Recreating Victory: Liturgy, Crusade Propaganda, and Simulacrum in Milan, CE 1100

Abstract

A feast commemorating the conquest of Jerusalem was celebrated in Milan, on 15 July 1100. On that day, an existing Milanese church was rededicated as the “Church of the Holy Sepulchre.” The elaborate ceremony included a procession, an octave, and a pilgrims’ indulgence, along with crusade propaganda. It was perhaps the earliest one celebrated in Western Europe in the wake of the Jerusalem conquest of 15 July 1099, added to the liturgical calendar of Milan. The event was carefully orchestrated by Anselm of Buis, the archbishop of Milan – a supporter of the church reform movement and close ally of Pope Urban II. The feast was attended by the local community, among them First Crusaders returning from Jerusalem. This article focuses on the innovative nature of the Milanese feast, its liturgy and possible link with the celebration in Jerusalem a year earlier. It also considers the triumphal recreation of Jerusalem in Lombardy within the western tradition of imitations of Jerusalem.