Lapina, Elizabeth Depicting the Holy War

Crusader Imagery in Medieval French and English Murals

This book examines the influence of the Crusades in the Middle East on Western European societies using a source that has been largely neglected until now: wall paintings. In this book, Elizabeth Lapina analyses five wall painting programmes from the early 12th to the late 13th century in what is now France and England in Hardham, Berzé-la-Ville, Poncé-sur-le-Loir, Cressac and Tour Ferrande. These images are rare sources of information about attitudes towards the Crusades in places where there are virtually no written records on the subject, such as rural communities. Four of the murals are located in church buildings, which are sacred in themselves and gain even more sanctity through the celebration of Mass. According to Lapina, this sacralisation of violence led to a change in attitudes towards the enemy and to the depiction of battles as holy wars between the forces of good and evil. The murals come from England, Normandy, Aquitaine, Provence and Burgundy, regions that produced both numerous crusaders and ideas related to the Crusades. Overall, the murals show a trend towards the acceptance and glorification of increasingly diverse forms of violence during this period. This study uses new methods to provide insight into the perception and representation of the Crusades in social classes about which we know relatively little. It is indispensable for historians and art historians interested in the Crusades, warfare and violence in medieval England and France.