John of Brienne and the Queen of Jerusalem

John of Brienne never expected to be a king, or even a lord. He was born about 1170 to Count Erard II of Brienne and Agnes of Montfaucon, a fourth son destined for a career in the priesthood. The deaths of some of his older siblings, however, put him in a position where he became a knight with some estates in Champagne. Then his brother, Walter III, who succeeded Erard in June 1205, was killed, and John became regent to his nephew, Walter IV. (A 13th century anonymous minstrel left a tale claiming that John never wanted the clerical life and became a knight on his own, distinguishing himself in tournaments. This cannot be verified, and contains some untruths that may have been literary license.)

That same year, 1205, saw the death of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem, and saw the crown pass to her daughter, Maria of Montferrat. Maria, 13, needed a regent to guide the kingdom during her minority. That was her mother's half-brother, John of Ibelin, also called the Old Lord of Beirut (a later nickname, surely: he was only 26 when he became regent). John ruled for three years, and then the search for a husband started.

Also in 1205, King Peter II of Aragon was crowned, and he was considered an option. In 1208 he was 30 and a successful king of a large Christian nation, but he had recently married. The bishop of Acre visited King Philip II of France and asked for help finding a suitable candidate. Philip and Pope Innocent III approved the choice of John of Brienne.

John sailed to the Holy Land from France and married Maria; they were jointly crowned (her regency being ended) in 1210. Maria's uncle was not confident in John of Brienne's ability to handle the kingdom's affairs, but the pope supported the new king. John of Ibelin left to live on Cyprus

After Maria's death in 1212, John was regent for their infant daughter, Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem.

John led the Fifth Crusade, which did not end well. He himself traveled to several countries (Castile, England, France, Germany, Italy) to request support for the Holy Land. He married Isabella to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, who then ended not only John's regency but also his other privileges. John shortly after became commander of Pope Gregory IX's army against Frederick while Frederick was on the Sixth Crusade.

Meanwhile, was John of Ibelin stirring up hostility against the new King of Jerusalem? King Hugh I of Cyprus (who also came to power in 1205 at the age of 10) imprisoned supporters of the new king. But then, he had other reasons: Hugh felt that his regent, Walter of Montbéliard, had kept him in a state of deprivation during his minority, and demanded 240,000 bezants of restitution. Walter fled Cyprus and found shelter with John of Brienne. The pope forced Hugh to free John's supporters.

There was much more to come in John's life, including a couple more wives and a new title. More on those tomorrow.

Teen Queen of Jerusalem

Isabella II was the daughter of John of Brienne and Maria of Montferrat. Maria (1192 - 1212) was the daughter of Isabella I, Queen of Jerusalem and Conrad of Montferrat, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. When Isabella I died in 1205, Maria became Queen of Jerusalem at the age of 12. She was married in 1210 to John of Brienne. Isabella II (1212 - 4 May 1228) was their only child.

Isabella was born in Sicily, and was declared Queen when she was only a few days old, since her mother died shortly after giving birth. John of Brienne managed her regency. Note that her father did not have a direct claim on the throne; he was only styled king by virtue of marriage.

When Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of Sicily agreed to go on Crusade, he wanted to guarantee that he would become King of Jerusalem. This Crusade was called by Pope Honorius III. Honorius, John of Brienne, and Frederick met in Ferentino, not far south of Rome, and arranged that the widower Frederick would marry Isabella, who was 11 at the time. Honorius hoped this would cement Frederick to the Crusade and guarantee that it would take place.

Frederick managed to delay going, however. Honorius died and was succeeded by Gregory IX, who pushed Frederick to fulfill his vow, finally excommunicating him to get him to start. Frederick still delayed until the wedding took place.

In August 1225, when she was 13, the two were finally married by proxy; it is possible that they had still not met. Days after, since she had reached a majority, she was crowned queen of Jerusalem in her own right. Frederick sent 20 galleys to bring Isabella to Brindisi (on Italy's "heel") where they were married in person. By this act, Isabella also became Holy Roman Empress as well as Queen Consort of Sicily and Germany.

Frederick then declared himself rightful King of Jerusalem by marriage and transferred to himself all rights and privileges previously held in the kingdom by John of Brienne as Regent, his new father-in-law.

