Pope Gregory VII and Count

Eblous II of Roucy’s
Proto-Crusade in Iberia c. 1073

Lucas Villegas-Aristiza' bal*

This article surveys the surviving material regarding Gregory VII and Eblous
of Roucy’s expedition to Iberia c. 1073. This is an expedition that usually
has been overlooked which provides a glimpse in to Gregory VII’s mindset
with regard to the Iberian wars against the Muslims. This article assesses
how Gregory attempted to use the current arguments for ‘Holy War’ to
encourage Eblous and his followers to fight in the Christian–Muslim frontier.
It also compares the papal plans with Eblous’ probable motives as they can
be discerned from sources and the circumstantial evidence. Furthermore, it
addresses whether Eblous went to Iberia to fight the Muslims since some of the
accounts seem to contradict each other. It will also explore the significance

Acknowledgements: This article is based on my paper titled ‘Gregory VII and Eblous II
of Roucy Proto-Crusade in Iberia’ presented at the conference ‘From Heraclius to Urban
II: Trends and Themes in Medieval Christian Holy War’ at Trinity College, University of
Cambridge on 1 May 2015. I like to offer my gratitude to my wife Dr Naho Shiba (Aichi
Gakuin University) for her help in editing this article. Also, I like to offer my thanks to the
Archivio Segreto Vaticano (Vatican City), the Institute of Historical Research (London)
and Nanzan University Library (Nagoya) for allowing me to use their resources in the
completion of this work. Furthermore, I like to offer my gratitude to James Kane, Robert
Evans and Samuel Ottewill-Soulsby, the organisers of the aforementioned conference, for
their invitation and support.

* Bader International Study Centre, Queen’s University (Kingston), East Sussex, UK.
E-mails: l_villegas@bisc.queensu.ac.uk; lucasvillegasa@icloud.com

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Sage Publications   Los Angeles/London/New Delhi/Singapore/Washington DC/
Melbourne
DOI: 10.1177/0971945817750508
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of this episode in the development of Holy War as a preamble to the First

Crusade, especially in comparison with the better-known siege of Barbastro
of 1064. Lastly, it will also analyse how Eblous’ filial relations with the
Aragonese rulers would help create family networks between the Burgundian
and Norman nobility and the ruling houses of the Iberian Peninsula in
the following decades, and the effect of these on the later involvement of
Frankish contingents in the Iberian wars against the Muslims.

The Iberian Reconquista is a theatre of Holy War that started to attract

the papacy from the second half of the eleventh century. The siege and
conquest of the frontier town of Barbastro in 1064 by a combined host
of Norman, Occitan, Burgundian and Iberian forces have drawn its fair
number of scholarly works, thanks to the cryptic letter of Alexander II in
which he appears to have granted the Frankish forces remission of sins
for their actions.1 On the other hand, a pair of letters between Gregory
VII and Eblous II of Roucy with regards to their planned expedition to
Iberia nine years later has received little attention by comparison except
for demonstrating the continued interest of the reformed popes in the
Iberian struggle and the controversial claim by Gregory VII of papal
dominion of the lost Christian lands of Hispania.2 It is the purpose of this
article to survey the surviving material to find out where Gregory and
his Frankish general were aiming to go in Iberia. Also, this article will
assess how Gregory attempted to use the current arguments for ‘Holy War’
to encourage Eblous and his followers to fight in the Christian–Muslim
frontier. It will also compare the papal plans with Eblous’ probable motives
as they can be discerned from sources and the circumstantial evidence. It
will address one of the most puzzling facets of this episode; that is, whether
Eblous went to Iberia to fight the Muslims since some of the accounts seem
to contradict each other. Furthermore, it will explore the  significance
of this episode on the development of Holy War as a preamble to the
First Crusade, especially in comparison with the better-known siege

1
Barrau Dihigo and Torrents, Cròniques Catalanes: 33; Boissonnade, ‘Cluny, la papauté
et la première grande Croisade’: 257–301; Bysted, The Crusade Indulgence: 57–58;
Defourneaux, Les français en Espagne: 10–166; Ferreiro, ‘The Siege of Barbastro 1064–65’:
129–44; Fita Colomé, ‘Cortes y usajes de Barcelona en 1064’: 404–47.
2
Cowdrey, The Cluniacs and the Gregorian Reform: 221; Linehan, History and the
Historians: 173.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  119

of Barbastro of 1064. Finally, it will survey how Gregory VII’s plans

might have helped with the creation of trans-Pyrenean family network
of marriages that would encourage the involvement of multiple waves of
northern French nobles in successive expeditions into the Iberian frontier
in the following decades.
As it has been mentioned, the main sources for this article are a pair of
papal letters written by Gregory VII in the early days of his pontificate.3
These two letters have survived in the Vatican Archives as part of a
collection known as Gregory VII’s Regestrum Vaticanum Secundum.4
The collection is also known as the Register of Gregory VII, and it is a
unique survivor of a papal register from the eleventh century. There also
exists another version of the register, which is kept at Troyes, France.5 The
Regestrum 2 was transcribed and published by the German palaeographer
and historian Erich.6 Most historians including Herbert Cowdrey have used
this transcription ever since because of its thoroughness and because of
the fact that he interpolated both versions of the letters to create a great
compendium of information on Gregory’s epistolary transactions. Ephraim
Emerton and Cowdrey have also published English translations of the
Register based on Caspar’s work.7 Furthermore, having looked at the
original, Caspar’s work (at least with regards to these two letters) seems
to have been thorough enough and, therefore, it will be used for the Latin
versions of the text.8

3
Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII: 8–12; Emerton, The Correspondence of Pope Gregory
VII: 4–7; Cowdrey, The Register of Pope Gregory VII: 5–9.
4
Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Registrum Vaticanum 2, lib. 1, lit. 6 et 7, fs. 3v–5r.
5
According to Cowdrey who translated the entire collection, the French copy dates to the
early twelfth century and it has helped historians reconstruct the missing sections of the Vatican’s
collection. The manuscripts in the Vatican were rebound at later date with a leather binding.
The documents have been numbered with Roman numerals in red ink, probably soon after they
were compiled. There are also some red annotations on the margin made in a different hand
from the original. Also, the numbering system used for the folios is in Arabic numerals that like
the annotations were probably added later. The letters were likely compiled chronologically as
they were written and sent to their recipients. Troyes, France, Bibliothèque municipale, MS.
952; Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII: 8–12; Cowdrey, The Register of Pope Gregory VII: xii.
6
Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII: 8–12.
7
Emerton, The Correspondence of Pope Gregory VII: 4–7; Cowdrey, The Register of
Pope Gregory VII: 5–9.
8
‘Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Registrum Vaticanum 2, lib. 1, fs. 3v–5r.
The only transcription error in Caspar’s work that I could find was the inversion of the
words ‘vobis apostolica’ on f. 5r lines 12 and 13.

