Crusades Archive
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How did medieval Europeans deal with Greek debt? They sacked their capital city
Posted on May 18, 2012 | No CommentsThe real reason for the diversion to Constantinople in 1203 by the Venetians and the crusaders, and for their subsequent attack on the imperial capital in 1204, was a simpler and, in their minds, increasingly pressing concern: the payment of outstanding debts -
The Massacre at Acre–Mark of a Blood-thirsty King?
Posted on April 24, 2012 | No CommentsThe Christian forces in the Holy Land during the mid-to-late-1100s had, for many years, requested assistance to maintain their dwindling and increasingly challenged control in the Holy Land, but no help came. The tenuous rule of Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, in the mid-1180s, led to further internal conflict. -
Sin, Penance and Purgatory in the Anglo‐Norman Realm: The Evidence of Visions and Ghost Stories
Posted on April 23, 2012 | No CommentsHistorians have tended to explore these two changes of the ‘long twelfth century’ — the reinvention of penance and the rise of purgatory — in isolation from each other. Here I intend to focus on the relationship between the two, and to look in particular at one aspect of it: the implications of theological change for perceptions of the fate of the dead. -
Impact of crusader castles upon European western castles in the Middle Ages
Posted on April 18, 2012 | No CommentsWhat was the order in which certain types of castle defense came to be during the middle ages and how do we first see them in the archaeological record from the time? -
Siege warfare during the Crusades
Posted on April 13, 2012 | No CommentsIt is from the accounts of the participants and observers that one gains some appreciation for the role of siege warfare in the crusades. -
“Mediterranean Falconry as a Cross-Cultural Bridge: Christian – Muslim Hunting Encounters”
Posted on April 8, 2012 | No CommentsAmong the spectacular Eastern hunting techniques which could become the object of interest and envy of the Europeans, one easily adapted to the natural conditions of Europe was undoubtedly the falconry. In fact, it became not only a great fancy of medieval and renaissance Europe, but also a kind of cross-cultural bridge across ideological gaps. -
Fear and its Representation in the First Crusade
Posted on April 4, 2012 | No CommentsIn preaching the First Crusade, Pope Urban II created a synthesis of holy war and pilgrimage, but, by analysing the depiction of fear in histories of the First Crusade, this article supports the position that it was only after the success of the Crusade that a coherent and internally consistent body of thought on crusading developed. -
Byzantine Pilgrimage Art
Posted on March 18, 2012 | No CommentsWho were these pilgrims? Literally, they were hoi polloi; they came from every stratum of society, from all vocations (including the indigent and sick), and from every corner of the Christian world. -
Maccabees on the Baltic: the Biblical apologia of the Teutonic Order
Posted on March 18, 2012 | No CommentsThe Teutonic Order, came into being as the third and last of the great medieval crusading orders. The Order began its existence as a temporary hospital for German speaking crusaders during the siege of Acre in 1190. -
Sacred Conquest and Ecclesiastical Politics: The Normans and the Church in the Eleventh Century
Posted on March 7, 2012 | No CommentsThe Normans' success hinged upon their ability to appear as divinely appointed rulers who served, protected, and guided the Church in the countries they held. They derived authority from the Church, and they also exercised authority over it. -
The Medieval Horse Harness: Revolution or Evolution? A Case Study in Technological Change
Posted on March 4, 2012 | No CommentsMedieval historians have considered the role of technology for some time; it is perhaps now appropriate to reexamine conclusions reached by early historians of technology. -
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: The Culture and Practice of Crusading in Medieval Iberia
Posted on March 1, 2012 | No CommentsThis battle was both a major Christian victory over the Almohad Empire of Morocco and its Andalusian allies, and the most successful crusade of the papacy of Innocent III. As such, it serves as an ideal case study for the practice and culture of crusading in the early thirteenth century. -
Battle Castle: Crac des Chevaliers
Posted on February 23, 2012 | No CommentsTrebuchets, earthquakes, Crusades and sweeping panoramas - you don’t want to miss a single minute of this fantastic first episode of Battle Castle! -
The Use of Fortification as a Political Instrument by the Ayyubids and the Mamluks in Bilad al-Sham and in Egypt (Twelfth-Thirteenth Centuries)
Posted on February 22, 2012 | No CommentsBeginning in 1170/1171, Salah al-Din built fortifications as the Fatimid vizier of Egypt. His considerations were primarily defensive in this period, following the Frankish campaign of 1168 that led to the siege of Cairo, and the Frankish-Byzantine naval expedition against Damietta in 1169. -
A Flat Vault in the “Crac des Chevaliers” and Some Considerations on the Development of Vault Geometry and Stereotomy in Mediaeval Masonry Structures in Syria
Posted on February 21, 2012 | No CommentsThe vault is located in the south-western cylindrical tower at the external defensive wall of the "Crac des Chevaliers" Castle in Syria, and was built in the late 13th Century. In this paper the geometry of the vault is analysed and a hypothesis developed on the design process; the technology of the vault will also be considered together with a discussion on the differences with European examples.
