standing atop a hill with the staff of God raised in his hands. Every time his hands sank the Amalekites took the overhand, but when they were raised again, with the help of Aron and Hur, Joshua and his men won. This incident is compared to the taking of Jerusalem by Saladin. However, now Moses is getting tired and nobody seems to be supporting his hands, which is why those who have been marked with the sign of faith should come and help. Baldric of Dol's version of Pope Urban II's call for a crusade in 1095 also contains this parallel between Moses versus the Amalekites and the crusaders against the Saracens. The pope speaks to the crowd and then turns to the bishops, saying: 'It is our duty to pray, yours to fight against the Amalekites. With Moses, we shall extend unwearied hands in prayer to heaven, while you go forth and brandish the sword, like dauntless warriors, against Amalek.'82
Here it is the Church who is fulfilling the role of Moses. It cannot be said whether the author of CB 47 knew the work of Baldric or not. Recent research, however, has established that the
Historia Ierosolimitana of Baldric of Dol has had a greater impact than thought before.83 It is
possible that CB 47 draws on this work and incorporates an indirect critique of the Church, whose power has waned so that the Saracens could take over Jerusalem. If so, it shows us some creativity of the author in reusing or referring to other texts while at the same time changing the exact meaning and perhaps even criticizing or mocking the Church.
Those who have been marked with the sign of faith must come to the aid of a
somewhat helpless God or Church. According to Vollmann this sign of faith can refer to both the cross that the crusaders wore on their clothes and the cross with which one is signed on the head when baptized.84 However, considering the context, it is more plausible that all
Christians should fight than only those who have already taken the cross. They are urged to abandon Babylon and to fight for the celestial realm. The celestial realm could mean both Heaven and heavenly Jerusalem, since Babylon is often depicted as the opposite of Jerusalem and we also have the first line of the song, which sounds very apocalyptic, the second
crucifixion of Christ.85 The opposition between Jerusalem and Babylon can also be seen in the
81 CBM, 374.
82 Baldric of Dol, 'account of Urban II's Call for a Crusade' from Historia Hierosolymitana, translated by A.C. Krey in: S.J. Allen and Emilie Amt ed., The Crusades. A Reader (North York and Plymouth 2003) 42-45, there 45.
83 Steven Biddlecomble ed., The Historia Ierosolimitana of Baldric of Bourgueil (Woodbridge 2014) xi-ci. 84 CBV, 985.
Book of Revelation, where first the downfall of Babylon, symbolizing evil, is depicted, which
then stands in contrast to heavenly Jerusalem descending from Heaven.86 According to St.
Augustine, those who inhabited Babylon only had earthly desires and therefore are no true followers of Christ.87 Following CB 47, to become a citizen of heavenly Jerusalem one has to
abandon this worldly mindset and fight for the earthly city. The heavenly city is used as a motivation to battle the Saracens.
CB 50, which also laments the deeds of Saladin, surprisingly enough does not mention the Fall of Jerusalem (September 1187) even once, although the song does tell us about the capture of Acre (July 1187) and the successful defense of Tyre (July 1187).88 In fact, not only
does the author neglect the capture of Jerusalem, but he neither refers to the city even though it had already been captured by the time this song, dated to 1188, was written.89 Richard
Doney tries to explain the silence by pointing out that the song is quite similar to Pope Gregory VIII's Audita Tremendi. In this letter, Gregory tells about the devastated condition of the Holy Land and that all Christians should do penance to appease God.90 These same
elements can also be read in CB 50. Like the song, the papal letter also does not mention the Fall of Jerusalem, states Doney.91 However, in the letter Jerusalem is actually mentioned and
allusions to the fall of the city are being made, whereas the names of the other captured cities, like Acre, remain unknown. The Battle of Hattin is also being referred to through the capture of the king and the Knights Templar and the loss of the cross. It seems as if the author of the poem did not care about Jerusalem. It might very well be that not everyone saw the city as an important place. However, it is also possible that the reconquest of Jerusalem was too painful a subject to write about. But even though it is not mentioned in particular the author was certainly not unmoved by the events.