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Both letters have been dated to 30 April 1073, which was only eight
days from Hildebrand’s election as Pope Gregory VII.9 The fact that there
are only six letters in the register that are dated to the days preceding them
does seem to suggest the urgency that Gregory bestowed to his plans
for Iberia. The first letter is addressed to his papal legation in France
of Bishop Gerald of Ostia and Subdicon Raibaldo, while the second is
addressed to the barons of France directly. Both letters refer to Eblous’
planned expedition to Iberia and seem to be mostly concerned with the
status of Iberia as part of the patrimony of St. Peter, a matter that will be
discussed later. Gregory also seems to be concerned with the progress of
the substitution of the Mozarabic rite with the Roman one as part of the
process of church reform initiated by his predecessors.10
Apart from the two papal letters, there is also a small passage in the
Chronicle of the Life of Louis VI by the twelfth-century Abbot Suger of St.
Denis that claims the involvement of Eblous in a campaign in Iberia. This
narrative source survives in a group of manuscripts from the early twelfth
century and has been edited together by Henri Waquet and more recently
translated into English by Richard Cusimano and John Moorshead.11
This source, as a later narrative, is dedicated to praise the deeds of the
aforementioned monarch. Moreover, since the events of Eblous’ venture
to Iberia took place during Louis’ period as crown prince, Suger seems to
have been inclined to mention them in order to praise the future monarch’s
actions. Suger was not contemporary to the events of Eblous’ venture
(1073); most editors believe he was born around 1080–81. On the other
hand, he was very well informed about the court and having been Abbot
of St. Denis, he was in close proximity to the lands of the Roucy family
who make him a relative reliably source for the venture.12 Furthermore,
there are no surviving Iberian narratives that corroborate Suger’s claims,
and the documentary evidence from this period is not complete. As a result,
it is difficult to ascertain whether Eblous did go to Iberia in the 1070s as
the Papal letters and Suger suggested from these sources alone.13

9
Paul of Bernried, ‘The Life of Pope Gregory VII’: 275.
10
Gordo Molina, ‘Papado y monarquía en el reino de León’: 528.
11
Suger de St. Denis, Vie de Louis VI le gros: 24–31; Suger of St. Denis, The Deeds of
Louis the Fat: 19–20; Bur, ‘Suger, abbé de Saint Denis, régent de France’: 273–75.
12
Suger of St. Denis, The Deeds of Louis the Fat: 1; Luchaire, Louis VI le gros: Annales
de sa vie et de son règne: 12.
13
Ibid.: 19–20.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  121

The topic of Gregory VII and Eblous’ planned expedition to Iberia

has been addressed by some medievalists including Jean Flori, Ian
S. Robinson, Carl Erdmann, Marcus Bull and others as an example of
Gregory’s attempt to claim the Iberian Peninsula as part of the patrimony
of St. Peter.14 Also, Bernard Riley in his work on Alfonso VI has asserted
that Eblous’ expedition, which he calls a crusade, was intended to attack
Zaragoza on behalf of Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. This has been followed
more recently by Ana Isabel Lapeña Paúl.15 Some Iberian historians tend to
call this expedition a crusade, although they do not seem to define what they
mean by the term. To circumvent the historiographical debate concerning
the definition, this article will avoid the use of the word crusade, especially
in ventures that predates the Holy Land military undertaking of 1095–99.16

Who Was Eblous of Roucy?

Eblous was a northern French count of Roucy (1063–1108). He inherited
his domains from his father Hilduin.17 His life and deeds can only be traced
through limited number of sources, most of which were written after his
death. For example, according to Suger, Eblous was an unruly vassal of
Philip I of France. Accordingly, he indulged himself in plundering the lands
of the church in the vicinity of Reims and those of his neighbours until the
king sent his son the future Louis VI to bring him to heel.18 Suger seems
to have been keen to portray Eblous in a negative light, perhaps as a result
of the noble’s close relation with the Pope as is noted in later mentions of
him in the documentary evidence. As noted earlier Suger’s chronicle is
the only source that confirms that Eblous did go to Hispania with a large
army. Eblous seems to have continued his good relation with Gregory in

14
Bishko, ‘Fernando I y los orígenes de la alianza castellano-leonesa con Cluny’: 31–135;
Boissonnade, ‘Cluny, la papauté et la première’: 257–301; Bull, Knightly Piety and Lay
Response: 72–81; Erdmann, The Origins of the Idea of Crusade: 155–56; Ferreiro, ‘The
Siege of Barbastro’: 129–44; Flori, ‘L'Église et la Guerre Sainte’: 458–59; Laliena Corbera,
‘Guerra santa y conquista feudal en el noroeste de la península’: 389–91; Linehan, History
and Historians: 173; Purkis, Crusading Spirituality: 121.

15
Riley, The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI: 116–36. Lapeña Paúl,
Sancho Ramírez: 77.
16
Chevedden, ‘Crusade Creationism Versus Pope Urban II’s Conceptualization of the
Crusades’: 1–46; Housley, Contesting the Crusades: 1–23.
17
Guenée, ‘Les généalogies entre l'histoire et la politique’: 454–60.
18
Suger of St. Denis, The Deeds of Louis the Fat: 19–20.

