A crusade bull or crusading bull ( la, bulla cruciata) was a papal bull that granted privileges, including

indulgences In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The '' Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God o ...

, to those who took part in the

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

against infidels.. A bull is an official document issued by a pope and sealed with a leaden '' bulla''. All crusade bulls were written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. Those launching a new general crusade were encyclicals addressed to all the archbishops of the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

.. Bulls were not the only means by which popes organized crusades. Many types of

papal letter Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters. Letters of the pop ...

without the ''bulla'' attached were issued to arrange, guide and direct crusading efforts. The bulls issued for the ''

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

'' ('reconquest') in the Iberian peninsula evolved into something distinct. By the modern period, the "bull of the crusade" (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and es, bula de la cruzada) was used by Spanish and Portuguese monarchs as a means of raising money through donations for various projects, not necessarily military. This system was finally abolished in 1966..

Early privileges

Privileges for just wars against infidels have a long history before the first formal crusade bull. In 1063, Pope Alexander II granted privileges to those who took part in the campaigns of reconquest of King

Ramiro I of Aragon Ramiro I (bef. 10078 May 1063) was the first King of Aragon from 1035 until his death, although he is sometimes described as a petty king. He would expand the nascent Kingdom of Aragon through his acquisition of territories, such as Sobrarbe and ...

. Pope Urban II made similar concessions to Counts

Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer III ''the Great'' was the count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 1086 (jointly with Berenguer Ramon II and solely from 1097), Besalú from 1111, Cerdanya from 1117, and count of Provence in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1112, ...

and Ermengol IV of Urgell in 1089 at the time of the reconquest of

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tarr ...

. Urban II may have been inspired by these concessions when he offered an indulgence to those who joined the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

in 1095.

Callistus II Pope Callixtus II or Callistus II ( – 13 December 1124), born Guy of Burgundy, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 1119 to his death in 1124. His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controvers ...

renewed Urban's indulgence for crusaders at the First Lateran Council in 1123. Not all early crusades were sanctioned by papal bulls. The

Crusade of 1129 The Crusade of 1129 or the Damascus Crusade was a military campaign of the Kingdom of Jerusalem with forces from the other crusader states and from western Europe against the Emirate of Damascus. The brainchild of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, th ...

was organized by secular leaders and lacked papal authorization, but was nonetheless regarded as a crusade like any other at the time.

History

Holy Land

The first true crusade bull was ''

Quantum praedecessores {{italictitle ''Quantum praedecessores'' is a papal bull issued on 1 December 1145 by Pope Eugenius III, calling for a Second Crusade. It was the first papal bull issued with a crusade as its subject. The bull was issued in response to the fall ...

'', issued by

Pope Eugene III Pope Eugene III ( la, Eugenius III; c. 1080 – 8 July 1153), born Bernardo Pignatelli, or possibly Paganelli, called Bernardo da Pisa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1145 to his death in 1153. He ...

for the Second Crusade in 1145. It became the model for later bulls.

Gregory VIII Pope Gregory VIII ( la, Gregorius VIII; c. 1100/1105 – 17 December 1187), born Alberto di Morra, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States for two months in 1187. Becoming Pope after a long diplomatic career as Aposto ...

launched the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

in 1187 with the bull ''

Audita tremendi ''Audita tremendi'' was a papal bull issued by Pope Gregory VIII on October 29, 1187, calling for the Third Crusade. It was issued just days after Gregory had succeeded Urban III as pope, in response to the defeat of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at ...

''. The Fourth Crusade grew out of two bulls issued by

Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...

in 1198 and 1199, which innovated new means of raising funds. By the 13th century, the bull was the defining mark of a true crusade.

Canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

yers did not regard vows taken for unauthorized expeditions (i.e., the so-called "

popular crusades The popular crusades were several movements "animated by crusading enthusiasm" but unsanctioned by the Church. They contrast with the "official crusades" authorised by the Papacy. While the latter consisted of professional armies led by apostoli ...

") as binding.

