Crusading Companies in the 1365th Year of Our Lord

Abstract

Louis of Hungary recognized the danger of the Ottomans and actively participated in the preparation of a crusade devoted to erasing the enemies of Christ from the Balkans. To achieve this he, along with Pope Urban v, the emperor Charles iv, and Charles v, designed a plan to send the most feared soldiers of their time, the “Magna Socieatas,” against the “Saracens,” the “proud disciples of Lucifer.” Under the leadership of the Arnauld de Cervole, “the Archpriest,” the routiers crossed the border of the Holy Roman Empire and intended to move towards the valley of the Danube to Hungary and later on to the Balkans. In my paper, I will analyze how the local authorities and people reacted to the migrating soldiers during their hundreds of kilometer long journey. I will describe what measures were taken by the towns and the magnates of the lands they traversed (Barrois, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy), what reactions we can read in the contemporary letters, and other different sources such as the chronicles and annals from Basel, Strasbourg, Lorraine, Metz. The sources used in my paper originate from the archives of Colmar, Kaysersberg, Selestat, and Strasbourg, as well as Dijon, Metz, and Barr-le-Duc.