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the aftermath of the expedition since in the register, he is referenced in

relation to the ecclesiastical disputes of the archbishop of Reims at a later
date.19 Eblous is mentioned in another papal letter dated 22 August 1078 as
protector of Prevost Manases, one of his kinsmen, in a dispute with the
archbishop of Reims.20 Finally, Gregory VII’s close relation with Eblous
is further confirmed in a papal letter directly addressed to Eblous dated
27 December 1080. In this letter, the Pope requested aid from Eblous
in order to bring Archbishop Manasses I of Reims under control.21 This
may explain Suger’s affirmation of Eblous’ attacks against the dioceses
of Reims. Eblous as kinsman of Prevost Manases took part in a coalition
of enemies of the Archbishop who ultimately helped to overthrow him.22
This  letter further confirms the level of confidence and close alliance
that the northern French noble continued to have with the Pope after the
expedition referenced in this article.
Eblous also appears in a charter dated 1082 of the Abbey of Saint-Martin
de Pontoise where he is mentioned possessing a castle in the area.23 Eblous’
wife Sybila was the daughter of Robert Guiscard. It seems that Eblous
had been to southern Italy in the 1060s and had married her there. Eblous’
eldest sister Beatrix married Geoffrey, viscount of Perche, and from this
marriage Rotrou of Perche was born, while Eblous’ youngest sister Felicia
married Sancho Ramírez of Aragon.24 These marriage arrangements indicate
that Eblous’ aims were to create a network of alliances outside his nearby
neighbours. More strikingly, he was perhaps trying to increase his personal
and filial prestige by maintaining these close connections to the paladins
of the wars against the enemies of Christendom. This network of relations
would have lasting consequences in the involvement of Burgundians and
Normans in the Iberian wars, as it will be shown later.

The Preparations
In the first section where Gregory mentions the expedition in letter
number six, he seems to suggest that he had been organising the venture

19
Ott, ‘Reims and Rome Are Equals’: 273–302.
20
Cowdrey, The Register of Gregory VII: 278.
21
Ibid.: 383–84.
22
Ott, ‘Reims and Rome Are Equals’: 291–92.
23
Depoin, Cartulaire de l’abbaye de Saint-Martin: doc. 14.
24
Guenée, ‘Les généalogies entre l'histoire et la politique’: 454.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  123

to Iberia before he became pope. He had probably done this through the
mediation of Gerald of Ostia. It is well known that, before he became
Gregory VII, Hilbrand had been instrumental in matters of religious
reform and diplomacy during the pontificate of his predecessor Alexander
II.25 In the letter, Gregory tells the Cardinal Bishop that he should
continue the work of recruiting forces for the expedition. Importantly,
Gregory seems to suggest that this endeavour was his predecessor’s
idea.26 If this is so, then it is possible to speculate a connection with
Alexander II’s letter of 1063, which has been used to justify Barbastro’s
campaign of 1064 as a crusading venture. The well-known letter, which
exists as a later copy in the British Library, granted remission of sins to
those going to Iberia.27

Clero Vulturnensi, Eos, qui in Ispaniam proficisci destinarunt, paterna karitate

hortamur ut que divinitus adminiti cogitaverunt ad effectum perducere,
summa cum sollicitudine procurent; qui iuxta qualitatem peccaminum suorum
unusquisque suo episcopo vel spirituali patri confiteatur, eisque, ne diabolus
accusare de inpenitentia possit, modus penitentiae imponatur. Nos vero
auctoritate sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli et penitentiam eis levamus
et remissionem peccatorum facimus, oratione, prosequentes.28

25
Cowdrey, The Register of Gregory VII: 54–70.
26
‘…, hanc concessionem ab apostolica sede obtinuit, ut partem illam, unde paganos
suo studio et adiuncto sibi aliorum auxilio expellere posset, sub conditione inter nos factę
pactionis ex parte sancti PETRI possideret’. Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano,
Registrum Vaticanum 2, lib. 1, lit. 7, fo. 5r; Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII: 11–12.

He [Eblous] received this concession from the apostolic see, that he should possess on
behalf of St Peter, by the terms of a treaty made between us, any part of it from which he
might be able to drive out the pagans by his own endeavours and with the aid of others
whom he recruited to himself.

English translation in Cowdrey, The Register of Gregory VII: 7; García-Guijarro Ramos,

‘El papado y el reino de Aragón’: 256.
27
London, United Kingdom, British Library, Add. MS 8873, fs. 48 r-v.
28
With fatherly love we exhort those who are intending to journey to Spain, that they take
the greatest care to achieve those aims which, with divine admonishment, they have decided
to accomplish. May each of them confess, according to the quality of his sins, to his bishop
or spiritual father and, lest the Devil be able to accuse them of impenitence, may a measure
of penance be conferred upon them. We, however, by the authority of the holy apostles Peter
and Paul, lift the penance from them and grant a remission of sins; our prayers go with them.
English translation: Bull, Knightly Piety: 73.

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However, as it has been pointed out by Ferreiro, Bull and others, the
letter does not say where in Iberia the participants were going or whether
their venture had any military component. Also, all the narrative texts
of the conquest of Barbastro do not mention any papal intervention or
involvement in encouraging the contribution of the French nobility in a
military venture.29 Nonetheless, if Alexander granted a similar remission
of sins to Eblous, Gregory does not mention it in his letters. However, in
his second letter addressed to the barons of France who might join the
expedition, Gregory does call their venture ‘ut militie causam ex animi
devotione quam iustissimam’, a just cause in the spirit of devotion.30
Here, Gregory is likely alluding to St. Augustine’s theological concept of
‘Just War’. Augustine had argued that waging war in order to recuperate
land that had been unjustly lost was not sinful because this was an act of
obedience to God’s explicit commands. He used the Old Testament and
Roman law to argue for the legitimacy of this kind of warfare.31 Of course,
here Gregory was also referring to a tradition of papal justification for
wars that had begun long before his pontificate.32 Popes such as Leo IV
in 853 had noted, ‘Omnium vestrum nosse volumus karitatem, quoniam
quisquis (quod non optantes dicimus) in hoc belli certamine fideliter
mortuus fuerit, regna illi celestia minime negabuntur’.33 Therefore, he
was saying that those Franks who died fighting the Muslims on the Italian
coasts should receive salvation.34 Moreover, as Ane Bysted has shown, the
papacy from at least the eighth century had been promising salvation to
the Franks and other Christians for defending the interests of the church
against its enemies.35 Conversely, Gregory VII’s use of such language does
indicate that he considered this expedition an act of Christian devotion,

