HIST 331,    Medieval Mediterranean
(Also listed as CORE 365, JC)

Spring Semester 2008

Presentation 4:

Historical interpretations of the crusades

This presentation will examine how historians interpret the causes of the crusades to the Latin East and the effect of the crusades on Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The presenters will evaluate the theories based upon the evidence from primary sources in translation. The presentation itself may take any form, but must incorporate in some way the following readings:

• Jonathan Riley-Smith, Rethinking the Crusades

• William Urban, Rethinking the Crusades

Causes of the crusades

• Primary sources
  • William of Tyre, The Fall of Edessa (1144)
  • Letter from Aymeric to the King of France, 1164
  • Ernoul, Saladin's capture of Jerusalem, 1187
  • The capture of Jerusalem by Saladin (1187)
• Secondary works

• Urban's Crusade--Success or Failure  A. C. Krey, The American Historical Review, Vol. 53, No. 2. (Jan., 1948), pp. 235-250.
  Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/984051

• An Introduction to the First Crusade Claude Cahen, Past and Present, No. 6. (Nov., 1954), pp. 6-30. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/649812

• Were There Any Crusades in the Twelfth Century?  C. J. Tyerman, The English Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 437. (Jun., 1995), pp. 553-577.
  Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/578335

• The Speech of Pope Urban II At Clermont, 1095 Dana Carleton Munro The American Historical Review, Vol. 11, No. 2. (Jan., 1906), pp. 231-242. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1834642

Effects of the crusades on Christians, Muslims, and Jews

• Primary sources
  • Fulk of Chartres describes society in the Latin East
  • The crusader Emico's attacks on the Jews of the Rhineland
  • Muslim descriptions of crusaders
  • A debate between a Muslim and a Christian
  • Muslim capture of Jerusalem, 1244
  • The fall of Acre, 1291
• Secondary works:

  • Thomas Madden, The Impact of the Crusades

  • The Byzantines and Saladin, 1185-1192: Opponents of the Third Crusade Charles M. Brand, Speculum, Vol. 37, No. 2. (Apr., 1962), pp. 167-181. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2849946
  • Jewish Ritual Murder: William of Norwich, Thomas of Monmouth, and the Early Dissemination of the Myth
    John M. McCulloh, Speculum 72 (1997), pp. 698-740. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3040759
    Conversion, Apostasy, and Apprehensiveness: Emicho of Floheim and the Fear of Jews in the Twelfth Century
    Kenneth Stow, Speculum 7  (2001), pp. 911-933. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2903615

Some suggestions for class participation/discussion:

Ask the students how they would define a crusade. What do they consider essential elements of the definition?

Determine why European Jewish communities were the victims of violence during crusades.

How did the crusades affect the relationship between Christians and Muslims?

Is the war in Iraq a crusade?

Prepared 26 February 2003
Updated 01 May, 2008
T. Vann
Department of History / College of Saint Benedict/St. John's University
www.csbsju.edu
email  tvann@csbsju.edu