Iberian peninsula

In 1118,

Gelasius II Pope Gelasius II (c. 1060/1064 – 29 January 1119), born Giovanni Caetani or Giovanni da Gaeta (also called ''Coniulo''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 January 1118 to his death in 1119. A monk of Monte C ...

renewed Urban II's privilege for Alfonso the Battler, when he undertook to . These grants were renewed again by Callistus II (), Eugene III (1152) and Innocent III (1212). In 1197,

Celestine III Pope Celestine III ( la, Caelestinus III; c. 1106 – 8 January 1198), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 March or 10 April 1191 to his death in 1198. He had a tense relationship with several monarchs, ...

issued ''Cum auctores et factores'', the first crusade bull bestowed on

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, granting indulgences to those who fought the excommunicated

Alfonso IX of León Alfonso IX (15 August 117123 or 24 September 1230) was King of León and Galicia from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death. He took steps towards modernizing and democratizing his dominion and founded the Universit ...

for having allied himself with the

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire f ...

Clement IV Pope Clement IV ( la, Clemens IV; 23 November 1190 – 29 November 1268), born Gui Foucois ( la, Guido Falcodius; french: Guy de Foulques or ') and also known as Guy le Gros ( French for "Guy the Fat"; it, Guido il Grosso), was bishop of Le P ...

in 1265 issued a general Bull for the whole of Spain, when the Kings of Aragon and Castile joined in the expedition against

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

. In the course of time these pontifical concessions became more and more frequent; in the reign of the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

alone they were granted in 1478, 1479, 1481, 1482, 1485, 1494, 1503 and 1505, and were continued during the following reigns, that granted by

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

in 1573 being renewed by his successors. The alms given by the faithful in response to this bull, which were at first used exclusively for carrying on the war against the 'infidel' Moors, were afterwards used for the construction and repair of churches and other pious works; sometimes they were also used to defray expenses of the State. The Cortes (estates assembly) of Valladolid of 1523 and that of Madrid of 1592 petitioned that this money should not be used for any other purpose than that for which it had originally been intended by the donors, but, notwithstanding the provisions made by

Philip III of Spain Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...

in compliance with this request, the abuse already mentioned continued. As an example, in the 1740s, the governor of Oran, a Spanish outpost on Algeria, insistently requested that, while the bull sustained the Spanish presence, the acquisition and maintenance of dromedaries for the

Royal Palace of Aranjuez The Royal Palace of Aranjuez ( es, Palacio Real de Aranjuez) is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. It is located in the town of Aranjuez (Madrid), Spain. Established in the 16th century as a royal hunting lodge, the pal ...

had to be funded from a different source.. After 1847 the funds derived from this source were devoted to the endowment of churches and the clergy, this disposition being ratified by a law in 1849 and in the

Concordat of 1851 The Concordat of 1851 was a concordat between the Spanish government of Queen Isabella II and the Vatican. It was negotiated in response to the policies of the anticlerical Liberal government, which had forced her mother out as regent in 1841. A ...

. In virtue of the concessions granted by this bull, the faithful of the Spanish dominions who had fulfilled the necessary conditions could gain the plenary indulgence, granted to those who fought for the reconquest of the Holy Land and to those who went to Rome in the

year of Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

, provided they went to confession and received Holy Communion. They were also absolved twice of sins and censures reserved to the Holy See and the ordinary, except open heresy—and others concerning ecclesiastics, to have vows that could not be fulfilled without difficulty commuted by their confessor—unless failure to fulfill them would be to the disadvantage of another; also

simple vows A solemn vow is a certain vow ("a deliberate and free promise made to God about a possible and better good") taken by an individual during or after novitiate in a Catholic religious institute. It is solemn insofar as the Church recognizes it a ...

of perpetual

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...

, of religious profession and of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

to the Holy Land. Those who visited five churches or altars, or the same altar five times, and prayed for the intentions of the Crusade, could gain the indulgences granted to those who visited the stations in Rome. The Bull also permitted the faithful of the Spanish dominions to eat meat on all the days of

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

and other days of fast and abstinence, except Ash Wednesday, the Fridays of Lent, the last four days of

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

and the vigils of the feasts of the Nativity, Pentecost, the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Tow ...

and Saints Peter and Paul.E. Hinojosa y Naveros (1908)
"Bull of the Crusade"
in ''The

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

''. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Hosted at ''NewAdvent.org''. Retrieved May 21, 2013.

Early privileges

History

Holy Land

Iberian peninsula

References

Further reading