29
Bishko, ‘Fernando I y los orígenes de la alianza castellano-leonesa con Cluny’:
31–135; Boissonnade, ‘Cluny, la papauté et la première grande’: 257–301; Bull, Knightly
Piety: 72–81; Ferreiro, ‘The Siege of Barbastro’: 129–44; Laliena Corbera, ‘Guerra santa
y conquista feudal’: 389–91; Purkis, Crusading Spirituality: 121.
30
Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII: 11–12.
‘It is proper that from devotion of mind they should set before themselves the most just
cause of their warfare.’ English Translation in Cowdrey, Gregory VII: 7.
31
Russell, The Just War: 16–23; St. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God: 32.
32
Erdmann, The Origins of the Idea of Crusade: 95–99.
33
‘Know all of you who want to know charity, (we say those are not invincible) that every
faithful who dies in this war, will not be denied a place in heaven.’ Leo IV, ‘Epistola 28’: 601.
34
Russell, The Just War: 32.
35
Bysted, The Crusade Indulgence: 52–53.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  125

not too far from the idea of a military venture as an act of penance that
the church would later proclaim in relation to the campaigns against the
Levantine Muslims.36 It is not to say that this was very innovative, but
it is certainly clear that in comparison with the Barbastro campaign of
1064, the pope was apparently more involved in forming an ideological
justification for this unequivocal military venture.
On the other hand, by saying that ‘according to ancient traditions’ the
land that had belonged to Peter and his successors had been lost unlawfully
to the Muslims, he was innovating in his justification for Christian
reconquest of the peninsula. Therefore, if the Franks would capture it,
they agreed beforehand that the land belonged to the Holy See, and they
should have it under his own personal dominion. In a way, the barons
including Eblous were being portrayed as restorers of lost Christian lands
to their rightful owners, one of the Augustinian prerequisites for ‘just war’.
However, instead of restoring it to the local Christians, the Franks would
restore it to the hands of the Pope as their legitimate overlord.
Furthermore, Gregory in his seventh letter says:

Qua in re et labore quicunque vestrum sibi adhere re voluerit, omni caritatis

affatu commonitus erga honorem sancti PETRI talem, animum gerat, ut ab eo
et munitionis auxilia in periculis et merita fidelitatis premia securus accipiat.
Si autem aliqui ex vobis seorsum ab illo propriis copiis eandem terram aliqua
in parte intrare paraverint, decet, ut militię causam ex animi devotione quam
iustissimam sibi proponant iam nunc omni voto concipientes et ex corde
statuentes, ne capta terra easdem, quas illi qui nunc Deum ignorantes eam
occupant, iniurias sancto PETRo faciant.37

This passage does suggest that the participants should be taking part as an
act of devotion, instead of an attempt to gain material rewards. However, it

36
Phillips, The Second Crusade: 44.
37
Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Registrum Vaticanum 2, lib. 1, lit. 7, ff. 4v–5r.

Let whosoever among you may be willing to join him [Eblous] in this task and labour
be warned with every expression of charity to be so disposed in mind to the honour of
St Peter that he may assuredly receive from him both his fortifying aid in dangers and
the due rewards of faithfulness. But if any of you shall be preparing to enter that land in
any part independently of him with forces of their own, it is proper that from devotion
of mind they should set before themselves the most just cause of their warfare.

English translation in Cowdrey, The Register of Gregory VII: 7.

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is not clear that Gregory was giving them remission of sins, as Alexander II’s
less ambiguous text says.38 The passage reference to divine protection may
imply the holiness of the cause, although this was not very innovative at
the time since popes had long before called similar expeditions sacred.39
Furthermore, the reference to merita fidelitatis premia [the due reward of
faithfulness] suggests that Gregory was making an allusion to Luke 19:17,
known as the ‘Parable of the nobleman’. Although not as direct as his
predecessor’s remission of sins in the 1063 letter, Gregory was certainly
promising access to sacred rewards in the afterlife for their devotion to
the cause as in the biblical passage, the faithful received the reward of ten
cities.40 Of course, the reference could also be interpreted literally as
temporal rewards for divinely inspired actions, not unlike those promised
to the participants of Pope Urban II’s venture (1095–99).41 Furthermore, it
is likely that Gregory’s arguments for the feudal arrangement where Eblous
and his followers were going to receive their conquests in Iberia as fiefs
suggest that he was starting to frame his later idea of milites Petri [knights
of Peter]. As Bysted explains in Gregory’s view:

The lay warrior had a duty to St Peter and his vicar, the pope, analogous to that of
a vassal to his feudal lord and in return he was rewarded with spiritual beneficia,
which means benefits, but which was also the technical term for feudal tenure.42

So in this new kind of sacred fief, his Frankish vassals would be granted
the benefits of sacred and temporal rewards. Although the term milites
Petri is not used in these letters, it is evident that Gregory was starting
to frame his arguments for sacred rewards for those knights who were
preparing to do his bidding by using the language of power to which they
were accustomed.
As Jonathan Riley-Smith said: ‘Gregory’s letters contain no clear link
between the planned expedition and pilgrimages, no indulgence and,
again, no sign of the vow’, and, therefore, it cannot be called a crusade

38
Bysted, The Crusade Indulgence: 57–58.
39
Ibid.: 45–52.
40
‘et ait illi euge bone serve quia in medico fidelis fuisti eris potestatem habens supra
decem civitates’. Gryson, Biblia sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem: Secundum Lucam 994,
Luke versionem, Luke 19: 17.
41
Peters, The First Crusade: 44–46.
42
Bysted, The Crusade Indulgence: 60.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  127

in his definition for the word.43 However, Gregory does promise heavenly
rewards to those who are devoted to fight in this just cause, suggesting
that at least he did not consider their actions to be against the church
teachings.44 In a way, by claiming that those involved were performing
restitution of the sacred property of St. Peter, he was implying that they
were executing a holy cause.45 As Bysted noted with regard to Gregory’s
later planned venture to aid the Byzantines in 1074, ‘Gregory leaves
no doubt that participation in this would be pleasing to God and would
merit a heavenly reward.’46 However, the language used is far from
clear regarding to their actions as a form of penance for previous sins.
Gregory’s argument had not reached the level of polish of his successor
at the end of the century.47 Although Gregory’s argument was not as clear
as later popes in this regard, it was probably sufficient for Eblous and
his followers to see their expedition as meritorious in the eyes of God.