Whereas CB 47 bewailed the Fall of Jerusalem, here it is the desolation of the whole land which is being lamented. This land, Judea and in particular Galilee, is now completely occupied. This particular poem is very different from the other crusade poems, as it gives us a description of the events that reminds us of a historical account. The year 1187 is given, after which the forces of the enemy are described and how the king, of Jerusalem, and the Templar Knights rose against them even though they were outnumbered one to three. Acre was
86 Revelation, 18, 21 and 22 in: KJ21. 87 Guy Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems', 359. 88 Tyerman, God's War, 372.
89 Schumann and Hilka, Carmina Burana, II. Band, 110; CBV, 991; CB FKB, critical notes, 896.
90 Richard Doney, 'A Source for One of the Carmina Burana', Speculum 27:2 (1952) 191-196, there 191-192. 91 Doney, 'A Source', 192-194.
captured without a fight. Tyre was saved by a man whom even Saladin feared. The land is described as a land which Christ deemed worthy of his love, through which he walked on his bare feet, and where he was born from a virgin and placed in a crib. It was also where he walked across the sea with dry feet, fed many with only five breads and the place where the river Jordan receded for him. The Holy Land is thus described entirely as a biblical place, where Christ was born, lived, performed his miracles and in the end it was where he was nailed onto the cross. These passages emphasize not only the loss for Christianity but also how bad Saladin was, as the description of the land begins with 'This worst brigand [Saladin], devastator of the land'.92
A few lines later the poem speaks of the land as famous, truly good and the only one worthy of a crown of flowers. It is the land to which God had given so many gifts and which is now girded by an impious belt. It is not clear what the floral crown means. Neither Hilka and Schumann nor Vollmann comment on it. It might serve as a contrast to Christ's crown of thorns which he bore at his crucifixion, the only event which indirectly points to Jerusalem where it took place. This land which has been lost, must now be won back. However, whereas CB 47 and CB 48 state very clearly that the Christians should fight, here the solution is different: the people must convert and repent.93 The Holy Land has been devastated because
the Christians have done wrong. This sentiment seems familiar to the one earlier mentioned in CB 48 except that here the Christians are not urged to fight, but rather to weep, to repent and to give gifts to God so that he might answer their prayers.94 If Gregory VIII's Audita
Tremenda really was the model for CB 50, the song itself clearly breaks away from the papal
letter at this point. For Gregory makes very clear that the people should not only repent and better their lives, but that the land should by reconquered through a crusade, a sentiment completely absent from CB 50.95
This absence can perhaps be connected to a more general restraint towards the soldiers of Christ which can be read in several songs. CB 49, which warns about the End of Time, tells its listeners to take the cross so that they may be saved. The author then exhorts that the blessed soldiers of Christ, who have already been signed with the cross, should flee from the glory of this world. This suggest that although the soldiers have taken the cross, they have not
92 'Latro ille pessimus, terre deuastator' in: CBV, 148. 93 'Conuertamur igitur et peniteamus, mala' in: Ibidem, 150.
94 'Conuertamur igitur et peniteamus, mala', que conmisimus, fletu deleamus atque Deo munera digne offeramus, ut placatus lacrimis donet, quod rogamus!' in: Ibidem.
95 Pope Gregory VII, Audita Tremendi (1187), translated by W. Robson in: S.J. Allen and Emilie Amt ed., The
left behind their earthly desires. This can also be read in Audita Tremenda:
The crusaders are not to march clothed in sumptuous habits, with dogs, birds, or other such object, which only display luxury and ostentation; but they are to have what is necessary, are to be clothed simply, and are rather to resemble men who are
performing a penance, than such as are in search of a vain glory96
In CB 46 too, the crusaders are mocked. On the one hand, they are described as bearing blessed swords and leaning on the firm protection of the cross. On the other hand, they happily perform atrocities against the heathens.97 They are forced to abandon the worldly
pleasures, rather than out of their own volition. Jerusalem is described as the place where one can find the market where one can purchase life. The clever merchant will be there. However, he should not hasten so, but first see after his wife and children, to make sure they have all things necessary. If not, the author is not sure what the man will gain.98 The author seems to
have no positive view on crusaders. He could be referring to actual practices of people hurrying to Jerusalem with no regard for their families. The crusader is described here as someone who rushed to Jerusalem not out of piety, but rather as a merchant who has found nice goods and wants to buy them. Jerusalem is not a city that must be saved, but a
marketplace. The once-glorious grave of Christ is now assailed by dogs.99 Dogs, here, can
refer to the heathens, but given the placement of the line after the strophes in which the crusaders are ridiculed, it could mean the crusaders as well. However, who are 'we' who shall not give the shrine to the dogs? Are they the crusaders, or are the true Christians meant, those who are not like merchants?
