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Iv 
FINANCING THE CRUSADES 
 estern Europe never wholly succumbed to those disruptive forces which threatened
it with a moneyless economy. At the end of the eleventh century money was
a common, but not a cheap, commodity. In the succeeding centuries the supply
of money increased and money consequently cheapened; credit instruments were
developed and banking practices established. During the first two crusades
the scarcity of money made it rise in value as the crusaders competed with
one another to obtain it by selling their goods.' In the thirteenth century
the 
 The primary sources for this chapter are too scattered to permit of a comprehensive
bibliography. Many chronicles of the crusades as well as a number of others
have proved useful. Charters of value have been found in many cartularies
and collections, both published and unpublished. Papal and royal letters
and accounts have been among the most valuable sources and will be cited
in the notes. 
 No comprehensive study of the financing of the crusades has been published,
although Giles Constable has recently surveyed "The Financing of the Crusades
in the Twelfth Century," in Outremer: Studies in the History of the Crusading
Kingdom of Jerusalem, ed. Benjamin Z. Kedar et al. (Jerusalem, 1982), pp.
64—88. Most secondary work has been in the field of ecclesiastical
support, where William E. Lunt's works are preeminent: The Valuation of Norwich
(Oxford, 1926), Papal Reven ues in the Middle Ages (2 vols., New York, 1934),
Financial Relations of the Papacy with England to 1327 (Cambridge, Mass.,
1939), and Financial Relations of the Papacy with England, 1327—1534
(Cambridge, Mass., 1962). His bibliographies provide the best introduction
to the materials relating to the subject. Adolf Gottlob, Die papstlichen
Kreuzzugssteuern des 13. Jahrhunderts (Heiligenstadt, 1892), is the fullest
account of papal taxes but is subject to correction. Sydney K. Mitchell,
Taxation in Medieval England (New Haven, 1951), is also of special usefulness.
On the role of the military orders the classic work is Leopold v. Delisle,
Mémoire sur les operations financieres des Templiers (Mémoires
de l'Institut national de France, Académie des inscriptions Ct belles-lettres,
XXXIII; Paris, 1889), to which may be added Jules Piquet, Des Banquiers au
moyen age: les Templiers (Paris, [1939]). Robert Génestal, Role des
monastères comme établissements du credit (Paris, 1901), is
still fundamental on the credit transactions of the crusaders. On the privileges
of the crusaders see Emile Bridrey, La Condition juridique des croisés
et le privilege de croix (Paris, 1900), James A. Brundage, Medieval Canon
Law and the Crusader (Madison, Wisc., 1969), and Maureen Purcell, Papal CrusadingPolicy,
1244-1291 (Leyden, 1975). It may be worthwhile to warn that L. Papa-D'Amico,
I Titoli de credito: Surrogati della moneta (Catania, 1886), and other works
based on the Collection Courtois in the Bibliothèque nationale are
unreliable: cf. Alexander Cartellieri, Philipp IL August, Konig von Frankreich
(4 vols., Leipzig, 1899—1922), II, 302-324. 
 1. August C. Krey, The Ffrst Crusade (Princeton, 1921), pp. 17—19.
Further, the armies caused a scarcity of goods wherever they went, and the
crusaders paid high prices in money which was dearly bought. 
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