The Patrimony of St. Peter

As mentioned previously, the expedition was being planned before
Gregory became pope, and it is far from certain whose idea it was. However,
because of Gregory’s fixation with the idea of the patrimony of St. Peter
over the lands of Hispania and Latin Christendom in general, it seems
plausible that Gregory might have been the true precursor of the concept.48
It seems that he believed perhaps that he could more easily convince a group
of northern Franks to do his bidding in Iberia than an Iberian monarch such
as Sancho of Castile or his brother and successor Alfonso VI.49 According
to Cowdrey, Hildebrand played a vital role in the negotiation that took place
between Robert Guiscard and Nicholas II over the Pope’s recognition of
the Norman hold of Southern Italy in exchange for a feudal arrangement of
papal over-lordship in 1059.50 Gregory’s experience in this episode might

43
Riley-Smith, What Were the Crusades: 78.
44
Riley-Smith, The Crusades, Christianity and Islam: 42.
45
Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Registrum Vaticanum 2, lib. 1, lit. 7, fs. 4v-5r;
Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII: 10–11.
46
Bysted, The Crusade Indulgence: 59.
47
De Ayala Martínez, ‘On the Origins of Crusading in the Peninsula’: 250.
48
Gordo Molina, ‘Papado y monarquía en el reino de León’: 522.
49
Ibid.: 537–45; De Ayala Martínez, ‘On the Origins of Crusading in the Peninsula’: 226.
50
Cowdrey, ‘Pope Gregory VII’s “Crusading” Plans of 1074’: 28; Gordo Molina, ‘Papado
y monarquía en el reino de León’: 553.

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have also helped to convince Eblous to sign a similar arrangement. Eblous,

as son-in-law of Robert Guiscard, could have been aware of the agreement
and the advantages that came from it.51
Both letters’ main concern is Gregory’s claim that the lands lost to
the Muslims in Iberia belonged to the patrimony of St. Peter. Gregory
was worried that the Frankish lords that might follow Eblous on his
expedition had not agreed beforehand that the lands that they would
conquer would be under papal dominion. Gregory’s policy in Iberia
regarding the wars against the Muslims from these early letters of his
pontificate seems to be framing his interest in the possible expansion
of the Christian realms. He was aware of the dynastic conflict between
the children of Fernando I of Castile and the apparent lack of interest
of the Iberian monarchs in the continuation of the wars against the
Muslims during the 1060s.52 As Linehan suggested, Fernando I and his
successors might have been apprehensive to endanger their main source
of monetary income by embarking into direct conquests.53 Fernando
I had managed to forge a very profitable tributary arrangement with
his Islamic counterpart that had made him immensely rich. Since in
southern Italy the reform popes had a difficult time dealing with the
Norman incursions, Gregory wanted the Iberian monarchs to accept his
over-lordship from the beginning of his pontificate. Of course, he had
the precedence of Robert Guiscard in southern Italy where the Norman
had finally accepted papal over-lordship for his domains in exchange
for recognition of his hold of southern Italy. Gregory might have been
using the forged donation of Constantine as a legal precedence, although
he does not explicitly mention it in the letters.54
In Iberia, however, the only monarch that seems to have been happy to
accept papal over-lordship was Sancho Ramírez of Aragon who saw it as
a way to further protect himself from accusations against his legitimacy.55
Sancho Ramírez of Aragon was the second monarch of that kingdom, and
he succeeded his father, Ramiro I, in around 1064. Ramiro had in turn
gained his nascent realm from his father, Sancho Garces III of Navarre,

51
Cowdrey, The Register of Gregory VII: 48.
52
De Ayala Martínez, ‘On the Origins of Crusading in the Peninsula’: 250.
53
Linehan, History and Historians: 174.
54
Robinson, The Papacy: 309.
55
García-Guijarro Ramos, ‘Los orígenes del movimiento cruzado’: 255; Lapeña Paúl,
Sancho Ramírez: 80–81.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  129

who on his death in 1035 left his dominions to his four sons.56 So for
Sancho Ramírez, the papal over-lordship was a convenient arrangement
that would have given him protection and legitimacy from his Christian
neighbours such as the count of Urgel and the king of Navarre, who had
threatened his independence. According to documentary evidence, Sancho
visited Rome in 1068 and accepted papal dominion for his lands.57 It is,
therefore, likely that Hildebrand might have been present for the ceremony
and, in this way, might have seen a connection between the Aragonese
pretensions as a miles sanct Petri [knight of St. Peter] and those of the
Normans in southern Italy where he had been involved earlier.58
So equally, Gregory believed that by signing a treaty with northern French
adventurers, he would be able to recreate a Norman Italian-like arrangement
that would allow him to expand his control over these realms. As it has
been noted, the local Christian rulers did not appreciate Gregory’s disregard
for their own claims of sovereignty.59 However, as Cowdrey has pointed
out, Gregory was flexible enough not to overtly antagonise the Iberian
rulers with his assertions. He reminded them of the papal jurisdiction over
Iberia in 1077 in another letter, but he did not use the argument in every
correspondence.60 Moreover, the papal desire for acceptance of his dues
was also beneficial to those Frankish knights interested in capturing lands
in Iberia. This allowed them to be independent of any claim of dominium
from the local Christian rulers. The kings of Castile-Leon since the reign
of Fernando I had been claiming over-lordship of all the Iberian Peninsula
as a theoretical successor of the Visigothic kings, a claim that was equally
disregarded by their Christian and Muslim neighbours.61

Gregory’s Ulterior Motives

Gregory seems to have seen this venture as an opportunity to form his
vision of Christendom predating his later proposed expedition to aid
Constantinople and the investiture controversy with the Holy Roman

56
Laliena Corbera, ‘Guerra santa y conquista feudal’: 394–98; Lapeña Paúl, Sancho
Ramírez: 18–19.
57
Salarullana y de Dios, Documentos correspondientes al reinado Sancho Ramírez: doc. 3.
58
García-Guijarro Ramos, ‘Los orígenes del movimiento cruzado’: 255.
59
Linehan, History and Historians: 172–74; Chevedden, ‘A Crusade from the First’: 198–99.
60
Cowdrey, The Register of Gregory VII: 468–69.
61
Bishko, ‘Fernando I y los orígenes de la alianza castellano-leonesa con Cluny’: 55–88.

