ABSTRACT
News of the disasters at Hattin and Jerusalem soon reached the West and in October 1187 Pope Gregory VIII issued Audita tremendi, the call to preserve the holy city in Christian hands (see Document 20). In this, the most powerful and emotive crusade bull of all, he described recent events in the Holy Land, including Saladin’s exploitation of the political inghting among the settlers and his victory at the Battle of Hattin. Gregory lamented the loss of the True Cross and the execution of the Templars and Hospitallers. The pope claimed that God’s anger at the sins of man could be assuaged by an act of penance, namely, the recovery of Christ’s patrimony. We can see, therefore, Gregory repeating Urban II’s point that a crusade was a sufciently arduous undertaking to be adequate penance for all properly confessed sins. Gregory also depicted the crusade as a test set by God and suggested that it was an opportunity to gain rewards either as a martyr or through a full indulgence.