Like CB 50, CB 46 too reacts to a call for a crusade. This time it is epistle 363 of Bernard of Clairvaux to which it seems to respond. In this letter, Bernard asks the Christians: 'Will you give what is holy to the dogs, and cast your pearls before swine?'100 The song gives a
clear answer to that, by saying that 'we' will not. Likewise, the letter too compares the
96 Gregory VII, Audita Tremendi, 166.
97 'Beati sunt mucrones, quos portant Christi milites suffulti crucis tegmine, sub cuius gaudent robore. Quorum felix atrocitas constringit te, gentilitas.' in: CBV, 128.
98 'Forum est Ierosolimis in campo libertatis, quod rex regum instituit. Mercator prudens aderit qui uitam uelit emere, festinet illuc currere! Non tamen ita properet, quin conuigi prouiderat de rebus necessariis una cum paruis liberis. Quod quidem nisi faciat, ignoro, quid proficiat' in: Ibidem.
99 'Sepulchrum gloriosum prophetis declaratum inpugnatur a canibus.' in: Ibidem, 128 and 130.
100 Bernard of Clairvaux, Epistle 363, translated by J.H. Robinson in: S.J. Allen and Emilie Amt ed., The
crusaders to merchants. Bernard shows the audience some great bargains, and those who are prudent merchants will recognize them. However, these bought wares themselves are not worth much. It is the devout heart of the ones who possesses them that make these 'worth no less than the kingdom of God'.101 Even though the song here recalls the letter of Bernard, it
rather seems to mock the soldiers of Christ who are running to Jerusalem to buy life,
especially when one reads the final strophes of the song. Here, the house of God is described as a place where everyone will be welcome. The first will be the last and the last the first and they will all receive the same. It does not matter when one becomes a good Christian. Thus, running in haste to the market does not seem very appropriate or pious. This is yet another reaction to the situation in the Holy Land. It suggests that the connection these authors felt to the city were all different, ranging from fighting to take the city back to repenting before God. CB 46 even seems to be a critique on the crusaders. Jerusalem, therefore, seems not to evoke the same emotions and reactions in everyone.
Connections between the heavenly and the earthly city
We have already seen a few references to heavenly Jerusalem and the End of Time and in this section I will uncover a few more while trying to link them to medieval thoughts on the connection between the heavenly and the earthly city. The poem just discussed, CB 46, begins with several strophes, whose content has been taken from the Book of Revelation. It tells us about the downfall of Babylon and how John saw her sitting on a beast.102 It then goes on to
mention a 'prince of princes' who will subject the people.103 This is a clear reference to a
leader of leaders and king of kings mentioned in Revelation and who can also be interpreted as the Last Emperor.104 The first part of the song serves as a backdrop to the fighting of the
soldiers of Christ. Babylon is presented as the counter image of Jerusalem. Where Revelation ends with the vision of heavenly Jerusalem, the song ends with a vision of the house of God, where all Christians will dwell. Given that the content of the song is heavily based on
Revelation, the intended message too seems to be the same: The End of Time is nearby. In the
poem we can read that the Last Emperor is heading the crusaders towards Jerusalem to subject
101 Clairvaux, Epistle 363, 137.
102 'Iohannes super bestiam sedere uidit feminam ornatam, ut est meretrix, in forma Babylonis' in: CBV, 126;
Revelation, 14:8 and 17:3-5 in: KJ21.
103 'Princeps uocatur principum' in: Ibdem, 126. 104 Ibidem, 981; Revelation, 19:16 in: KJ21.
the heathens. The market where the merchants can buy life itself, is also organized by the king of kings. The fact that people are encouraged to hurry thither now does not seem very strange at all, since the End is near and those who have not lived without sin must hurry to make amends.
