The Tenth-Century Collapse in West Francia and the Birth of Christian Holy War
This paper will argue that although these two disruptive changes brought major shifts in European society, and fuelled contemporary millennial anxieties, they were also part of a wider context of greater changes.
The First Crusade: Pope Urban II and Jerusalem vs. Diplomatic Unification
The First Crusade: Pope Urban II and Jerusalem vs. Diplomatic Unification By Alexandra Wurglics Adelphi Honors College Student Journal of Ideas, Vol.15 (2015) Introduction: Pope Urban…
Holy War – Holy Wrath: Baltic Wars between regulated Warfare and Total Annihilation around 1200
The Baltic crusades of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were in principle aimed at converting infidels and establishing a new Christian plantation in the wilderness, but the contemporary narrative sources repeatedly tell of crusaders systematically chasing down pagans and annihilating them with the sword.
An Approach to Crusading Ethics
A crusade was a form of holy war, but holy war was itself only one expression of a wider concept, that of sacred violence.
The Troubadours and the Song of the Crusades
The troubadours have been credited as giving birth to the lyrical poetry of modern European languages. Emerging in France, they were predominantly male composers from parts of Western Europe during the High Middle Ages
Crusaders, Pilgrims, and Relics – Bearers of the Cross: Material Religion in the Crusading World 1095-1300
The Museum of the Order of St. John is hosting a series of events and talks to promote their project: Bearers of the Cross: Material Religion in the Crusading World 1095-1300.
The Global Side of Medieval at the Getty Centre: Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts
Los Angeles correspondent, Danielle Trynoski takes through the, ‘Traversing the Globe Through Illuminated Manuscripts’ exhibut at the Getty Museum.
Friendship, Betrayal, War: “Soldier of God” Movie Review
A Templar and a Muslim; their strange friendship is the premise of this week’s movie based in the 12th century immediately after the disastrous Battle of Hattin.
Creating a crusader saint: Canute Lavard and others of that ilk
In the Middle Ages, saints were invoked before great, decisive battles, they sometimes participated directly themselves, and they did so more and more often after the eleventh and especially the twelfth century.
Saladin and the Problem of the Counter-Crusade in Medieval Europe
The phrase Counter-Crusade is, obviously, a modern construct, but in 1144 the military situation in Syria did drastically change.
Support Structures in Crusading Armies, 1095-1241
This thesis will examine the support structures in crusading armies from the First Crusade, launched in 1095, to the end of the Barons’ Crusade, in 1241.
The Medieval Magazine: The First Crusade (Volume 2 Issue 1)
For our one-year anniversary issue we focus on the First Crusade, and ask were Christians and Muslims allies during this event? The answer might surprise you. We have more about the First Crusade, including interviews with two historians that specialize in the topic.
A Forgettable Fantasy Film: The Four Warriors
Another weekend, another medieval movie! This week, I review “The Four Warriors”.
The Impact of Holy Land Crusades on State Formation
This paper argues that crusader mobilization had important implications for European state formation.
Hidden Complexities of the Frankish Castle
This thesis is devoted to crusader castles and has a geographical focus on the Near Eastern regions.
Masculinity and Crusade: the influence of martial activity in the Latin East on Norman and Frankish warrior identity, the material culture, c. 1095-1300
This dissertation argues that masculine identity in the era of the Crusades developed with Christological and martial focus.
Seven Myths of the Crusades: An Interview with Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt
Seven Myths of the Crusades examines the many misconceptions that are associated with one of the most fascinating episodes of the Middle Ages.
Medieval Lisbon: Castelo de São Jorge
Above Lisbon’s skyline of colourful tiled houses and red roofs lies Castelo de São Jorge, a dominating, but beautiful, 11th century fortress in the heart of this vibrant city…
The Sacred and the Profane: Understanding the Motives of the First Crusaders
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.
The last rex crucesignatus, Edward I and the Mongol alliance
This study explores the crusading efforts of Edward I, King of England (1272– 1307), in the last decades of the thirteenth century.
Financing the tribute to the Kingdom of Jerusalem: An urban tax in Damascus
After a brief introduction to legal taxation and Saljuq fiscal policy, the philological problems in the definition of a specific due, al-fissa, illegitimate according to the sharia, will be addressed along with its political function and history. This due was levied in Damascus for the tribute to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Localizing the Holy Land: The Visual Culture of Crusade in England, circa 1140-1307
Analyzing diverse visual material, from images of the military orders on seals, and monastic maps of Palestine in manuscripts, to royal chambers with paintings of holy warfare and the display of Holy Land relics at court, my project juxtaposes sacred and secular commissions made for crusaders and affiliates of chivalric culture.
How to destroy gods
In the year 1168 a Danish bishop destroyed three pagan gods. The story is told in Gesta Danorum, by Saxo Grammaticus, which has recently been entirely translated into English for the first time.
The Rewriting of History in Amin Maalouf’s The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
I argue that while Maalouf brilliantly deconstructs the Western image of the Crusades as a heroic time by documenting the barbarity of the Crusaders without falling into the pitfall of simply inverting the terms of the dichotomy, the agenda driving his rewriting of this historical period leads him to partially repeat what his book is supposed to undo
‘God helped thee; The eagle got food afresh’: Norse Crusaders and the Pleasure of Killing
The men of the north are often depicted in the Norse sagas as taking great pleasure in killing, even doing it for no good reason