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crusades-msg - 6/14/15

 

Crusades of the Middle Ages.

 

NOTE: See also the files: religion-msg, heretics-msg, pilgrimages-msg, icons-msg, Icons-art, p-bibles-msg, med-charity-lnks, monks-msg, pilgrimages-msg.

 

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NOTICE -

 

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

 

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

 

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

 

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

 

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

 

Thank you,

    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous

                                          Stefan at florilegium.org

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From: "webersol at epix.net" <webersol at epix.net>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Muslim name for the Crusades?

Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 21:35:48 -0500

 

If you are really interested in the Arabic view of the crusades,There is

a book called: Arab histories of the Crusades translated by Francesco

Gabrielli . Published by dorset books in 1957. ibsn 0-88029-452-3

It has many accounts by various Arabic historians of the period and will

give you a new view of the "barbarians from the west" the crusaders.

The main purpose of the crusades was supposedly church supported to save

the holy land but the real purpose was "LOOT" how much could they find

and bring back . Tha Muslim population considered crusaders nothing but

marauding killers and thieves.Uncouth uneducated in even the simplest things.

If you can find this book, read it.

 

Woody Ebersold webersol at epix.net

 

 

From: Robert McCann <rmccann at mesa5.mesa.colorado.edu>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Muslim name for the Crusades?

Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 13:26:46 -0700

Organization: Mesa State College

 

On 24 Feb 1996, Jeff Suzuki wrote:

> But if memory serves correctly, the only Crusade that could truly be

> called a Christian victory was the first, where the Franks swept down

> upon Muslims who didn't even realize they were at war.  Later on, they

> had Saladin.  

>

> (Quick trivia question: who established the most successful Christian

> Kingdom during the Crusades, and which crusade was it?  Hint: this is

> a trick question)

>

> Jeffs

 

OK, the trivia Question:

 

There were NO successful (ie. still existant) kingdoms established during

the Crusades!

 

Other stuff:

 

The Muslims called the Crusaders the Franj

 

I am doing a book review for my History of the Islamic World class on a

book entitled:

 

The Crusades Through Arab Eyes

by: Amin Maalouf

Translated by Jon Rothschild

 

Schocken Books / New York 1985

 

It's a good read that claims basically that the only reason that the

Arabs (Muslims) didn't kick some serious Crusader ass right from the

beginning was the fact that they (the Muslims) were too busy with their

own squabbles and disputes to get their shit together.  Once they did

(Saladin, et. al.), history shows the result!

 

Faelan MacFergus

Bob McCann

 

 

From: Doug Browne <dbrowne at indiana.edu>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: REQUEST: 1st Crusades garb documentation

Date: Fri, 05 Jul 1996 15:22:33 -0500

Organization: Indiana University

 

Sadira bint Raya al-Asiri allegedly wrote:

> I would daresay your French crusader could go one of two ways--either he would

> go native and adopt the dress of the region (the intelligent thing to do) or

> he would have been Franco-centric and stayed with his own native dress

> (probably more likely but dumb). ... (Suggestions for sources deleted)

 

Actually, many of the Crusaders who stayed adopted

native garb and dress. William of Tyre's _A

History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea_ mentions

many Crusaders, and especially their children, who

adopted native garb.  William was less than

pleased with these 2nd generation immigrants, who

adopted native dress and customs to a much larger

degree than he was comfortable with.

Usamah, in his _A History of Damascus_, writes of

going to the house of a Frank and being told "You

amy eat here. I have a Muslim cook and eat only

what he prepares. No pig's flesh touches my

table."

 

Vladyslav de Jaffa

dbrowne at indiana.edu

 

 

Subject: ANST - Templars and the Crusades

Date: Tue, 10 Mar 98 19:21:31 MST

From: Rick Wynne <richard at speakeasy.org>

To: Ulisse <whiteknight at iol.it>

CC: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG

 

Unto the Good People of the Known World does Brother Richard de Tyre send

his humble greetings,

 

For those peope who are not familiar with me, allow me to introduce

myself. I am Brother Richard de Tyre, of the Order of the Temple of

Solomon, and I am pronouncing a new web site forum for research and

discussion for those of interest in the historical order of the Templars

and the Crusades.

