The False Crusade, R Rex, in Renaissance Historical Review 2007
The origins of the False Crusade were not in fact in Rome. Across the newly discovered Columbias the Spanish Crown resented English presence and sought a means to remove them. In France, Louis XII looked for any scheme which might peg the English back and allow him to do some damage. Various other smaller Dukes and Princes resented England’s rise to prominence and their influence across Europe. Much of this is supposition but it would adequately explain why Pope Julius II called a Crusade against Norland in 1506.
Pope Julius II was known as the warrior Pope - he chose his name from Julius Caesar, not St Julius. He sought to uphold the rights of the Italian peninsula, given his Genoan heritage, and therefore sought to distract the realms of Europe with that classic Papal enemy: heresy. Alexander VI had of course encouraged further attacks against heresies, and Iberia in particular saw a lot of work with the Inquisition and persecution of Jews, but Julius sought a broader approach. In 1505 Julius published a Papal Bull called Somnium Sanctus which called for all rulers of Europe to ‘strike the heretic from within their realms’.
Somnium Sanctus caused a marked increase in the amount of heretics arrested and the spread of the Inquisition across Europe; Spain, France and the Empire were all affected. However Edward V only allowed a token force of the Inquisition into England under claims that the Lollards had mostly left England. This seems most likely true given that Wycliffe in New Avon had been an option for nine years by this point. However Edward neglected to act against the heretics in New Avon. Mancini records that this was because the Lollards and Hussites were not actually on the King’s land but living beyond its borders. This is technically true as neither town of Wycliffe or Huss allowed Crown officials, or even had much to do with Jordanstown 50 miles away. It is unlikely this distinction was understood by Papal authorities.
Amidst the increased religious activity, England was served a blow of a different kind; the 1506 Treaty of Blois between Emperor Maximillian and Louis XII concluded a treaty of peace and non-aggression between the two men. Interestingly, this was a personal agreement of fraternal love and companionship and was not expressly between France and the Holy Roman Empire, although in effect this amounted to a truce. Given the distinction, and Maximillians’ handing off of Burgundy to his son, the League of London was preserved as Burgundy was still free to wage war against France if needed. However Maximillian made this agreement without consulting Edward V and it was now clear that the Emperor no longer saw England as his sole friend, what with Louis XII being so amenable. The Treaty of Blois represented a devastating blow to the League of London, and its days were numbered.
The Treaty of Blois did not overtly cause the False Crusade but it nonetheless paved the way for it. By October 1506, Papal records estimated that the last year had seen almost 3,000 heretics flee the continent for Huss or Wycliffe. We know from the settlers' own records that many of them were Bohemians who settled in Huss, but a few Waldensians and Cathars took to Wycliffe as did a sizable number of Jews. Records do not allow us to ascertain how these Jews were received in Norland, but they were allowed to settle between Wycliffe and Huss in a town which became known as Siloam. In light of these developments, the Treaty of Blois allowed France and the Empire to unite behind the Crusade, making Edward’s reluctance impossible. Nevertheless, such numbers of heretics could not be allowed to escape in Pope Julius II’s eyes and on the 2nd of November 1506 he called a Crusade against this ‘nest of heretics’ in the New World.
The False Crusade has been named such because it was called under false pretenses and was in fact planned as a political move from the start. It also stands aloof from the typical medieval crusades of defending the faith or establishing a holy land; the heretics in Norland were not threatening anyone, and the land was religiously insignificant. Although the name ‘False Crusade’ has been proven now to be a Reformation invention to further discredit the Papacy, circumstantial evidence has also arisen to prove its dubious nature.
