The Crusader World

1. Introduction
2. Pope Urban II and the ideology of the crusades
3. Women’s involvement in the crusades
4. ‘Crusading’ warfare in the twelfth century
5. Paid troops in the service of military orders during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
6. Peacemaking in an age of war: when were cross-religious alliances in the Latin East considered treason?
7. The military-religious orders in the crusader West
8. Crusade, empire and the process of war in Staufen Germany, 1180–1220
9. Northern crusades: between holy war and mission
10. Christian expansion in medieval Iberia: Reconquista or crusade?
11. The Venetian presence in the crusader lordship of Tyre: a tale of decline
12. The Antiochene war of succession
13. Western Upper Galilee under crusader rule
14. Queen Alice of Cyprus
15. The Franciscan return to the Holy Land (1333) and Mt Sion: pilgrimage and the apostolic mission
16. Byzantine crusaders: holy war and crusade rhetoric in Byzantine contacts with the West (1095–1341)
17. Memory and ideology: the image of the crusades in Byzantine historiography, eleventh–thirteenth centuries
18. The fall of Jerusalem (1187) as viewed from Byzantium
19. An illusion of ignorance? The Muslims of the Middle East and the Franks before the crusades
20. The early Mamlūks and the end of the crusader presence in Syria (1250–1291)
21. The Muslim political world as mirrored in the First Crusade chronicles
22. Crusaders, Muslims and biblical stories: Saladin and Joseph
23. Historical motifs in the writing of Muslim authors of the crusading era
24. Latin Cyprus and its relations with the Mamluk sultanate, 1250–1517
25. Christian mercenaries in Muslim lands: their status in medieval Islamic and canon law
26. Crusader fortifcations: between tradition and innovation
27. Crusader battlefelds: environmental and archaeological perspectives
28. The Hospitaller castle of Belvoir: setting the scene for a discussion of the topography, geology and architecture
29. Maritime commerce in the Latin East as reflected in the import of ceramics
30. Domestic life in the Latin East
31. Conquest and Europeanisation: the archaeology of the crusades in Livonia, Prussia and Lithuania
32. Intestinal parasites in the crusades: evidence for disease, diet and migration
33. Decorative architectural sculpture in crusader Jerusalem: the Eastern, Western, and Armenian sources of a local visual culture
34. Crusader art and the West: thoughts on assessing the impact of art from the crusader East on medieval art in western Europe, especially in central Italy
35. Narratological readings of crusade texts
36. From Sepphoris to Nazareth: aspects of crusader historiography and a new reading of the Nazareth sculpture
37. After twenty-fve years: Joshua Prawer’s contribution to the study of the crusades and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem reconsidered
38. What are the crusades?

The Crusader World is a multidisciplinary survey of the current state of research in the field of crusader studies, an area of study which has become increasingly popular in recent years. In this volume Adrian Boas draws together an impressive range of academics, including work from renowned scholars as well as a number of though-provoking pieces from emerging researchers, in order to provide broad coverage of the major aspects of the period. This authoritative work will play an important role in the future direction of crusading studies. This volume enriches present knowledge of the crusades, addressing such wide-ranging subjects as: intelligence and espionage, gender issues, religious celebrations in crusader Jerusalem, political struggles in crusader Antioch, the archaeological study of battle sites and fortifications, diseases suffered by the crusaders, crusading in northern Europe and Spain and the impact of Crusader art. The relationship between Crusaders and Muslims, two distinct and in many way opposing cultures, is also examined in depth, including a discussion of how the Franks perceived their enemies. Arranged into eight thematic sections, The Crusader World considers many central issues as well as a large number of less familiar topics of the crusades, crusader society, history and culture. With over 100 photographs, line drawings and maps, this impressive collection of essays is a key resource for students and scholars alike.