The Siege of Jerusalem (1099)
It was a city that was besieged 20 times during the medieval period, including its (in)famous capture during the First Crusade. John Hosler joins Michael Livingston and Kelly DeVries to talk about his new book Jerusalem Falls: Seven Centuries of War and Peace. This episode focuses on the siege of 1099
Anna Comnena and the First Crusade
One of those who watched these first crusaders go was Anna Comnena, the daughter of Emperor Alexios, who from her palace abode she wrote the story of her father’s reign, the Alexiad.
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…
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 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.
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.
BOOK REVIEW: Genoa ‘La Superba’: The Rise and Fall of a Merchant Pirate Superpower by Nicholas Walton
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.
10 Unusual Things that happened during the First Crusade
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 to.
Byzantium and the First Crusade: Three Avenues of Approach
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
Satiric Vulgarity in Guibert de Nogent’s Gesta Dei per Francos
Attempts to characterize Guibert de Nogent (1053-1121) generally focus upon his Autobiography, not on his history of the First Crusade.
Islamophobia, the First Crusade and the Expansion of Christendom to Islamic World
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.
‘De civitatis utriusque, terrenae scilicet et caelestis’: Foundation Narratives and the Epic Portrayal of the First Crusade
My summary of a paper given at the Institute of Historical research on the accounts of Antioch and Jerusalem during the First Crusade.
Cannibals and Crusaders
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.
The Knight, the Hermit, and the Pope: Some Problematic Narratives of Early Crusading Piety
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?
Jews in the First Crusade: Culpability, Martyrdom, and Blood Vengeance
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.
CONFERENCES: Count Hugh of Troyes and the Crusading Nexus of Champagne
This is my summary of a paper given at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London.
BOOK REVIEW: “Defending the City of God” : A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem, by Sharan Newman
This is my review of Sharan Newman’s latest book, Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades, and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem.
How Well Do You Know the First Crusade?
Here is our quiz on the First Crusade. Eight questions to test how well you know some of the key people and events of the 11th century invasion of the Holy Land.
Mass Pilgrimage and the Christological Context of the First Crusade
The importance of Jerusalem as a holy city for Christians serves as a starting point for understanding the motivations of eleventh-century pilgrims.
Muslims as Pagan Idolaters in Chronicles of the First Crusade
If the crusade is indeed a working out of God’s will, how does one fit it into the context of divine history?
Rivers of Blood: An Analysis of One Aspect of the Crusader Conquest of Jerusalem in 1099
The blood that was spilled in the massacre of Jerusalem was real; the rivers of it that course down the pages of modern newspapers and popular books are not.
The Sermon of Urban II in Clermont and the Tradition of Papal Oratory
The speech that Pope Urban II delivered at Clermont in 1095 to launch the First Crusade is probably one of the most discussed sermons from the Middle Ages.
Church Reunification: Pope Urban II’s Papal Policy Towards the Christian East and Its Demise
What separates this brief work from that of previous historians is that it focuses on the formation and changes of papal policy in regards to the Eastern Orthodox Church during the First Crusade, exclusively.
Interview with Damien Kempf on Robert the Monk’s Historia Iherosolimitana
Damien Kempf, Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Liverpool, has recently completed with Marcus Bull The Historia Iherosolimitana of Robert the Monk, the first critical edition of this important text since the 1860s.
The Author and the Hierosolimitanus: Reading the Gesta Francorum as a Pilgrim Narrative
Often cited as the only crusade which succeeded in its purpose, this groundswell of fervor throughout all ranks of Christendom’s population, and the subsequent military campaign which placed the holy city in Christian hands and established the Latin Crusader States in the Levant, has raised quite a few historiographical and even ethical questions for historians.