136 borders and frontiers: Europe failed By focusing on that border, however, institutions such as the national monarchies and the Catholic Church tried to divert military resources and initiative away from warfare within Europe (between individual feudal lords) and toward a unifying enterprise The church had traditionally imposed penance (rituals to forgive the sins involved in killing and intending to kill) on knights who fought even in a just war, but in the case of the crusaders granted indulgences (the free forgiveness of all sins) The church also organized military orders (such as the Hospitallers and Templars), groups of knights fighting in the Crusades who were not under the same rule as clerical monks but who nevertheless ultimately pledged obedience to the church hierarchy The Crusades also provided a model for Christian Europe’s two physical borders, to the south in Spain and to the east beyond Germany The intellectual framework for the Crusades was worked out by the Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux in De laude novae militiae (In Praise of the New Knighthood) Written in 1128 the text declared that the war with the infidel was an outward expression of the inner war with the devil The crusading knight’s battle was as much a spiritual one as the monk’s Warfare became a sacred duty, one that could save the soul of the crusader as his ascetic discipline conquered Satan’s influence in his own soul and simultaneously brought about military victory The inner border between the human soul and sin, which was the chief concern of the church, was projected onto the geopolitical stage In the seventh century Spain was conquered by Islamic Moors from North Africa Only a small fringe of Christian principalities clung to existence along the Pyrenees, resembling bands of brigands more than nations Nevertheless, they made steady progress in the work of the reconquest of Spain from the Moors After the initial impulse of the Crusades, this fight in Spain was also seen by Europeans as a crusade As a result many crusading institutions were introduced there, including military orders and the granting of indulgences Knights from throughout Europe were attracted to fighting in Spain against Islam But the situation that developed from the intermittent warfare between the various Islamic and Christian states in Spain produced classic “frontier conditions.” The soldiers involved in the fighting were encouraged by their own rulers to act as brigands, raiding enemy states, and saw themselves as above the law because of the pressing needs of the conflicts in which they were involved Feuds and revenge with rivals across the border (or even with allies) became important factors, but at the same time the enemy was seen as having more commonalties than countrymen further removed from the frontier Loyalty was transferred to leaders who proved themselves in battle Groups of Muslims and Christians might have fought together against other mixed forces in constantly changing constellations of power In Spain all of this was embodied in the figure of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1044–99) A Christian knight, he was known as El Cid (Arabic for “chief”), a name his enemies awarded him as a sign of respect He was a knight of the kingdom of Castile and participated in several campaigns under royal patronage against both Islamic and Christian enemies El Cid finally conquered the city of Valencia for his own principality with a mercenary army composed of both Christian and Islamic soldiers His exploits made him the Spanish national hero The territories to the east of the Holy Roman Empire were populated by Slavs organized into various kingdoms and tribes, some of whom were called pagan because they still practiced their traditional polytheist religion while others were Eastern Orthodox Christians In general, because their technology and social system were less sophisticated than those of the western Europeans, the Slavs were not a serious military threat despite the devastating raids they occasionally launched During the ninth century the Holy Roman emperors occupied a zone along their immediate eastern border to create “marches,” or buffer areas, to protect their older holdings from any incursions Throughout the High Middle Ages, German colonists spread across eastern Europe as far as the Volga but in a peaceful fashion, invited by local rulers who wanted to populate their undeveloped lands At about the same time as the Crusades in the Holy Land more serious military action was taken on Europe’s eastern frontier Under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux wars in this area were declared crusades by the papacy in 1170 (and again in 1215), and knights fighting in them were given the same indulgences as crusaders in the Holy Land Once the European adventure in the Middle East came to an end, the wars in northeastern Europe took on an increasingly religious character under the direction of the Teutonic knights This military order had been founded in Jerusalem to assist German-speaking knights participating in the Crusades, but after the loss of the crusader states it returned to Europe and soon became the driving force in the northern crusade It coordinated military action against the so-called pagan peoples beyond the borders of Christendom and under papal authority took direct control over the territories it conquered, including the modern states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and much of Poland Previous fighting between Christian states and tribes and kingdoms that practiced traditional religion had assumed many frontier characteristics and had not been conducted along strictly religious lines However, the Teutonic knights became notorious for massacres and other atrocities that