 

Our dream within the Dream is to recreate those noble brothers within the

Society. I call on all those with Templar personas or anyone interested in

learning more about them and the Crusades to see our web site and contact

me. We have created a meeting place for all interested in the Templars and

we are collecting links, graphics and text related to them. So far we have

made contact with a couple of Templar "households" and scattered

individuals from all across the globe.

 

It is a new site and we seek suggestions, advice and other input to make

it a better place for all. Some of you reading this missive have already

run across me spreading the news and I apologize for what may seem a

shameless advertising campaign but I seek to reach all people, far and

wide.

 

Order of the Temple of Solomon

http://www.speakeasy.org/~richard

 

I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read this missive

and encourage you to come by and take a look at our work. Safe journeys!

 

Non Nobis, Domine, Non Nobis Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam

(Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Thy name give the Glory)

 

In Service to the Temple,

Brother Richard de Tyre

Order of the Temple of Solomon

http://www.speakeasy.org/~richard

 

 

Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 14:07:19 MST

From: "Mark.S Harris (rsve60)" <rsve60 at email.sps.mot.com>

Subject: Re: Pincushions (was RE: ANST - Slings)

To: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG

 

Tomonaga wrote:

> > > Agreed. In fact there was a "game" amongst Crusader knights to see

> > > who could come back with the most arrows stuck in their armor.

> > > Until the advent of the longbow the arrow was not a major factor

> > > against the  heavily armored knights.

>

> I remember hearing some time in the past, that Richard and some other Crusade

> leaders made special efforts to make sure their knights and men at arms were

> equipped with very thick felt underclothes. Most likely, mail by itself,

> lying close to the body, did not offer enough resistance to arrows to keep

> them from digging in deep.  But with the felt under the mail, the combination

> of that dense fiber mat, with the friction between the arrow shaft and

> adjacent links, slowed the arrow enough to keep it from pentrating flesh.

 

But "very thick felt underclothes" I can see working in say, France, since it

is such a cold, dreary country. :-) But in the Middle East and Palestine,

I would think you'd get yourself dry roasted.

 

Stefan li Rous

 

 

Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 22:46:57 MST

From: "H.L. Agnarr Thorvaldsson" <agnarr at apex2000.net>

Subject: Pincushions (was RE: ANST - Slings)

To: <ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG>

 

>But "very thick felt underclothes" I can see working in say, France, since it

>is such a cold, dreary country. :-) But in the Middle East and Palestine,

>I would think you'd get yourself dry roasted.

>Stefan li Rous

 

This was one of the main problems the Crusaders had to deal with. The =

desert heat and having to wear their armor whenever the many different =

roaming bands of locals were in the area and  playing their games of hit =

and run. (A Common type of attack by the Muslims because in a fixed =

battle the heavy cavalry charge was a major winning point for the =

Crusaders.) This forced the Crusaders to either wear their armor and =

roasting or no armor and being attacked.  The ability of the locals =

using their recurve bows not to mention their fine Damascene Blades made =

wearing the heavier European style of armor with the heavy felt =

gambesons underneath pretty much a requirement for the crusading knight. =

Of course no armor made you lighter and not as hot but then you did not =

have any personal protection. And since the majority of the crusading =

knights were used to this type of protection when they were in battle. I =

bet most of them were very uncomfortable most of the time.

 

Agnarr

 

 

Date: Tue, 09 May 2000 01:22:42 -0700

From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>

Subject: Re: SC - Holy Feast and Holy Fast

 

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:

> CBlackwill at aol.com writes:

> << Would the three (or more) Christian Crusades shed any light on the

>  pervasiveness of the Christian Church in medieval life?

>

>  Balthazar of Blackmoor >>

>

> Probably, although the crusaders were for the most part members of noble

> households. It does not shed any light on the food aspect that the original

> poster queried.

 

Sorry Ras, this is not true. The majority of the crusaders were not

nobles or directly affiliated with noble households. Like any war, most

of those involved were poor. Including but not limited to crusades known

as the Children's Crusade and the Peasant's Crusades- both huge

movements of the underclass that were not only apart from any

'oppressive' nobility or clergy but in some places actively discouraged

by them. This was not for purposes of keeping them 'down', but a

protective measure- most of these peasants left their homes with no

provisions, no weapons or armor, many brought families with them- and

then they attempted thousands of miles on foot. This is not a movement

of people who are bullied by an oppressive master who forces them to

defend the Cross- these are the actions of fervent people- fanatics

even- motivated by their visions of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints.