There are very few surviving records surrounding the origins of the Crusade, their absence in themselves cause for suspicion, but the largest ‘smoking gun’ detected is the personnel selected. Don Andrea Doria was invited by Julius (a fellow Genoan) to lead the Crusade with compatriot Amerigo Vespucci responsible for the navigation. On land the Crusade was to be largely Iberian in make up with Pedro Navarro given command of the army, which included a young Captain by the name of Hernan Cortez, with Cardinal Francisco Cisneros in overall command. The majority of the 2,000 strong army was made up of mostly Genoans or Iberians, remarkable for being the two major groups after the French with bones to pick with the English. It was in Spain’s interests to discredit the English in the new world and in Genoa’s to seek revenge on the nation which propped up Milan and besmirched the name of Christopher Columbus.
How far the secular governments of Genoa and Iberia encouraged or planned the Crusade is hard to judge as no records survive, however Doria and Navarro were both senior enough to require permission from their Duche to leave for Norland. This, combined with Julian’s initial calling of the Crusade, have left many to speculate that the Crusade was merely intended to embarrass the English by showing them incompetent of dealing with heresy, which could later be used to strip Norland and the Columbias from them entirely.
England had been boxed into a corner; Edward V had claimed the heretics were not his problem and so he could not now rightly protest the Crusade because it was not taking place on his land. However the King realised enough that he could not allow the Crusade to happen unsupervised. He therefore played a brilliant hand; Prince Richard and his Piacenza Company (what men could be spared from France) were summoned to join the Crusade with the Norland Trading Company providing some 40% of the fleet. Edward also gave the Crusade permission to land in Jordanstown and march the 50 miles to Wycliffe rather than risk a coastal landing in treacherous waters. With these simple acts Edward had been able to demonstrate support for the Crusade whilst controlling its outcome.
There has been feverish debate over just what Edward V intended with these actions; was he simply playing it straight and wanting to support a genuine Crusade against heresy? Was he trying to control the Crusade to his liking? Or most sinister of all, was he actively seeking to undermine the Crusade? Alas such questions find no answers although many academics and popular historians have speculated into the night about such matters (Hilary Mantel wrote a whole book about it) but the presence of Prince Richard is telling. Norfolk was the hitherto most senior noble permitted to risk the journey across the Atlantic, and in fifteen years of English presence in the New World no member of the Royal Family had been allowed to make the journey. That Richard was summoned to go, despite his dislike for the Papacy, suggests that Edward wanted his presence on the Crusade to be represented by the most capable man possible. Lincoln was made Marshall of England in Richard’s stead.
As with the rest of the False Crusade there are many unanswered, and unanswerable questions about the events of the Crusade itself; most Spanish/Italian and English accounts seldom agree on even the most basic events, and the motives of the various players are all but impossible to adequately explain without causing endless division. Nonetheless a rough outline can be established with the more major events speculated over as to their causes.
Prince Richard and his 250 men arrived at Jordanstown, not long after Easter 1507, they were the first to arrive; this not only allowed the company to acquire the 60 horses which would form part of their force, but if certain theories are believed, to warn the heretics. The main Lollard record of the events of 1507 was kept by John Scrivener who had arrived in Wycliffe two years previously. ‘Scrivener’s Chronicle’ records that in the Spring of 1507 a ship docked in Wycliffe having made the short journey from Jordanstown, with a warning that a European force was coming to wage a Crusade upon them. Remarkably, Scrivener records that the warning came from a Royal official with instructions to move further west and inland in order to escape. Thankfully this evidence was not presented at the Council of Aachen or it would have incriminated Edward V, but it emerged later and its accuracy severely questioned. Why would Edward want to protect heretics? Despite his later actions, there is nothing to suggest his faith was fluctuating at this time. The most convincing theory came from Geoffrey Elton who suggested that the warning, if such a thing existed, may have been politically, not religiously motivated. Elton’s reasoning was that Edward would have wanted to prevent any embarrassing loss of life to preserve his own reputation.