The house of God, then, is heavenly Jerusalem. The city is not pictured as an
impressive city made of precious stones, surrounded by a great wall as in Revelation.105 It is
rather a big house where there are numerous dwellings. These smaller buildings will not be destroyed, making it an eternal city. The people who live there will not oppose one another. However, it is not a place where everyone is equal, as the author mentions the lesser and the greater people, and the poor and the rich. Heavenly Jerusalem is thus a city like any other, except that the houses will not be destroyed and that everyone will live together peacefully. This perfectly fits the name 'Pacis Visio', image of peace, by which Jerusalem also was called during the Middle Ages and which is also used once in the poem.106
The only song in the Carmina Burana which has Jerusalem as its main subject is CB 52, a celebratory song written, according to Marshall, around 1130 for the anniversary of the crusader conquest of Jerusalem in 1099.107 Other versions of this song have been found in
Limoges, France, and have been dated to the twelfth century.108 It is remarkable how this song
has somehow bridged a distance of over one-thousand kilometers before it was ultimately copied into the Carmina Burana. It shows us how far literary works could spread, even those that seem to have been intended for a local audience like this song. For even though the theme of the song is quite general, the song starts by explaining the origin of the village name Solignac after which the author ridicules a monk, Serracus, for having unmanned himself. He is the only one who may not partake in the festivities. The author even damns him as one who is possessed by the Devil and who should go to Hell.109 The meaning of this passage has so far
remained unclear.110 It cannot be said who this monk is, although it is most likely that he was
someone from Solignac and that the author and his public knew him or that this line had some other well-known meaning, otherwise the inclusion would make no sense. Of particular
105 Revelation, 21:12-21 in: KJ21. 106 CBV, 126.
107 CBM, 59.
108 Carmina Burana. I. Band: Text. I. Die moralisch-satirischen Dichtungen, critical edition by Alfons Hilka and Otto Schumann (Heidelberg 1930) 105.
109 'Nomen a sollempnibus trahit Sollempniacum; sollempnis exigitur omnes preter monachum, qui sibi uirilia resecauit, Sarracum. Illum hinc accipimus tanquam demoniacum; ipse solus lugeat reus aput Eacum!' in: CBV, 154.
interest is the first line: 'Nomen a sollempnibus trahit Sollempniacum': Solignac derives its name from feasts.111 This not only sets the stage for the celebration, but if we look closer at the
words used we can see a connection between Jerusalem and Solignac. One of the names for Jerusalem, not used in the song, is Hierosolyma. Solyma, sollemnis and Sollemniacus do have some resemblance and it is possible that the author tried to appeal to it, thus fashioning Solignac as a place where Jerusalem could be experienced. If that is the case, then we are seeing here that not only big cities could be imagined as a Jerusalem, but even small villages. In fact, it could mean that Jerusalem could be experienced anywhere in a spiritual sense.
In the same spirit we could place the development from physical to spiritual pilgrimage. As Kühnel and Stroumsa have noted there are several places and churches in Western Europe that have been built as an image of Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre.112
According to Stroumsa this led to a decrease of interest in the actual city of Jerusalem, especially after the Fall of Jerusalem in 1187, as the crusades themselves had actually
renewed the interest. Heavenly Jerusalem would be seen apart from the earthly city and could therefore be transposed to other placed outside earthly Jerusalem. The enactment of passion plays too, meant that the Jerusalem of Christ could be experienced elsewhere by watching such performances.113 The Carmina Burana, too, contains several of them.114 How then does
Solignac fit into this process of transposing Jerusalem elsewhere, as CB 52 was written before the Fall of Jerusalem? Even though spiritual pilgrimage had really taken off after 1187, it would be wrong to assume that it might not have existed earlier. Bernard of Clairvaux already had compared the abbey of Cluny to heavenly Jerusalem.115 And well before the First Crusade,
Constantinople was already regarded as the Second Jerusalem by pilgrims, as the city had many relics, even of Christ.116 According to Colin Morris there also were quite a few churches
in Western Europe built after the Holy Sepulchre. A pilgrimage to some of these churches could be rewarded in the same way as a pilgrimage to the real Holy Sepulchre.117 If the Holy
Sepulchre could be imagined elsewhere, then we are not that far from traveling to Jerusalem in our minds.
Besides this link between Solignac and Jerusalem, CB 52 also has different names for
111 CBV, 154.
112 Kühnel, 'Jerusalem between Narrative and Iconic', 113-121; Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems', 353 and 357. 113 Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems', 351, 352, 357 and 364.
114 See CB 227, 228, 13*, 15*, 16*, and 26*. 115 Stroumsa, 'Mystical Jerusalems', 360-361. 116 Lidov, 'A Byzantine Jerusalem', 63 and 66-71. 117 Morris, The Sepulchre of Christ, 153-165.