 

'Lainie

 

 

Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 07:31:11 -0400

From: "Siegfried Heydrich" <baronsig at peganet.com>

Subject: Re: SC - Holy Feast and Holy Fast

 

> << Would the three (or more) Christian Crusades shed any light on the

>  pervasiveness of the Christian Church in medieval life?

>  Balthazar of Blackmoor >>

> Probably, although the crusaders were for the most part members of noble

> households. It does not shed any light on the food aspect that the original

> poster queried.

> Ras

 

    No, the Crusaders that made into the history books were members of Noble

households. There were a huge number of camp followers, support personnel,

and others who went along for the ride as well. Consider the number of

administrators, servants, and teamsters that had to go along with the boss

just to make sure they all got there!

 

    There were irregulars like the Tafur, who were the absolute dregs of

society, seeking salvation in a crusade. These were used as urban assault

troops; the Crusaders would breach a city wall, withdraw, and let the Tafurs

loose. They had the advantage of being expendable, as well as the peculiar

fact that they wouldn't do any looting. They would, however, rape and murder

to an extraordinary degree, which relieved the Nobles of the necessity for

that. Besides, there was no glory in slaughtering civilians . . .

 

    There were actually several children's crusades, all of which ended up

with them being sold into slavery. It was a way for a peasant to get off the

farm and see the world, all for the glory of god, and the salvation of his

soul. In short, while there many have been other contributing motives, the

primary inspiration was religious in nature, and it covered the entire

social spectrum.

 

    The Crusades were not just a glorified Pennsic for the Nobles - it

touched virtually every aspect of life. An amazing amount of wealth got

shifted around because of it. Not just what was spent in the effort, or the

treasure sent back, but the inheritances that wound up being bestowed upon

those who didn't go, and never really expected to get the family fortune.

The ones who got stuck staying at home while the older brothers went off to

war . . . . And the number of wealthy widows who were remarrying.

 

    The social after effects of the Crusades make a fascinating study!

 

    Sieggy

 

 

From: "j'lynn yeates" <jyeates at realtime.net>

To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>

Subject: ANST - Deus lo volt ... was: Courtesy Crusade

Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 08:27:56 -0500

 

what with the thread on "courtesy crusasdes" (imnsho: bad idea) and

the folk bringing up the negative issues connected to any "crusade",

thoght i would share a new book that i just discovered

(synchronicity) ...

 

Deus lo volt! Chronicle of the Crusades" by Evan S. Connell

 

"A masterly novelist re-creates the medieval campaigns in all their

depravity, faith and gore. ..."

 

"... Why is it that new centuries and millenniums seem to bring out a

thirst for moral certitudes, for struggles to the death between the

forces of good and evil? ... "

 

"... "Deus lo volt!" almost spookily reproduces, from within, the

particular sensibility -- spiritual, cognitive, literary -- of a

particular moment in history. In this case, the events unfold

starting in 1096, when Pope Urban launches the crusades to free

Jerusalem from the "infidels, ... "

 

" ... The result is something of a tour de force: a meticulous

re-creation of the style and technique of medieval chronicles that

speaks powerfully to the contemporary new historicist creed that

fictions can be archives -- and archives, fiction. That said, "Deus

lo volt!" is also one seriously tough read. The Reading Group Guide

for the book -- available at bookstores or by phoning (800) 242-7737

- -- includes maps, genealogies and a timeline, which are sure to come

in handy for those readers not gifted with a superhuman memory for

seemingly countless names, battles, itineraries and intricate,

shifting alliances. The book is likewise crammed with material best

avoided over one's morning latte and scone: vanquished fighters being

led about by their intestines, roasted on spits and splattered with

various manner of bodily effluvia ..."

By Marion Lignana Rosenberg, Salon EZine

 

http://www.salon.com/books/review/2000/06/07/connell/index.html

 

... all in all sounds like a good read for the historically inclined.

from the initial description, just the "readers guide" to the book

sounds like something any medieval scholor could use in their library

----

Deus Lo Volt!: A Chronicle of the Crusades

by Evan S. Connell

Hardcover - 480 pages (April 4, 2000)

Counterpoint; ISBN: 1582430659 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.46 x 9.35

x 6.42

 

available online at amazon and/or barnes and noble for $19.60'ish

plus shipping

 

'wolf

 

From: "j'lynn yeates" <jyeates at realtime.net>

To: <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>

Subject: ANST - re - Courtesy Crusade ... response and some related links

Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 12:15:15 -0500

 

... a good thread from a medieval history point of view

 

[mailto:owner-ansteorra at ansteorra.org]On Behalf Of Dale, Richard N

> I think many people are reading to much into the word "crusade". In

> a medieval context a crusade is wonderful thing that motivates

> children and adults and moves whole nations in a good cause.