Isabella was sent to live in Palermo in northern Sicily while Frederick went on Crusade. There she gave birth at the tender age of 14 to a daughter, in November 1226. The daughter died a year later. In 1228, on 25 April, she gave birth to a son, Conrad, but she died of complications a few days later.

Who was John of Brienne, and how did he come to be married to one Queen of Jerusalem and father another? Come back tomorrow and I'll explain.

The Treaty of San Germano

When Pope Gregory IX started what came to be called the War of the Keys, he thought he was secure because his target was the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of Sicily, who was finally off on Crusade.

Gregory particularly wanted to capture Sicily from Frederick's control, especially because Frederick had been abusing his power over the church there. Gregory's military leader was John of Brienne, Frederick's father-in-law, who had no particular reason to love Frederick.

Upon hearing of the problems, and that Gregory had invaded Campania in southwestern Italy (Frederick's territory) Frederick abandoned the Holy Land and sailed back home, landing at Brindisi (Italy's "heel") on 10 June 1229. He had his Crusader army, of course, and some of the residents of Campania were opposed to the pope's attempt to expand the Papal States, so joined his cause.

Gregory's attempt to gain control over Sicily was rebuffed by the Muslim population in the western part of the island: they did not want the head of the Christian church having political control over them. Likewise, he could not turn Germany against Frederick; although he was born in Italy (his mother was Constance, Queen of Sicily), his father was Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, so Frederick was considered German through and through.

The approach of Frederick's forces toward Campania caused the papal forces to start to lose their nerve. In August 1229, Gregory renewed his excommunication of Frederick, along with some of his chief supporters. He was also making promises left and right to various towns about offering them privileges, remission of sins, and political autonomy if they would simply join him and become part of the Papal States, but few were interested. Based on Frederick's treaty in the East with al-Kamil, Gregory claimed that Frederick was working in alliance with Muslims, hoping to erode his support.

For his part, Frederick was sending messages to the heads of Europe, explaining his cause and requesting their support. By the end of October, John of Brienne had retreated back to papal territory, and Frederick's troops had re-taken any of the papal-invaded towns.

Rather than take the opportunity and excuse to invade the Papal States, Frederick stopped his army's advance and requested that negotiations take place. Negotiations led to the Treaty of San Germano, signed on 23 July 1230. Gregory gave permission for Cardinal Giovanna Colonna to absolve Frederick's excommunication. The final treaty was brokered by Leopold VI, Duke of Austria, whose seal is illustrated above.

Contemporary sources, analyzing the War of the Keys, discussed it in terms of the "doctrine of the two swords": the material sword and the spiritual sword. Gregory's letter to England referred specifically to exercising temporal power. This use by the pope of the material sword, since he failed to achieve his aims with the spiritual sword, was criticized by many. There are even competing troubadour poems on the topic.

What I really want to look at next, however, is John of Brienne's role in the war. For that, we have to understand the marriage to Frederick of John's daughter, Isabella of Jerusalem, who became Queen of Jerusalem at the age of 13, was married at 13 to a man she had yet to meet, and was dead by 16.

The War of the Keys

The War of the Keys was called that because of the image of crossed keys (keys to the Kingdom of Heaven) on the papal flag. The war was between Pope Gregory IX and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Frederick vowed to go on Crusade, which Gregory supported wholeheartedly. The vow was on pain of excommunication. Gregory's predecessor, Honorius III, had granted Frederick several delays, but Gregory was not going to be patient anymore, and threatened Frederick with excommunication.

Along with that issue, Frederick laid claim to some lands in central Italy that the popes believed belonged to the Papal States. Also, Gregory felt that Frederick was abusing the church in Sicily.

Part of Frederick's agreement to go on Crusade was that he wanted to be King of Jerusalem. Currently, the King-by-marriage was John of Brienne, who was regent for his 12-year-old daughter, Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. The marriage, in November 1225, removed John's regency and made technically Frederick King of Jerusalem. Yet still he delayed.

Gregory excommunicated Frederick in October 1227. Isabella died in May 1228. In June 1228, Frederick finally began the Sixth Crusade. While he was traveling, some of his followers invaded the disputed Italian territories. Gregory responded with an army intending to take Sicily from Frederick. For the leader of his army he chose John of Brienne. Gregory levied tithes from several Christian countries to raise money for his army. According to contemporary English chronicler Roger of Wendover, England resisted the tax. King Henry III of England called an assembly of nobles and prelates to hear from the papal legate about the tithe, but the nobles simply refused to pay. Henry did not do anything to interfere with the papal request, but he did not force his nobles to comply.

