HStud 32(2018)1, 1–26 DOI: 10.1556/044.2018.32.1.1 CHARLEMAGNE’S ROAD, GOD’S THRESHING FLOOR; COMPREHENDING THE ROLE OF HUNGARY IN THE FIRST CRUSADE JAMES PLUMTREE American University of Central Asia (AUCA)1
[email protected] The violence that occurred in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary at the start of the First Crusade in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary appears in several of the works produced in the outpouring of literature that followed the capture of Jerusalem. Ex- amination of these writings reveals ecclesiastic authors inserting exegesis, exempla, allusion, and aff abulation into their retellings. These inclusions countered criticism of those who fl ed, stressed communal Benedictine values, and crafted an under- standing of the events and the new Crusade movement. Study of these depictions of the chaotic events in the semi-Christianized territory on the periphery of the Latin West reveals the development in presentation and reception of the crusade. Keywords: First Crusade, Kingdom of Hungary, narrative history, Peter the Hermit, Rule of St. Benedict In their accounts of the First Crusade, monastic authors inserted theological ex- egesis into their retellings of the outbreak of violence in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.2 The bloodshed in Hungary provided them with the opportunity to counter criticism from those who had fl ed and to craft an understanding of the events and the new Crusade movement for their audiences. Since scholarly fi ndings and answers are shaped by questions and aims, the textual constructions of Hungary have gone unnoticed. An aim for a chronol- ogy of the First Crusade meant these sources were mined for details.