 

not necessarily, especially in a organization focused on *historical*

research (and a lot of literary fiction and idealogy ... but that's

another thread topic).  if someone wants to publically "raise a

crusade", they they should be aware that they are also going to raise

the historical aspects along with the ideological.  

 

good cause?  crusades a wonderful thing? are we reading the same

european and islamic histories here?  how can one equate the

albigensian crusade, the sack of belgrade (chistian sacked by

christain), the sieges and eventual sacks of constantiople

(wealthiest christian city in europe, sacked by the crusdaers) and

jerusalem ... as "good" in any/way/shape/form ???

 

while i find such (crusades) historically interesting, personally i

find *nothing* wonderful about five centuries of chaos created

primarily by the church political propaganda machine .. a machine

that led to the slaughter of an untold number of christians and

moslems (mostly non-combatant civilians), cities and villages

destroyed, rape, pillage, theft ... and the attendent political

posturing, religious expansion, mercantile maneuvering ... all in

all, they (crusades) brought out the *worst* of europe and not it's

best.

 

for several (here and offline), the most chilling parallel that this

thread brings up is the "albigensian crusade" ... in that it was

raised against a populations subset that was deemed as "heretical"

and therefore worthy of isolation, designation, later persecution,

and eventual extermination.  it started at one level and ended up as

a civil war waged against ones own populations. their real crime?

they thought and believed differently from those in power.  

 

basic lesson of these five centuries - all in all, no matter the

origin or ideals involved, holy war is not a good thing ...

 

> ... The word crusade also brings to mind a extremely

> motivated, narrow minded, preacher on some ideology.

> While all the above descriptions are true, I do not believe

> this to be the case in what Her Grace Duchess Larissa is trying to

> convey.  

 

i'm sure that is the case (the later statement), but we are a

historically centric group (supposidly) so you can't "sanitize"

concepts of their inconvenient negative contexts.  like history, you

have have to take it as a whole, positive and negative or not at all.

 

'wolf

 

some  historical links that might be of interest:

 

The Crusades: Five Centuries of Holy War

http://intranet.ca/~magicworks/knights/overview.html

 

Chronology of the Crusades (sub page of above)

http://intranet.ca/~magicworks/knights/overview.html

 

The Crusades (Course centering on First through Seventh)

http://historymedren.miningco.com/homework/historymedren/gi/dynamic/of

fsite.htm?site=http://crusades.boisestate.edu/contents.html

 

Albigensian Crusade

http://historymedren.miningco.com/homework/historymedren/gi/dynamic/of

fsite.htm?site=http://crusades.boisestate.edu/contents.html

 

Crusade of 1101

http://historymedren.miningco.com/homework/historymedren/gi/dynamic/of

fsite.htm?site=http://crusades.boisestate.edu/contents.html

 

Crusade Links

http://historymedren.miningco.com/homework/historymedren/msubcrus.htm

http://historymedren.miningco.com/homework/historymedren/msubmenucrus.

htm

 

 

Date: 15 Jun 00 11:23:51 EDT

From: Nora Siri Bock <heathentart at usa.net>

To: <sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu>

Subject: New book - has anyone read this?

 

To the list -

 

Knights of the Holy Land

The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem

This detailed and beautifully illustrated book, containing essays by leading scholars in different fields, comprehensively covers the history and social concept of the Crusades.

ISBN 965 278 234 3 327pp.

204 illustrations 171 color

Retail price $49.00

 

Has anyone read this and would they recommend?  It's a hefty price and I'm not

wont to purchase a pig in a poke.

 

Nora

Siri bint Saadia

 

 

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 15:21:03 +0100 (MET)

From: "agora at algonet.se" <agora at algonet.se>

Subject: Ang: [Sca-cooks] A history of the Crusades

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

 

>>> 

A friend wants to know:

> Now I have a question that you people will be the experts on--what's the

> best history of the Crusades? Runciman's classic is way out of date but

> nobody seems to have had the courage to redo it--

> best--Gene Anderson

 

Opinions, and your reasoning are quite welcome.

