Medievalists.net » First Crusade

The Sacred and the Profane: Understanding the Motives of the First Crusaders

Medievalists.net — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:10:37 +0000

Various explanations have been proposed to explain why tens of thousands of medieval men and women would travel several thousand miles and endure great hardship in order to try to reassert Christian control over the Holy Land.

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BOOK REVIEW: Genoa ‘La Superba’: The Rise and Fall of a Merchant Pirate Superpower by Nicholas Walton

Medievalists.net — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 15:54:10 +0000

While most books about Italy have been dedicated to tourist hubs like Milan, Florence, Rome, Sicily and Venice, Genoa with its rich history, rugged landscape, and tenacious residents, has been given only a passing mention.

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Ten Unusual Things during the First Crusade

Medievalists.net — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 19:52:42 +0000

The First Crusade was one of the most written about events during the Middle Ages. Many Christian writers, including some who took part in the pilgrimage/campaign, left detailed accounts of what happened. They sometimes also included some more unusual tales, ranging from battles with bears to sitting on a throne when you are not supposed […]

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Byzantium and the First Crusade: Three Avenues of Approach

Medievalists.net — Sun, 05 Apr 2015 14:46:10 +0000

A recurring theme in the historiography of the First Crusade is that of the Byzantine emperor asking Pope Urban to send a small contingent against the Turks and receiving instead vast armies over which he had no control

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Satiric Vulgarity in Guibert de Nogent’s Gesta Dei per Francos

Medievalists.net — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 01:02:01 +0000

Attempts to characterize Guibert de Nogent (1053-1121) generally focus upon his Autobiography, not on his history of the First Crusade.

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Islamophobia, the First Crusade and the Expansion of Christendom to Islamic World

Medievalists.net — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 01:19:41 +0000

Through the description of the First Crusade, mostly from the Western sources, this paper is intended to show that it was the Pope who systematically sown the seeds of Islamophobia among Western Christians so that they will realise his vision of expanding his Imperial Christendom to the Islamic World.

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‘De civitatis utriusque, terrenae scilicet et caelestis’: Foundation Narratives and the Epic Portrayal of the First Crusade

Medievalists.net — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 12:12:59 +0000

My summary of a paper given at the Institute of Historical research on the accounts of Antioch and Jerusalem during the First Crusade.

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Cannibals and Crusaders

Medievalists.net — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 03:35:44 +0000

Almost all the dozen chroniclers who wrote books about the Crusade in the twenty years following Jerusalem’s capture acknowledge it, sometimes with disbelief or disgust or denial, but always with discomfort.

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The Knight, the Hermit, and the Pope: Some Problematic Narratives of Early Crusading Piety

Medievalists.net — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 02:17:22 +0000

A much more general question, one that extends beyond the geographic confines of the Limousin and the period between 27 December 1095 and 15 August 1096 is why an individual choose to confront any of these difficulties at all. Why did they go?

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Jews in the First Crusade: Culpability, Martyrdom, and Blood Vengeance

Medievalists.net — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 09:44:44 +0000

In medieval Europe, Jewish writers struggled to make sense of Crusaders’ violence and the Jewish response. Zohar Atkins argues that Jews conceived of theology as a weapon.

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