Visionary Masculinities: Emotion and the Experience of the Miraculous in Latin Narratives of the First Crusade

The Latin narratives of the First Crusade produced in the first decades of the twelfth century contain many stories of emotionally charged, affective instances of human interaction with the divine in the form of visions and miracles. Examination of these episodes reveals that the masculine ideas and ideals reflected in the narratives allow some scope for legitimate fearful responses to the miraculous. Such formulations constitute a pious fear that is indicative of the love of God, as opposed to worldly fear that represents a symptom of the prioritisation of the mundane. Such pious, fearful masculinities offer further nuance to the idea that fear was typically seen as the antithesis of the idealised courageous crusader.