 

Saint Phlip,

CoD

<<< 

 

Amin Malouf "The Crusades from the Arabs view" is a terrific good book,

a tale of the tales of the "defeated". How the Arabs saw the Crusades, how

they dealt with the Europeans. Anna Commenas book "The Alexiad" is also

a very good reading. She was the oldest daughter of the emperor Alexis,

founder of the dynasty Commeno.

She tells the history of the Crusades from the point of Byzantium. Well

written and full of wit too...

 

Ana, on holiday on my old country, Uruguay. When I amback to Stockholm

and reach my library, with several titles about the Crusades, can answer

more properly.

 

 

Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:29:03 +0100

From: agora at algonet.se

Subject: [Sca-cooks] www.crusading.se

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

 

By the way, I launched the last week a site around a project me and

a group of colleagues started two years ago, about the Crusades.

We are going to research about Art, politics and history related to the

Crusades. One important issue will be the encounter and the clash

between different food traditions and spices and methods to cook.

Please feel free to send to me suggestions or interesting links!

Ana

 

http://www.crusading.se

 

PS: we are going to work about the Crusade as historical proyect

and todays confrontations between Islam and West and the rethoric

of the Crusades.

 

The Israelian architect Eyal Weizman wrote a great essay called

"The Politics of Verticality" and I wrote about him, he is going to be a

part of our discussion team,

http://www.netartreview.net/weeklyFeatures/Weizman_English.html

 

Skarpnäcks Allé 45

Sweden

 

 

Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:46:47 -0500 (CDT)

From: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net

Subject: [SCA-AS] [Fwd: TMR 07.10.31 Madden, New Concise History of

        the Crusades (Khanmohamadi)]

To: jheise at drew.edu,   "Arts and Sciences in the SCA"

        <artssciences at lists.gallowglass.org>,      "East Kingdom A&S List"

        <EK_AnS at yahoogroups.com>

 

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------

Subject: TMR 07.10.31 Madden, New Concise History of the Crusades

(Khanmohamadi)

From:    "The Medieval Review" <tmrl at indiana.edu>

Date:    Mon, October 29, 2007 9:09 am

To:      tmr-l at indiana.edu

        bmr-l at brynmawr.edu

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Madden, Thomas F.  "The New Concise History of the Crusades: Updated Student

Edition".  Oxford, UK and Lanham, Maryland:  Rowman and Littlefield

Publishers, 2006.  Pp. xi, 261.  $23.95 (pb).  ISBN-13: 978-0742538221.

 

   Reviewed by Shirin A. Khanmohamadi

        San Francisco State University

        shirin1 at sfsu.edu

 

If recent years reflect a boom in specialized scholarly treatments of the European Crusades, such specialized studies are matched by a parallel boom in narrative introductions to the Crusades aimed at the general reader. Having written two scholarly monographs on the Fourth Crusade, Thomas F. Madden turns his attention to more popular readerly interests in his "The New Concise History of the Crusades: Updated Student Edition" (2006), updated from its first edition in 1999. By Madden's account, "the heightened public interest in the crusades since 9/11 has created a market for popular histories" but "an interested person who simply strolls into a bookstore looking for a history of the crusades is much more likely to walk out with a book written by a novelist, journalist, or ex-nun than one written by a professional historian and based on the best research available" (viii).  As is made clear in his preface and his final chapter, "The Legacy of the Crusades," Madden has a post-9/11 general audience in mind even as his book announces itself as an Updated Student Edition; the possible contradiction or divergent needs of these dual audiences is not addressed.

 

Structured chronologically according to the "numbered" Crusades, <i>The New Concise History of the Crusades</i> follows a mainly traditionalist account of the crusades, i.e. of the crusades as being tied to Jerusalem as destination, though his added chapters on "Crusading at Home" (chapter 5) and his chapter on crusades post-1291, "The Later Crusades" (chapter 9), revise and expand this traditional account along the lines of new "pluralist" approaches defining the crusades more broadly as penitential war irrespective of theater.  In the main body of the text, Madden, a historian in command of the major scholarship in the field, offers coherent, clear and economical prose that is rich with historical detail.