Meanwhile, Frederick was in the east and signing a treaty with al-Kamil, who was perfectly happy to giving Jerusalem to the Crusaders if they left him alone. When Gregory heard about this, he denounced the treaty and Frederick as being un-Christian.

Now, however, Frederick was free to return and face the pope's forces. We will see how that went tomorrow.

Canonized Anti-Semitism

The first thing we should establish is that "anti-semitism" is the wrong term for what happened to Jews in Western Europe and elsewhere. This may seem like a quibble, but it was not "semitism" that Christians objected to. The term "semitic" was coined in 1781 by a German scholar to designate a group of languages from the Middle East, namely those spoken by the descendants of Noah's son Shem. The German antisemitisch was coined in 1860 as a label and criticism of those who felt the "semitic races" were inferior to white races.

What Pope Gregory IX did was to formalize anti-Judaism, his objection to their religion, not their race. People cannot change their race, but they can change their religion, and opportunities were available. In neither case, however, did Gregory want them to be abused or killed by their neighbors.

Gregory brought a legal mind to the issue of Jews. As with the Papal Inquisition, where he demanded due process and objectivity over mob rule, with his statements on Jews he also established protections for them. His statements, however, formalized their unequal status in society and made it part of canon law.

He started with a 1233 mandate, that Christians needed to stop persecuting Jews for simply being Jews. A year later, he established the doctrine of perpetua servitus Judaeorum, "perpetual servitude of the Jews." By this he meant that they should never be in positions of political power from now until Judgment Day. This led to the idea of servitus camerae imperialis, "servitude under the emperor," that they would always be subject to the authority (whims) of the Emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire), who at the time was Frederick II.

One of the triggers for Jewish persecution was the Crusades. When the Christian population was stirred up with the idea of "taking back" the Holy Land, the act of mistreating Jews surged. Throughout the 1230s, Gregory heard complaints from Jews and mandated that those religious leaders in whose dioceses the crimes were committed should "force the crusaders of their dioceses who had killed and robbed Jews to provide proper satisfaction for the crimes perpetrated against the Jews and for the property stolen from them." This was not a generic request: the pope deliberately named those bishops and archbishops, etc., whom he required to see things right.

His idea of perpetual servitude of the Jews affected them for centuries, and anti-Judaism/modern anti-semitism are still rampant.

Even though Gregory saw their servitude to the emperor, he did not completely trust this particular emperor. He did, as part of his approach, bring charges against Frederick for mistreatment of Jews. That was not the pope's only problem with Frederick. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the War of the Keys and what the pope does when you say you will go on Crusade, but you keep putting it off.

Popes and the Talmud

The Talmud [late Hebrew talmūd, "instruction"] is the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law. It includes the Mishnah (exegetical material embodying the oral tradition of Jewish law) and the Gemara (rabbinical commentaries on the Mishnah). The Talmud had a rocky existence in Christian Europe, even at the hands of one of the popes who was most supportive of the Jews, Gregory IX.

Talmud from 13th-14th centuries

Pope Gregory IX (c.1145 - 1241) was responsible for the Decretals (a codification of canon law that some say was designed to establish his authority over the Church) and the Papal Inquisition (and let us not forget his part in the demonization of cats). This centralization of power of the papacy seemed to inspire him to be the guardian of all God's children, however. He was steadfast in his protection of persecuted Jews, so long as they were not guilty of what he considered to be sins.

In 1233, for instance, Jews in France complained to Gregory that they were being mistreated. He declare that any imprisoned Jews were to be set free and not injured in their person or their property, so long as they agreed to forsake usury (the practice of charging high rates of interest, considered to be sinful due to the Bible).

In the 1234 Decretals, Gregory declared the doctrine of perpetua servitus iudaeorum. That is, the Jews were in perpetual political servitude until Judgment Day, making them officially second-class citizens in the Empire. As abhorrent as this was, it also made Gregory treat them as a group that needed his protection, so that in 1235 he re-affirmed an earlier papal bull, Sicut Judeis ["and thus, to the Jews"], which declared their right to enjoy lawful liberty.