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Emperor.62 He, as it is evident in his letters to the prelates and monarchs

of Hispania, seems to have been interested not only in continuing his
predecessors’ fight against simony but also in forcing the Iberian monarchs
to replace the Mozarabic rite with the Roman liturgy. This had been a
process that began with the introduction of the Cluniac monasticism during
the reign of Sancho III the Great of Pamplona.63 The standardisation of the
liturgy in Iberia was an important goal for the reform papacy in its desire
to bring the Iberian church more closely under direct papal jurisdiction.
With the occurrence of heresy within the church, the archaic and arguably
alien Visigothic rite would have felt heretical and therefore threatening
to the Roman church teachings and claims of orthodoxy.64 This is clearly
visible when Gregory tells his legate Gerald: ‘una cum consilio abbatis
tales illuc personas dirigi procuraretis, qui et errorem christianorum qui
ibi repperiuntur in spiritualibus corrigere saperent, et in exquirendis causis
sancti PETRI iuxta tenorem pactionis, si res bene procederet, sat idonei
forent’.65 From Gregory’s perspective, the correction of the perceived
errors of the Iberian Christians would play a vital role in the venture.
Gregory noted the importance of the change in rite in 1074 in a letter
where he reminded that adoption of the Roma liturgy was part of the deal
of papal supremacy that Sancho Ramírez had undertaken on his trip to
Rome. As in Sicily, Gregory viewed the sacred struggle in Iberia as part
of his policy of reinstitution of the Christian church supremacy there.66
Gregory VII perhaps not completely trusting the Frankish nobles to
follow with the vassalage arrangement insisted that an ecclesiastical

62
Cowdrey, ‘Pope Gregory VII’s “Crusading” Plans of 1074’: 30; Purkis, ‘Crusade and
Pilgrimage Spirituality’: 22.
63
Bishko, ‘Fernando I y los orígenes de la alianza castellano-leonesa con Cluny’: 55.
64
García-Guijarro Ramos, ‘Los orígenes del movimiento cruzado’: 254; Gordo Molina,
‘Papado y monarquía en el reino de León’: 528, 554.
65
Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Registrum Vaticanum 2, lib. 1, lit. vi, fo. 4v;
Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII: 10.

In concert with the abbot’s advice you were to arrange for such persons to be sent to that
land as would both know in spiritual matters how to correct the error of the Christians
who are to be found there and also be competent to attend to the interests of St Peter
according to the tenor of the treaty, if all should go well.

English Translation in Cowdrey, The Register of Gregory VII: 6.

66
García-Guijarro Ramos, ‘Los orígenes del movimiento cruzado’: 254–55; Chevedden,
‘A Crusade from the First’: 208–20.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  131

representative be present on the venture not unlike Ademar of Le Puy

during the First Crusade. In this particular venture, he named his friend
the well-connected Abbot Hugh of Cluny as his representative. This
further shows that Gregory was becoming more fully invested in the idea
of papal command for future military ventures against the enemies of
the faith and to expand his dominion. Perhaps because of the relatively
unsuccessful outcome of this venture, when planning his later project
to help the Byzantine Empire in 1074, he was more inclined to join the
expedition in person instead.67 The legacy of papal envoys to lead military
ventures under papal calling would live on in later campaigns such as the
First Crusade and Fifth Crusade.

The Iberian Perspective

As noted earlier, the only source to mention Eblous’ supposed military
venture to Iberia is Suger who says: ‘erat enim tante magnanimitatis ut
aliquando cum exercitu magno, quod solos reges deceret, in Hispaniam
proficiscerentur’.68 Although this passage and Gregory’s letter imply that
the venture intended to fight against the Muslims of the peninsula, there
is no reference in contemporary Iberian sources for a military Frankish
incursion. It is possible that if, or when, Eblous and his followers arrived
in Iberia, the local Christian rulers dissuaded him from attacking the
Muslims. Also, it is possible that they received a ransom payment and
returned home. It is not unheard of that on the occasion of the arrival of
a large Frankish force to Iberia, the local Christians dissuaded them from
fighting the Andalusi.69 These foreign groups might have threatened
the local political balance or truce with the Muslims. Examples of this
can be seen in the case of Rotrou of Perche’s involvement in Aragon
in the first decade of the twelfth century, as described by Orderic
Vitalis.70 Another example closer to the events narrated here was the
incursion of William IX of Aquitaine in 1088 to Aragon, which ended

67
Cowdrey, ‘Pope Gregory VII’s “Crusading” Plans of 1074’: 35; Harris, ‘The “Schism”
of 1054 and the First Crusade’: 14; Purkis, Crusading Spirituality: 18–19.
68
Suger de Saint Denis, Vie de Louis VI le Gros; ‘indeed he [Eblous] became so bold that
one day he set out for Spain with an army of a size fit only for a king’. English translation
in Suger, The Deeds of Louis the Fat: 34.
69
Bull, Knightly Piety: 94–95.
70
Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History: 396–409.

