1 December 1145 · Vetralla / Western Europe
Call for the Second Crusade
In response to the fall of Edessa, Pope Eugenius III issued the bull Quantum praedecessores, addressed to King Louis VII of France, on 1 December 1145. It called for a new expedition and granted participants privileges such as remission of sins, protection of their families and property, and exemption from interest on debts.
RESEARCH DOSSIER
Historical analysis of the event
Background
News that Edessa had fallen in December 1144 reached the West in 1145; Bishop Hugh of Jabala came to the papal court on behalf of Antioch and Jerusalem to ask for help. The newly elected Eugenius III was away from Rome at Vetralla because of the commune's uprising in the city.
The bull
The bull recalls the achievements of “our predecessors” who carried out the First Crusade and presents the loss of Edessa as a call to defend this legacy. The remission of sins granted by Urban II is confirmed for participants.
The text also states that the wives, children and property of those taking the cross will be under church protection, that lawsuits concerning their property will be suspended until their return, and that no interest will accrue on their debts. Knights are urged not to take showy clothes, hunting dogs or falcons. The bull was reissued with small changes on 1 March 1146.
Outcome and significance
Quantum praedecessores is the first papal bull to set out crusader privileges together in a single official document, and it became the model for later appeals. Louis VII had raised the expedition at Bourges around the time the bull was first issued, but the barons' interest was limited. The real response came with Bernard of Clairvaux's preaching in 1146.
Sources and debates
The text of the bull survives and is widely used in translations by scholars such as Riley-Smith. Whether Louis VII's decision to go on crusade preceded or followed the papal appeal is debated because of the differing accounts of Odo of Deuil and other sources.
Dates, places and figures in this record compare the principal narrative sources with modern scholarship. Where the sources disagree this is stated in the text; for a thesis or publication, consult the relevant edition and page reference.