1236 was a busy year for Gregory. He presented a list of charges against Emperor Frederick II concerning offenses against the Jews. In September he wrote to several bishops of France, requiring them to make sure that Crusaders who had killed and robbed Jews make full restitution. He also wrote to King Louis IX of France concerning the same.

Gregory had a serious problem, however, with the Talmud. He had to determine if it fell into the category of "heresy." His conclusion was harsh, but fortunately not universally accepted. We will look at that tomorrow.

Scholar of the Supernatural

[I am on a brief vacation, so here is a post from the past. This post first appeared 23 August 2012.]

In Dante's Inferno, the eighth circle is reserved for sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets. There the narrator sees Michael Scot. You might think, if someone were so well-known after his death, that we would know more about him. Well, we know a little, but we have some cool stories.

Michael Scot, depicted here tearing up the Scriptures.*

Michael Scot was no doubt born in Scotland, although other locations (like Salerno and Toldeo) have tried to claim him. Dates of 1175-c.1232 seem to work for what little we know of his life. We know that Pope Honorius wrote to Stephen Langton on 16 January 1223, urging him to grant Scot a religious position, and that Honorius himself nominated Scot for Archbishop of Cashel. If Scot was educated sufficiently to be offered these positions, he would not have lived until 1290, which is the date Sir Walter Scott offers for his death. (Scott was confusing Scot with a Sir Michael Scot who lived later.)

Scot turned down the position in Cashel; it looks like he did hold benefices in Italy, however, spending time in Bologna and Palermo before going to Toledo in Spain. It was probably in Spain that he learned Arabic, which helped get him invited to the court of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Besides translating texts for Frederick, he was a court astrologer, saying of the work:

Every astrologer is worthy of praise and honor, since by such a doctrine as astrology he probably knows many secrets of God, and things which few know.

This was not likely to endear him to the Roman Catholic Church.

Although he was known in his lifetime as a brilliant Aristotelian scholar, and Fibonacci's Liber Abaci was dedicated to him, his books on alchemy and astrology and the occult sciences earned him a reputation for magic. A Bronze Age circle of stones in northwest England called "Long Meg and Her Daughters" was supposedly a coven of witches turned to stone by Scot. Other stories have him hosting feasts served by invisible spirits. Boccaccio refers to him in the Decameron as a magician. It is also told (long after the fact) that he predicted he would die from a small stone falling on his head from a great height. He always wore an iron cap to prevent it, but he removed the cap when entering a church one day (more not to stand out than for reverence of God, we are told), and a small stone of the size he predicted fell on his head. He picked up the stone, recognized that his prophecy was coming true, put his affairs in order, and died of the head wound shortly after! His reputation (helped by the dearth of facts) has made him a prime subject for fiction right up to the present day.

*From a fresco painted between 1366 and 1388 by Andrea Bonaiuti in the Cappellone degli Spagnoli of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. St. Dominic preaches to the crowd.

Jacob Anatoli

Daily Medieval has frequently mentioned the importance of Arabic texts in the transmission of knowledge to Western Europe. Arabic, however, was not a commonly known language, and Arabs did not have a strong presence in Western Europe. Arabic culture often brushed up against Latin culture in the southern Mediterranean, as mentioned Salerno, or when a scholar such as Michael Scot made it a point to learn Arabic. Scot probably had help in the form of Jacob Anatoli.

Jacob ben Abba Mari ben Simson Anatoli (c.1194-1256) grew up in southern France, and gained such a reputation for scholarship that he was invited to Naples by Frederick II, who gathered several other academics to his court, such as Scot and Fibonacci. Anatoli became known for his translations of Arabic texts into Hebrew, and he very likely aided Michael Scot in his Arabic translations. Roger Bacon explains that Scot was aided by a Jew named Andreas, and some scholars believe "Andreas" to be a misunderstanding of "Anatoli."

Of his non-translations, the greatest work is the Malmad ha-Talmidim (the title is a pun, being interpreted either "Teacher of the Students" or "Goad to the Students"). The Malmad shows a wide range of knowledge, incorporating the Old Testament and Jewish commentators, but also the New Testament, Aristotle, Plato, and Averroes. His egalitarian approach to Christian and Muslim matters was refreshing, but Judaism still had special status; he wrote "the Greeks had chosen wisdom as their pursuit; the Romans, power; and the Jews, religiousness." He tells us that a non-Jew who seeks religious Truth should be respected by Judaism and not mocked.