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when King Sancho Ramírez convinced him to return home without an

actual confrontation.71
Now according to Lapeña, Eblous intended to help the Aragonese
monarch with his army when arriving in Iberia. Sancho Ramírez of
Aragon’s submission to the Pope, and his later marriage to Eblous’ sister
Felicia, made him the most likely candidate for organising the venture
with Gregory. The marriage alliance, according to Lapeña, would have
taken place in 1071, which would have predated the expedition, making
it more likely that Eblous was thinking of coming to aid his brother-
in-law.72 Sancho, as it has been suggested, was probably intending to
increase his domains by using a large force of northern Franks as his son,
Alfonso the Battler, eventually did in the aftermath of the First Crusade.73
However, unlike the Midi Franks who had knowledge and experience of
the Iberian wars against Islam, Eblous and his potential followers were
less likely to stay for a long time in Iberia.74 Sancho was probably well
aware that the great majority of Franks who had been involved in the
siege and conquest of Barbastro in 1064 had not stayed behind after the
capture of the city.75 Of course, this was not Gregory VII’s intention,
but it seems likely that Iberian rulers expected this behaviour from their
northern French potential allies.
Now from the limited historical documentation from the year 1073,
there is a treaty signed on 30 May, between the Taifa king of Zaragoza,
Al-Muqtadir, and Sancho IV of Pamplona against the king of Aragon.76
Lacarra suggested that this treaty was an attempt by the Muslim king to
protect his domains against Eblous and Gregory’s plans. The existence of
such an arrangement on the other hand would have made it imperative for
Sancho Ramírez to use his Frankish allies against the Zaragoza–Pamplona

71
Bull, Knightly Piety: 82–83.
72
Lapeña Paúl, Sancho Ramírez: 61.
73
Lacarra, ‘Documentos para el estudio de la reconquista’: 489–92; Lacarra, Vida
de Alfonso el batallador: 63–88; Lacarra, ‘La restauración eclesiástica en la tierras
conquistadas’: 265–86; Lacarra, ‘La conquista de Zaragoza’: 65–96; Laliena, ‘Les Nobles
Francos en Aragon’: 149–69; Lomax, The Reconquest of Spain: 70–78; Villegas-Aristizábal,
‘Norman and Anglo-Norman Participation’: 111–32; Villegas-Aristizábal, ‘Spiritual and
Material Rewards in the Muslim–Christian Frontier’: 353–76.
74
Bull, Knightly Piety: 96–97.
75
Gesta Comitum Barcinonensium: 33; Fita, ‘Cortes y usajes de Barcelona en 1064’: 408–10.
76
Lacarra, ‘Dos tratados de paz y alianza’: 544–45.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  133

alliance. Lapeña has implied that the death of Pope Alexander II ended
the plans for the expedition.77 Conversely, it is more likely that Eblous did
come as Suger claims, but he was instead dissuaded by the Muslims with
the ransom payment and this way he could return home while indirectly
helping his brother-in-law and winning fame on his return to Île-de-France.
Furthermore, the Ex historiae Francicae fragmento makes an allusion
to a second expedition led by Hugh I Duke of Burgundy c. 1075, which
gives some credence to this hypothesis:

Secundam expeditionem in Hispanios Dux Burgundionum Hugo, pluresque alii

Principum Galliae paraverunt. Quibus Rex Aragonensis Sancio, cujus patrem,
Milonem scilicet Regem, ipsi sarraceni jamdudum excoriaverant obvium venit,
eisque ducatu contra eosdem praebuit Sarracenos. Quo duce Hispaniam
ingressis, captaque una nobilium ejusdem Hispaniae urbium, et devastata ex
parte ipsa regione, plurima onusti praeda domum remeant, quamplurimus
captivis abductis.78

This source confirms that this was the second time that this Frankish
nobleman had gone to Hispania to help the Aragonese, and that in this
occasion he received vast amounts of booty from a raid carried out against
the Muslims. Soon after his return to his domains, Hugh I of Burgundy
abdicated in favour of his brother and took the religious habit at Cluny.79
This is especially relevant since according to Gregory’s letters, Abbot
Hugh of Cluny was instrumental in the promotion of Eblous’ expedition
and therefore it is likely that he might have been the one who encouraged
Duke Hugh under papal instructions to go on his later venture. Moreover,
Abbott Hugh’s well-established relations with the Iberian rulers might have
played an important role as a mediator. The Iberian rulers such as the kings
of Leon, whose connections with the Burgundian monastery of Cluny are
well known, had maintained a tributary relation with the monastery that had

77
Lapeña Paúl, Sancho Ramírez: 63.
78
Duke Hugh of Burgundy and a great number of other principal men of Gaul went on a
second expedition to Hispania. There Sancho king of Aragon whose father Milo (Ramiro)
had suffered the Saracens’ wrath received them and led them against the aforementioned
Saracens. Those who went to Hispania captured one of the noblest cities in Hispania and
devastated part of the same region. Many of them returned home loaded with booty and many
abducted captives. Bouquet, ‘Ex historiae Francicae fragmento’: 1.
79
De Vausse, Historiens des ducs de Bourgogne: 211–12.

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134    Lucas Villegas-Aristiza' bal

made it immensely rich.80 This is a situation that would have given further
encouragement to secular Burgundian participants of the perceived wealth
available in Iberia. Moreover, Eblous II of Roucy’s lands were in close
proximity to the domains of Hugh of Burgundy which makes it very likely
that Hugh’s earlier trip to Iberia might have been as part of Eblous expedition
of c. 1073 instead of the Barbastro campaign of 1064 as it is usually noted.81
This would further explain the relation between Duke Hugh and Abbot
Hugh and the Duke’s final decision to join the monastic order on his return.

Conclusion
The effect of this episode on the later development of Holy War in
Iberia was not small. Although Gregory had not managed to gain a new
Frankish vassal in the lands of the Ebro, it opened the door to further papal
collaboration with the Iberian rulers over the reactivation of the Iberian
wars against the Muslims.82 First, the vassalage of Sancho Ramírez to
the Pope created a precedent that would help the nascent realms of the
peninsula gain recognition and importance in later times. For example,
in 1204, king Peter II of Aragon would place his kingdom under papal
protection through his elaborate coronation in Rome to avoid legitimacy
threats to his rule.83 Gregory, on the other hand, continued throughout
his papacy trying to encourage the Iberian monarchs to replace the
Mozarabic liturgy with Roman one and in this respect, he was more
successful. Moreover, Gregory’s involvement in the planning of Iberian
ventures would have probably inspired his plan to create a military force
to bring aid to the Byzantine Empire a year later.84 Also, his use of feudal
language to award sacred benefits to the participants (whom he later
would call milites Petri) in his venture would have lasting consequences
on the idea of indulgences that developed under his successors.85 Although
his later project was equally unsuccessful, both ventures would have

