Mind-Munitions

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Propaganda in the Middle Ages
An important psychological factor in late medieval warfare,
and of the Crusades in particular, when the knights were usually
outnumbered by the Saracens, was the tightly-packed formations
of heavily armoured knights. During the Third Crusade in 1190
one chronicler described how the Crusaders, having seen Saladin’s
camp, were ‘terrified because they looked so powerful’, but then
‘began to draw closer together, as they had been trained to do’.
The enemy found it impossible to break the formation and were
fought off, whereupon the knights relieved the fortress of Darum.
Such tactics enabled men to overcome their fear, relatively safe in
the knowledge that their comrades and their armour would protect
their lives. Should the formation be broken, the men would attempt
to reform in a compact unit around the banner or standard. The
banner was thus not just a means of signalling the troops to
advance in battle. It was also a symbol of resistance in adversity.
As the Rules of the Templars stated: ‘If the troops lose their
banner, they are shocked, and this can lead to a terrible defeat.’
The Crusades also demonstrate the psychological significance
of an able military commander. During the disaster at Damascus
in the Second Crusade, one source relates how the Holy Roman
Emperor severed in one blow virtually the entire side of an armourprotected
Saracen. ‘At this deed the citizens, both those who
witnessed it and those who learned it from others, were thrown
into such a fright that they despaired of resisting and even of life
itself.’ Richard I of England (the ‘Lionheart’) is another excellent
example. A strict disciplinarian, he was a man who took care not
to march his men too hard or too far, ensured that they were well
supplied, and personally supervised the execution of his orders.
Richard’s personal guard formed one of the main strike forces in
the battle of Arsuf, men who were supplied and armed by the king
himself and whose loyalty to him he could depend upon. But he
was not averse to brutality, ordering the decapitation of 2700
Turks at Acre when Saladin delayed in returning the Holy Cross.
Tancred, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, according to his
biographer, always took his turn at guard duty and even replaced
the wounded or the exhausted. When a crusade was not led by one
of the European kings, the military leader was elected by his
fellow military leaders or by the Pope.
The climax of Crusade propaganda came in 1213 when Pope
Innocent III proclaimed the Fifth Crusade. Distributed throughout