Audita tremendi was a
papal bull issued by
Pope Gregory VIII on
October 29,
1187, calling for the
Third Crusade.
It was issued just days after Gregory had succeeded
Urban III as
pope, in response to the defeat of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem at the
Battle of Hattin on
July 4 of 1187.
Jerusalem itself had fallen to
Saladin on
October 2 (see
Siege of Jerusalem), but news of this had not yet reached Europe by the time the bull was issued at the end of the month.
As with other papal bulls,
Audita tremendi takes its common title from the first few words of text, which do not necessarily make any grammatical sense on their own. The first line of the bull reads "Audita tremendi severitate judicii, quod super terram Jerusalem divina manus exercuit...", in English "On hearing with what severe and terrible judgement the land of Jerusalem has been smitten by the divine hand..." (the phrase "audita severitate" is a Latin grammatical construction known as
ablative absolute).
The text follows the same format as
Quantum praedecessores, the bull calling for the
Second Crusade in
1145. It focuses specifically on the loss of Jerusalem and points to the sins of the
Latin States as the reason for this great loss. As a result the people of
Latin Christendom must repent for their sins. The bull offered a
plenary indulgence, and offered church protection for the property of those who undertook the journey; thus through this logic the bull draws the conclusion that, due to the sins of the west, Jerusalem fell, and now the people of the west must repent by going on a
crusade to recapture the kingdom.
Sources
- Louise and Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: Idea and Reality, 1095-1274. Edward Arnold Publishers, 1981 (contains an English translation)
Category:CrusadesCategory:1187 worksCategory:12th-century papal bullsde:Audita tremendies:Audita tremendiit:Audita tremendinl:Audita Tremendisl:Audita tremendi