80
Bishko, ‘Fernando I y los orígenes de la alianza’: 31–51; Hunt, Cluny under Saint
Hugh: 124–25; Iogna-Prat, Order and Exclusion: 71.
81
Bouchard, Sword, Miter, and Cloister: 129.
82
France, The Crusades and the Expansion: 36.
83
Conde y Delgado de Molina, ‘Las insignias de coronación de Pedro I-II “el católico”,
depositadas en el monasterio de Sijena’: 150.
84
Cowdrey, ‘Pope Gregory VII’s “Crusading” Plans of 1074’: 27–40.
85
Bysted, The Crusade Indulgence: 60.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  135

served as precedence in Pope Urban II’s mind to call the First Crusade at
Clermont Ferrand in 1095.86 Likewise, Urban seems to have been eager to
encourage the Iberian rulers to further engage in conquests and restoration
of Christian territory.87 The most important and relevant example of this
was the Barcelonese expansion into Tarragona. Here, Gregory’s successor
encouraged the Barcelonese counts and their allies to restore the ancient
archdioceses with promises of divine rewards for their efforts.88
In this case, however, the final physical repopulation of the ancient
city did not take place until the second quarter of the twelfth century
when Archbishop Oleguer gave the city to the Norman adventurer Robert
Burdet.89 Interestingly, this Norman crusader came to the peninsula
around 1123 as part of the retinue of his fellow Norman Count Rotrou
of Perche. Noticeably, one of Rotrou’s motives to join the wars in Iberia
might have been his family connection through Eblous of Roucy’s
alliances with Aragon and Perche.90 As Nicholas Paul has shown, familial
connections and tradition played a vital role in the participation of multiple
generations of crusaders in the frontier.91 Furthermore, as he has also noted,
recounting of family traditions of crusading and the desire for imitation by
successive generation played a major role in recruiting later participants
for these ventures.92 Eblous’ venture perhaps in the eyes of Rotrou was
being recreated with his new involvement in Iberia. Of course, 50 years
had passed since Eblous’ proto-crusading venture, but not surprisingly
according to Orderic Vitalis, Robert went to Rome to swear full vassalage
to Pope Honorius II in exchange of papal protection from the interference
of the count of Barcelona.93 In this way, as Sancho Ramírez before him,
Robert was trying to stop any further claims of over-lordship by the

86
Chevedden, ‘Crusade Creationism’: 32–33, n. 89.
87
Constable, Crusaders and Crusading in the Twelfth Century: 274–76.
88
‘Urban’s letter to the counts of Besalú, Empurias, Roussilon, and Cerdeña and their
followers’, in Peters, The First Crusade: 45–46.
89
Benito Ruano, ‘El principado de Tarragona’: 107–19; McCrank, ‘Norman Crusaders
in the Catalan Reconquest’: 67–82; Villegas-Aristizábal, ‘Norman and Anglo-Norman
intervention’: 111; Villegas-Aristizábal, ‘Spiritual and Material Rewards on the Christian–
Muslim Frontier’: 353–76.
90
Villegas-Aristizábal, ‘Norman and Anglo-Norman Participation’: 112–26, 128–33.
91
Paul, To Follow in Their Footsteps: 21–35.
92
Ibid.: 65–69.
93
Villegas-Aristizábal, ‘Spiritual and Material Rewards in the Muslim–Christian Frontier’:
374; Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History: 402–03.

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136    Lucas Villegas-Aristiza' bal

count of Barcelona. Indirectly, Gregory’s claims of papal jurisdiction

were being used by another northern French noble in Iberia in order to
gain independence from competing secular claims of sovereignty. More
important for the reform papal plans, Robert’s Principality of Tarragona
allowed the final restoration of Christian population to the city.94 However,
unfortunately for Robert and his successors the popes of the mid-twelfth
century were less keen to antagonise the Iberian rulers with claims of
dominion to maintain the independence of the papal principality of
Tarragona when a more assertive Bernard Tort was elected Archbishop
of Tarragona.
Moreover, Gregory’s interest in the Frankish involvement in Iberia and
perhaps his role in the marriage alliance of Sancho Ramírez helped to start
a trend of trans-Pyrenean marriage alliances that encouraged the arrival
of other northern Franks into the wars of reconquest. Sancho Ramírez’s
alliance with Eblous of Roucy would have important to Aragon in the
following generation when Alfonso I of Aragon decided to invite his
maternal cousin Rotrou of Perche to fight in his campaigns of conquest
in the beginning of the twelfth century.95 As mentioned earlier, Rotrou
of Perche and Alfonso were both nephews of Count Eblous of Roucy.
Therefore, Alfonso with his own sense of honour might have appealed to
Rotrou, making references to the deeds of their shared common ancestor.
Furthermore, just a few years later, Alfonso VI of Castle-Leon married
Constance of Burgundy. With this marriage alliance, the reform monastery
of Cluny would not only receive a renewed increase in revenue and
possession in that Iberian realm, but it would also encourage the arrival of
Burgundian adventures to Iberia such as Raymond of Burgundy and Henry
of Burgundy.96 In the end, this network of family connections between
the Iberian rulers of Portugal, Castile, Navarre and Aragon brought the
Iberian theatre of Holy War to the collective mindset of the high nobility
not only in Burgundy but also in other parts of northern France such as
Normandy.97 With the success of the First Crusade in the Levant, the

94
Benito Ruano, ‘El principado de Tarragona’: 107–19; Jordà Fernández, ‘Terminologia
juridica i dret comù’: 355–62; McCrank, ‘Norman Crusaders in the Catalan Reconquest’:
67–82; Villegas-Aristizábal, ‘Norman and Anglo-Norman Participation’: 133–50.
95
Laliena Corbera, ‘Larga stipendia et omptima praedia’: 149–69 ; Paul, To Follow in
Their Footsteps: 80–83.
96
Barón Faraldo, ‘Magnates y nobiles en la curia’: 531–47.
97
Villegas-Aristizábal, ‘Norman and Anglo-Norman Interventions’: 121.

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 Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II  137

Iberian theatre would soon be equalised with the Levantine struggle by

Pope Calixtus II, whose filial relations with the Burgundian and Iberian
royal families are well known.98

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