 

Students and general readers interested in further reading are provided a good bibliographic survey in the "Select Bibliography" at the end of the book, as well as a useful selection of "Sources in Translation" on each of the major crusades treated in the book. These critical apparatuses, appearing along with a Glossary and set of "Discussion Questions" at the book's end, lend the book utility as the "student edition" it aims to be.  Unfortunately, as is too often the case with text-book style histories, in the narrative body chapters few citations direct interested students to primary sources, and even fewer direct quotations are offered from these inimitably complex medieval voices.

 

More bibliographic citation is particularly needful when Madden is treating an especially controversial topic in broad strokes, as when he writes about the massacre of the local population of Jerusalem upon its conquest in 1099.  The historiography of this event is highly divergent, and readers interested in its treatment may consult Benjamin Kedar's "The Jerusalem massacre of 1099 in the western historiography of the crusades," <i>Crusades</i> 3 (2004): 15-75.  Here Madden alludes to reports of whole-scale massacre of the citizens thus: "By the standards of the time, adhered to by both Christians and Muslims, the crusaders would have been justified in putting the entire population of Jerusalem to the sword.  Despite later highly exaggerated reports, however, that is not what happened...  Later stories of the streets of Jerusalem coursing with knee-high rivers of blood were never meant to be taken seriously.  Medieval people knew such a thing to be an impossibility.  Modern people, unfortunately, do not" (34).  Madden thus seems to put the controversy to rest, without providing the reader access to any of the documentary evidence from the many available First Crusade sources in translation, Christian and Muslim.  By admonishing interpretation to the contrary as misguidedly "modern," Madden does not encourage investigation into the subject.

 

Other lively scholarly debates, such as the question of the motivations of the Crusaders, are similarly put to rest: Madden adheres to the theory of the pious idealism of most crusader participants--"Christians saw crusades to the east as acts of love and charity" (222)--and dismisses economic theories of motivations as deriving from a "post-Enlightenment" view of religiosity (11). (For a survey of recent theories of crusader motivations, see Giles Constable, "The Historiography of the Crusades," in <i>The Crusades from the Perspective of the Byzantium and the Muslim World</i>, ed. A Laiou and R. Mottahadeh, Dumbarton Oaks, 2001, pp. 17-19).  Such defense of crusader motivations and war-time behavior fits within the polemical frame of <i>The New Concise History of the Crusades</i>, whose jacket cover promises answers to the question, "How have the crusades contributed to Islamist rage and terrorism today?" Madden addresses the question most directly in his final chapter, "The Legacy of the Crusades," in which in the course of reviewing Crusader historiography, he defends the Crusades against their misappropriation equally by European and Arabs for various anti-colonialist, nationalist, and, more recently, Islamist arguments.

 

The polemical defense of the crusading endeavor is not confined to the final chapter of <i>The New Concise History</i>, parts of which operate within an identifiably contemporary, post-9/11 view of east-west rivalry if not the outright "clash of civilizations."  In his discussion of the origins of holy war, for instance, Madden begins by noting that, "Unlike Islam, Christianity had no well-defined concept of holy war before the middle ages" (1), an unlikely comparative assertion given Islam's origins in the medieval period. Although Madden notes that it is in western Europe rather than Byzantium that "the concept of Christian holy war took root and grew" (4), most of Madden's discussion of Christian holy war is in fact devoted to the rise of Islam rather than to the usual discussion of developments within western Christianity that led to the striking notion of penitential war in the crusader period (the Peace of God movement; previous papal sanctions of campaigns; the Battle of Manzikert, etc). Though Madden stops short of causality--"It would be too strong to say that it was the idea of jihad that later led to Christianity's own concept of holy war" (3)--his text yokes the hot-button terms together without elucidating their relationship or interaction.

 

As scholars of the crusades from the Islamic perspective like Carol Hillenbrand, whom Madden cites, have shown, Muslim jihad or religious struggle, far from being a perennial motivating force in the Muslim Middle East, waxes and wanes in the medieval period, experiencing a downturn after the initial Islamic conquests, then a gradual resurgence with the Second Crusade and Salahadin's rise, another dying down in the post-Salahadin Ayyubid period, and a final rise from 1260 on in the Mamluk period (<i>The Crusades: Islamic Perspective</i>, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999, pp. 89-255 and especially 246-250).  The long periods between jihadist revivals, including the first 50 years of the Latin Kingdom and the some 70 years between Salahadin's death and the rise of the Mamluks--much of the duration of the Latin Kingdom, then--detente, realpolitik, local alliances and unsteady coexistence characterized the complex relations between the Latin East and local Levantine Muslims, Jews and Christians.  These alliances are of course glimpsed equally in the western sources, and in Madden's account of them, including Richard I's treaty arrangements with Salahadin at the close of the 3rd Crusade, Frederick II's negotiation of a ten-year leased return of Jerusalem, and King Louis' complex post-crusade negotiations at the end of the 7th Crusade.

