Successful conquering kings could cite victory itself as divine proof
Evidence
The paradoxical nature of the Crusade is epitomized in the image of the barefoot knights in procession around the walls of Jerusalem, days before they capture it. In the words of crusader and chronicler Raymond d’Aguilers, “it was ordered that … the priests prepare themselves for the procession, with crosses and relics of the saints and that the knights and all strong men follow them with trumpets and banners and barefoot, and that the armed men should march barefoot.” If this strange hybrid, this armed pilgrimage, needed justification in the eyes of Christians back home in Europe, its success was a resounding vindication: clearly the Christian knights had been right to cry out “Deus lo volt!”; clearly it was God’s will that the crusaders take Jerusalem back from the “pagans.” Yet the novelty of the endeavor, and its success, forced Christian writers to contemplate how the Crusade fit into the divine plan. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 609 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: The New Testament term nikáō means victory over hostile powers. — Chuck Missler, The Kingdom, Power and Glory: The…, 104; Monotheistic medieval peoples read military victory as proof of divine favor; Medieval believers read military victory as divine judgment on the merits of faiths (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Monotheistic medieval peoples read military victory as proof of divine favor
#corroborates(1.00) - Medieval believers read military victory as divine judgment on the merits of faiths
#corroborates(1.00) - Crusade legitimacy rested on interpreting military victory as divine vindication
#corroborates(1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 609 - Both Christian and Muslim chroniclers claimed their divine leader led celestial armies to victory
#corroborates(1.00) - Medieval crusade advocates fabricated prophecies to promise certain victory.
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1087 - Christian defeats were reframed as glorious martyrdom rather than divine abandonment
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1243 - Byzantine chroniclers explained Muslim victory as God’s punishment for heresy
#complicates(0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 411