Regardless of whether the Lollards and Hussites were warned, we know that they began to leave the area around the Providence River before Summer 1507. Archaeological evidence supports these events, and Scrivener’s chronicle likens the heretics to the people of Israel fleeing Pharoah across the Red Sea. It is perhaps poetic that the Lollards, Hussites and Jews moved towards the Servene River (OTL Hudson) which translates as the Red River in Czech. Beyond the River they formed a new settlement called Kadesh (Union City) in a land they called New Canaan (OTL New Jersey). Even by the more sober accounts, this was a difficult journey with the native Indians being fought off more than once, before the land of Canaan was chosen as it was hard to access without boats, which the Hussites had constructed in droves.
However the Norland Exodus took longer than a few months to complete, by all accounts it was 1509 before the group was once again stable, and they certainly did not have the Providence area evacuated before Ascension Day 1507 when the main Crusader force arrived. Cardinal Cisneros was said to be furious that the Crusade was delayed by bad weather and that the army of 2000 or so men (2300 if you include Prince Richard’s force) now had meagre supplies to survive on. Jordanstown did not have enough agriculture yet to support an army, and Edward had given James St Leger leave to sell only what he wished to the Crusaders, making a good profit in the process. Given the friction with the locals, the Piacenza Company, and between the Italian and Spanish contingents, it seems a decision was made to move against the heretics with all speed. After all, they were heretics, and unprepared for a fight, what danger was there? Consequently Pedro Navarro marched from Jordanstown on the 4th of May 1507 heading south towards Wycliffe; his force was almost entirely infantry, although they were well equipped in plate and with handguns, whilst the Piacenza company brought up the rear. It may seem odd that the cavalry was kept in the rear, but it speaks to Navarro and Cisneros’ arrogance and antipathy towards the English; they did not want the English there, and certainly did not want Prince Richard to enhance his reputation even further.
Today a journey from Jordanstown to Wycliffe takes less than an hour on a broad straight highway. In 1507, the Crusaders had to slog over difficult wooded ridges. The going was so tough that they were forced to abandon their cannon and send it back to Jordanstown. After two days the army had reached Mansfield (OTL Mansfield, MA), around 20 miles from Wycliffe. It was here they rather unexpectedly met the army of the heretics.
Estimates are very hard to come by, but it is estimated that the Hussites and Lollards between them could muster a force somewhere around 2,000 men with varying degrees of equipment. Iron ore was in good supply near Wycliffe and so most soldiers carried a sword or spear, although most armour was either leather or non-existent. Instead the heretics made up for this using what would today be called Guerilla tactics. The Hussites had fought as mounted archers for centuries, and though they possessed few horses, they could still use their hunting bows with similar tactics on foot. Scrivener records that from the 20 mile or so mark the heretics harassed the column of Crusaders as it marched south, with Bartholomeo Higuan (a Spanish Friar) recording that the targets seemed to be anyone but the English.
Higuan records that the Piacenza company, possessing what little cavalry the army had, were commanded to to drive off the Heretics on numerous occasions but did so without drawing blood. In any case the army, which surely numbered less than 2000 by now, reached what had become known as Oxbrow on the second day after Mansfield. Oxbrow (OTL Attleboro MA) formed a gully between a wooded slope to the east and a small lake to the west with the track south to Wycliffe running between them. By Scrivener’s account here the Lollards had constructed a wooden palisade to block the path which went either undetected or unreported by the Crusaders’ scouts. As Navarro’s vanguard reached this palisade, the majority of the Hussite infantry, most simply wielding swords, spears or clubs with little armour, rushed down from the slope of Oxbrow crashing into the side of the Crusaders. They may have had plate, handguns and pikes but all of the Crusader advantages were negated by the tight confines of the gully, indeed the Hussites led by Jan Civac deliberately split the contingents of Crusaders in order to more easily kill them. From the front, Thomas Harding, Lollard veteran of Torhout and Montdidier, led an equally ragtag band of Englishmen who were literally fighting for their lives. This force crashed into Pedro Navarro’s vanguard as it was turning to assist their comrades in the rear. The result was that Navarro and his standard bearer were killed, flinging the banner of St Peter, blessed by the Pope’s hands, into the dirt of Norland..