 

Such treaties and alliances in effect constitute another way of telling the story of the Latin East and the crusades themselves, one highlighting the reality of frequent coalitions across religious lines when necessity or expedience required it; a less ideological and triumphalist, more gritty and gray, story to be sure.  This is certainly the pious King Louis' experience in the Levant: the king, having begun his crusade by refusing to negotiate for Jerusalem with "the enemy" Ayyubids, ends by negotiating with the much harder-line Mamluks.  King Louis' example shows the room for realpolitik in orthodox medieval minds; Frederick II's example is one of a medieval secularism.  The notion of a single "medieval" religious perspective or approach to the East, then, something that Madden at times upholds, risks reducing the complexity of the historical record.

 

In summary, while "The New Concise History of the Crusades" tells the story of the crusades as concisely as it promises and in admirable depth and detail, its overall objectivity and scholarly tone is offset by a self-ascribed goal of defending the holy wars from their would-be detractors, past and present.  Madden closes his book by warning against the projection of modern values--by which he means Enlightenment, secular, Marxist, pluralist, or anti- imperialist values--upon the medieval actors and events of the crusades.  But each age must guard against the danger of its own projections, and perhaps in our current cultural climate crusades historians find themselves in a position to guard against the attractions of a neo-"medieval" anti-modernism. --

 

-- Jenne Heise / Jadwiga Zajaczkowa

jenne at fiedlerfamily.net

 

 

Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:02:34 -0500

From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Acre

 

Ok, maybe these books might help----

 

Google books has in full view

The crusade of Richard I, 1189-92  By Thomas Andrew Archer. You  

might find it interesting.

 

You might also take a look at the 2007 book

The Hospitallers, the Mediterranean and Europe: festschrift for  

Anthony Luttrell

 

By Anthony Luttrell, Karl Borchardt, Nikolas Jaspert, Helen J.  

Nicholson.

 

A paper titled "Hospitaller ships and transportation across the  

Mediterranean" appears in the volume.

 

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754662754

 

and food is mentioned in the volume Medicine in the Crusades:  

warfare, wounds, and the medieval surgeon By Piers D. Mitchell

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=052184455X

 

--------

 

You might also try the pipe rolls. There's this reprint

The Itinerary of King Richard I. : with studies on certain matters  

of interest connected with his reign

 

Author:       Lionel Landon

Publisher:   Nendeln/Liechtenstein : Kraus Repr., 1974.

Series:       The Publications of the Pipe Roll Society, 51 = N.S. 13

 

Johnnae

 

 

Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:02:43 +1000

From: Raymond Wickham <insidious565 at hotmail.com>

Subject: [Lochac] Crusade Texts in Translation  series fyi

To: lochac <lochac at sca.org.au>, Tim Jennings <tim at roseneath.ca>,

        wilhelmina   <willhameena15 at optusnet.com.au>

 

Series Editors: Malcolm Barber, University of Reading, UK,

Peter Edbury, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK, Bernard Hamilton,

University of Nottingham, UK, Norman Housley, University of

Leicester, UK and Peter Jackson, University of Keele, UK

'The series Crusade Texts in Translation goes from strength

to strength, making rare and less rare sources available in

scholarly and readable English versions. The books have

already greatly increased the amount of material available to

non-Latin readers, and even for those with the language, the series

has often provided a more reliable witness than old

editions.'on this site

http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=2312

 

 

From: Edward Hauschild <vilhelmlich at SBCGLOBAL.NET>

Date: July 31, 2011 9:43:36 PM CDT

To: CALONTIR at listserv.unl.edu

Subject: [CALONTIR] Crusades Primary source

 

For those that might be interested

 

http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Chronicle-Conquest-Constantinople-ebook/dp/B000JQUH5S/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&;ie=UTF8&qid=1312161784&sr=1-2

Primary source

Memoirs of the 4th crusade

Free on Amazon Kindle

 

<the end>



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Comments to the Editor: stefan at florilegium.org