Anatoli extended this intellectual courtesy to Frederick II, incorporating remarks by the emperor in his works. He also mentions a Christian whom Anatoli considers a second master (after Anatoli's own mentor, Samuel ibn Tibbon); this "master" has been equated to Michael Scot.

As for his Arabic translations, Anatoli's crucial contribution was exposing the West to the work of Averroes, one of two Arab scholars (the other was the medical expert Avicenna) whose work is considered fundamental to the Middle Ages.We'll look at Averroes tomorrow.

Frederick II

Frederick II of Sicily (1194-1250) has crossed the path of this blog more than once, but has not yet been featured.

He declared the Edict of Salerno, separating physicians and pharmacists.
Frederick was interested in math and science, and was friendly to and supportive of Fibonacci.
He promised to go on the Fifth Crusade, mentioned here, but never participated; he was blamed for its failures by Christians all over Europe as well as Pope Honorius III (who had been Frederick's tutor while young).

From the time he was declared Holy Roman Emperor in 1220 until his death 30 years later, he was a tremendous influence on science and culture, but a difficulty for popes and religion—odd, considering he willingly took the title Holy Roman Emperor. Although Pope Innocent III was his guardian growing up, Frederick often said blasphemous things, supposedly mocking Moses and Jesus and Mohammed for being frauds. His public attitude toward religion was unusual for his era and position, and Dante's Inferno places him in the circle of hell reserved for heretics.

He was, however, also possessed of a rationalism that was unusual for his era. He hired Arabs/Muslims as soldiers and personal guards; he hired Jewish scholars to be at his court. He pointed out the unfairness of trials by ordeal, because the stronger man would always win regardless of guilt or innocence. He hired the mathematician and scholar Michael Scot (of whom Honorius III thought very highly) to, among other things, make new translations of Aristotle and Arabian works into Latin. Michael Scot's translation of Aristotle was done with the help of Hermannus Alemannus ("Herman the German").

He had three wives and several mistresses. His third wife was Isabella of England, the daughter of King John Lackland. It was a political marriage, taken on because marrying an English princess would make his political opponents lose support from England. Once Isabella arrived in Sicily, she was sent to live in seclusion in Padua with only two of her English retainers.

Although Frederick had a profound and positive impact on laws and science, his personal manner made him many enemies and detractors. The Hohenstaufen lineage, which had included Frederick Barbarossa, lost power after Frederick II's death.

The Edict of Salerno

Salerno, located on the lower "shin" of Italy's southwest coast, has been occupied continuously since pre-historic times, frequently changing hands due to the many wars in the peninsula. Despite the changing political landscape, however, at least one feature of Salerno rose to a prominence that it held for several centuries, through several political shifts.

We don't know precisely when the Schola Medica Salernitana (Medical School of Salerno) was founded, but at some point, the dispensary of a 9th century monastery became a focal point for medical study and earned the title of the first medical school in history. Because of the fame of the school, Salerno became known as the "Town of Hippocrates."

The School today.

One of its unique qualities for the time was that it not only was well-versed in the Greco-Roman traditions of Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides and others. Its proximity to North Africa and Sicily gave it access to Arabic learning (Sicily was under Arab control from 956 until 1072). In fact, it was the arrival in 1077 of the Tunisian Muslim merchant-turned-monk Constantinus Africanus that started a Golden Age at the school. He compiled the Liber Pantegni (Book of All Arts).  It was (as is typical for the time) largely a collection of the work of others, but it drew together Greek and Arabic medical knowledge in what is called the earliest surviving Western medical treatise [source].

Salerno produced other medical texts as well. A 12th century pair named Johannes and Matthaeus Plantearius wrote the Liber de Simplici Medicina (Book of Simple Medicine). Several books on gynecology and cosmetics were created by the most famous woman doctor of the time.

Salerno thrived, even after Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared the Edict of Salerno. The Modern Age would approve of the Edict: it created a legal separation between physicians and apothecaries. Physicians could no longer prescribe medicines that they themselves prepared and sold. The Edict also fixed prices to prevent overcharging the sick. Over time, this Edict was copied throughout Europe, and we have reason to be glad that similar regulations exist today.