Abstract:
The loss of the Battle of Hattin constituted an immense shock for Christian society. Pope Gregory VIII issued an immediate response in the papal bull Audita Tremendi (1187). To better understand this bull, this study discusses how the notion of cultural trauma in the wake of the Battle of Hattin can explain the narrative strategies employed by Pope Gregory VIII. To this end, the sociological models of cultural trauma of Piotr Sztompka and Jeffrey Alexander are employed to examine the role of trauma in the causa scribendi of, and the narrative and rhetoric strategies in this bull. By connecting modern sociological theory to Audita Tremendi, the rhetorical strategies displayed by Pope Gregory VIII are uncovered and it is argued that he succeeded in crafting a narrative that could convey the traumatic nature of the Battle of Hattin to his audience and furthermore spur this audience into action.