The role of Prince Richard at Oxbrow has been much debated. Known for his bold charges, and in possession of the only cavalry on the field, it is surprising that it seems the Prince did nothing. Higuan in his record almost begins to spew bile at the ‘turncoat Prince’ at this point in his account as he describes how Richard sat and watched from the rear whilst the Crusaders were torn apart. Scrivener records that Richard had planned the entire battle with Harding and Civac, agreeing to stay out of the fray. However recent battlefield analysis has shown a perhaps fairer conclusion; the ground at Oxbrow is very narrow and would have been rather boggy; very impractical for cavalry. Furthermore a stream half a mile from the battlefield would have delayed Richard’s rearguard meaning that he perhaps was not even present for most of the battle. Finally, even if the Piacenza company had been there they could not have engaged without blocking the Crusaders’ retreat.
By sunset on the 8th of May 1507 the Hussite/Lollard army had withdrawn to tend to their wounded, estimated at a mere 300 dead or wounded whilst the Crusaders made camp to tend to their own. It is thought that around 1200 Crusaders died at Oxbrow, almost all of them Genoan or Iberian; Navarro was dead and Cardinal Cisneros was gravely wounded, dying before the army retreated to Jordanstown. Hernan Cortez took command, using the Papal edict taken from Navarro’s baggage to do so. Higuan merely records that there was ‘much bad blood’ during the retreat to Jordanstown but of course it is unknown just how severe, or genuine, this was.
Again using his cavalry, Prince Richard made it back to Jordanstown first and sent word back to Europe himself. He was lucky in encountering a ship under a Breton flag - a little more impartial than the Norland Trading Company. The news returned to St Malo, and then to London and Rome in mid-July, the story being that Richard had been repeatedly overruled by Navarro and Cisneros and had stumbled into the trap against his recommendations. The response was shock. No-one, save perhaps Edward V, had anticipated a defeat for the Crusade. Pope Julius was not seen for weeks and would be crippled for the remaining four years of his pontificate. It seems largely that this effort on Richard’s part would save him from condemnation; the Spanish and Genoese never forgave him, Cortez having a vendetta for life, but Europe at large saw him as much a victim as any other. Richard’s reputation would actually be enhanced by Oxbrow as he was able to portray himself, thanks to some shrewd Yorkist propaganda, as the victim of drastic Papal overreach and the arrogance of Cardinal Cisneros.
Within weeks of Oxbrow, Andrea Doria took a scouting voyage along the coast and reported that the settlements there had burned to the ground, a later scouting party led by Cortez on horses ‘borrowed’ from the Piacenza Company confirmed this, as well as the absence of any hoped-for treasure.
The False Crusade must surely be marked as one the biggest failures of the age of exploration. An ill-born scheme for political rather than religious ends, the arrogance of the leadership, and perhaps the schemes of the Prince of Harts, doomed it from the start. The Hussite/Lollards themselves may have suffered the loss of their settlements, but time would show their move to be incredibly profitable, and they had acquitted themselves so well that no-one would see them as easy pickings anymore. The Church, maybe the whole of Christendom, was humiliated and chastened; a Crusade had been utterly beaten by bookish Lollards and primitive Hussites, who had survived largely unscathed.
England could likewise not entirely be seen as a beneficiary. True, Edward V and his brother had seen off the continental challenge in the New World, and placed the Pope firmly in his box, but Oxbrow would mark the first signs of change in European politics. Depending on your point of view, Edward had resisted Papal control and then stood by whilst a Holy Crusade faltered in his backyard (admittedly his 3,000 mile long backyard), some like Spain and France wanted England to pay for Oxbrow, Emperor Maximillian was simply stuck between a rock and a hard place. Even Edward was uneasy as he knew that Oxbrow would not be an end but a beginning. Ultimately, there are some who see the False Crusade as the spark that lit the Reformation aflame.