The Crusade Vow, Parisian Scholasticism, and the Chronicling of Crusading

Across the first half of the twelfth century, while the practice of crusading was in emergence, so too were the monastic schools and intellectual cultures of Paris. In their exegetical and theological texts, two of the most famed Parisian masters, Hugh of St Victor (1096–1141) and Peter Lombard (c. 1100–1160), developed their own theories of the vow, locating it within the Christian moral universe. Although they did not explicitly deal with the vow in relation to crusading, it is impossible to separate the Paris school culture from the world beyond. Indeed, one of Peter’s students, William of Tyre (c. 1130–86), composed a history of the first crusade and the ‘crusader states’. This paper will explore the early theories of the vow, how William’s theological training under the Lombard influenced his Chronicon – particularly with regard to the vow – and what this can tell us about contemporary understandings of the crusade vow more broadly.