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Lynn White is not an "unknown," however or wherever you turn up his name. He is THE established medievalist, and his theory on how Charles Martel's adoption of the stirrup basically energized feudalism is a classic. Try some historians, not websites.

I didn't claim he was an unknown. I just said I didn't know him. And I'm not exactly a neophyte when it comes to medieval studies, having done some research in college and independently and having been to Kalamazoo three times (albeit as a lowly vendor).

I think his theory about the stirrup is largely discredited, btw. The Byzantines knew about the stirrup in the 6th century--it was mandatory as per the Strategikon of Pseudo-Maurice (ca. AD 580). If the Byzantines were using them as early as the 6th century, it would be hard to argue that the Franks were unaware of them until 732.

Although I haven't read his Medieval stuff.

I'm confused. I though your reading of his medieval stuff was the basis for your claims about the motivations of the Popes during the Crusading period.

Btw, you still haven't come up with a single shred of primary source evidence to support your claims.

First, the phrase "I haven't read his medieval stuff" referred to HOLLISTER, not White.

Second, sitting here in my office, I'm not likely to come up with ANY "primary source" material from the 900s. If you can dig up that, you either are living in a castle in France, or are a fraud.

Third, White specifically did NOT say that the Europeans "had" the stirrup first---but that they first used it in shock combat, so apparently you haven't read his "critics" right or you haven't read him. I think Victor Hanson accepts White's interpretation of the Frankish use of the stirrup in this regard.

Fourth, I don't need to provide ANYTHING. The necessity for the "Peace of God" and "Truce of God" (or do you need "primary source documents" on those, too?) alone are sufficient evidence that there was widespread violence in common European cities, and that the Bishops of Aquitaine, among others, thought it necessary to do something about it from the ecclesiastical perspective.