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The Cross of War in the Age of the Crusades

The Cross of War in the Age of the Crusades

Paper by Cecilia Gaposchkin

Given online at the Second International Seminar on Crusades and Military Orders on October 19, 2021

Excerpt: The episode at Hattin and the loss of the true cross is particularly well known for a number of reasons, because it was the prized relic from Jerusalem, venerated at the Holy Sepulchre itself and its loss was particularly symbolic for the bigger material loss of Jerusalem and then the depredation of the crusading project to the Ayyubids in general. But it turns out and, I don’t expect this will surprise most of the people at this conference or any crusades scholar, but it turns out that the carrying of a relic of the True Cross into battle was actually a standard feature of crusading warfare and ideology and the question is why?

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Cecilia Gaposchkin is Professor of History at Dartmouth College and works on late medieval cultural history, and has published on the crusades, on the Capetians, on kingship, and on liturgy. You can visit her Academia.edu page or follow Cecila on Twitter @Gaposchkin

To watch more papers from II Seminário Internacional sobre Cruzadas e Ordens Militares / 2nd International Seminar on Crusades and Military Orders, please visit their Youtube page.

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Top Image: Gustave Doré (1832-1883), The Discovery of the True Cross

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