Dear Clint,
Augustinus dicit [in top margin]
magis meretur per unam solam lacrimet emittens ob memoriam passionis
Jhesu Christi quam(?) si usque ad terram promissionis peregrinaritur
et quam(?) si per totum anime omne(?) ebdomada totum psalterium
diceret et plus quam(?) si quolibet anni hebdomada disciplina faceret
vel in pane et aquajeiunaret
Albertus magnus dicit [centered]
Simplex inquit recordacio passionis Christi multo plus valet quam(?)
Si integrum anime jeiunaret in pane et aqua vel ei quotidie virgis aut
flagellis cederetur usque ad sanguis effusionem vel si quotidie
legeret integrum psalterium.
It was the stress upon mental recapitulation and compassion for the
Passion as an act equally or more meritorious than a physical
pilgrimage to the Holy Land which caught my eye. Such arguments or
assertions were often used to justify the domestication of the
crusades through a new kind of participation in them. The crusades
had always been compared to monasticism as an alternate form of
imitatio Christi more amenable to laymen in that it was an armed
pilgrimage where they only temporarily assumed the quasi-monastic
identity of the pilgrim. However, with the increasing granting of
indulgences (full or partial) for giving alms for the crusade, sending
substitutes, or lending other forms of aid, the crusade became
necessarily internalized and expressed in intentionalist terms--it was
the mental recapitulation of Christ's passion which mattered more than
the physical trek to the East. Short shrift for a complex topic, so
I'm making generalizations left and right.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
