Wendish Crusade 1147

The Wendish Crusade of 1147 one of the Northern Crusades and a part of the Second Crusade took place at a critical phase in the evolution of crusading rhetoric. The initiators and apologists of the campaign employed rhetorical devices to justify the occupation of a region and conversion of a population under the auspices of a crusade. A detailed examination of the primary sources shows that the justification of a crusade against apostates was not only a German endeavour or the pope’s will but a political reality of the twelfth century. Therefore the attitude of the papacy is shown to be reactive rather than proactive.