ABSTRACT
In response to the settlers’ requests, Pope Eugenius III issued the crusade bull Quantum praedecessores on 1 December 1145 (see Document 11). This landmark work is the first papal bull for a crusade to the Holy Land to survive and it formed the basis of crusade appeals for decades to come. Such an important piece of evidence is worth examining in detail, but first we must remember the way in which such a document would have been used. The bull was addressed to King Louis VII of France and his subjects. Doubtless it was read out at great assemblies such as that held at Vézelay on Easter Sunday, 31 March 1146, when the king and many of his nobles gathered to take the cross. These meetings were highly orchestrated affairs, often timed to coincide with important religious festivals and the majority of those present were prepared to be stirred into a frenzy of enthusiasm by men like Bernard of Clairvaux, the greatest orator of
the age. In addition to these larger meetings the bull would also be distributed to other preachers who had been officially delegated to recruit for the expedition.
