BULLA CRUCIATA

A bulla cruciata is a papal bull or letter conceding various privileges to those who participated in or contributed to the war against the Muslims. Historically, the first concessions were issued to promote the Reconquest in Spain, the earliest known grant being that of alexander ii to Ramiro of Aragon in 1063. urban ii followed with a concession to the Count of Barcelona in 1089. Successive popes, e.g., Gelasius II (1118), Callistus II (c. 1123), Eugene III (1152), and Innocent III (1212) renewed the privileges for Spain. Whereas Urban II, in granting a plenary indulgence for the First crusade to the Holy Land (1095), may have been influenced by previous procedures applicable to Spain, callistus ii, who renewed Urban's indulgence for the East at lateran council i (1123), granted to Spanish crusaders the same privileges offered to crusaders to the orient. These privileges were more clearly defined in what is commonly regarded as the first formal crusade bull, the Quantum praedecessores (1145), issued for the Second Crusade by eugene iii; it included a plenary indulgence, protection of family and property, and a moratorium on interest for debts. Alexander III reissued Eugene's bull in 1165, and Innocent III's Qui major (1213) extended the indulgence to contributors who were unable to participate personally. Thus the Holy Land privileges became the standard for application elsewhere, not only in Spain, but for wars against the albi genses (innocent iii), and against the pope's political enemies in Europe (Innocent III and IV).

As crusades to the East and in Europe waned, the bulla cruciata (cruzada ) came to apply exclusively to Spain or Spanish territory. A series of bulls was granted to Ferdinand and Isabella, and the bull of Gregory XIII (1573), with somewhat extended privileges, was reissued, with constant modifications, by his successors down to the present. Following the conquest of Granada (1492), the emphasis was placed on the offerings of the faithful to be used to promote various enterprises originally growing out of the Reconquest, e.g., restoration of damaged churches or building new ones, and eventually including works generally conducive to the promotion of religion. In the course of time the original requirements of support for the crusade were commuted to other religious acts, e.g., visits to specified churches and prayers. Privileges granted in lieu of the original plenary indulgence have been modified and expanded to include various dispensations for clergy and laity, notably from fast and abstinence. The bull came to apply equally to Spanish dominions, including Naples and Sicily, Latin America, and Portugal (with certain limitations), and to resident foreigners in these countries. The most recent renewals of the bull, those of Benedict XV (1915) and Pius XI (1928), were designed to bring greater precision, in harmony with the Code of Canon Law.

Bibliography: j. ferreres, La nueva bula de cruzada y sus extraordinarios privilegios según la concessión de Benedicto XV (Madrid 1916). n. paulus, Geschichte des Ablasses im Mittelalter, 3 v. (Paderborn 1922–23). e. caspar, "Die Kreuzzugsbullen Eugens III," Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für altere deutsche Geschichts Kunde 45 (1924) 285–305. u. schwerin, Die Aufrufe der Päpste zur Befreiung des Heiligen Landes, ed. e. ebering (Berlin 1937). g. constable, "The Second Crusade as Seen by Contemporaries," Traditio 9 (1953) 213–279. a. waas, Geschichte der Kreuzzüge, 2 v. (Freiburg 1956). j. g. gaztambide, Historia de la Bula de la Cruzada en España (Vitoria 1958). j. a. brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary Survey (Milwaukee 1962).

[m. w. baldwin]