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Special issue of Reading Medieval Studies to focus on the crusades

A new publication focusing on the crusades has been issued by the Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Reading.

This special issue of Reading Medieval Studies contains a series of articles by leading and aspiring scholars in the field of crusading history.

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All the papers are united in exploring, through the language and ideas of contemporary protagonists, the complex mix of religious and political motivations and the shared collective identity which lay behind crusading and state building in the Central Middle Ages.

The first article, ‘The Challenge of State Building in the Twelfth Century: the Crusader States in Palestine and Syria’ was given in 2008 by Professor Emeritus Malcolm Barber at the University’s Stenton Lecture.

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The other articles in the volume were originally papers given in Professor Barber’s honour at the Symposium which accompanied the Stenton Lecture. The choice of papers reflects the wide-ranging interests and different approaches of historians in Britain today to the study of the crusades. All the contributors have been helped and inspired by Professor Barber either at postgraduate level or in their early careers.

Following the First Crusade of 1095, the creation of the crusader states in the Near East in the 12th Century were the first fruits of a crusading movement which would include Spain and France in its vast geographical reach and which would contribute to the building of the nation states of Europe in which we live today.

Reading Medieval Studies, volume 36, (2010) (ISSN 0950-3129), ‘First Crusade Historiography,’ is edited by Dr Catherine Léglu.

The forthcoming volume 37 (2011): ‘Preaching, Teaching, and Manipulating in medieval literature,’ edited by Rebecca Rist, features selected papers from a postgraduate conference organised at the University of Reading by Professor Françoise Le Saux and Dr Catherine Léglu (French Studies).

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Source: University of Reading

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