SELCS

Europe and the Crusades

Course code: ELCS4019
Tutor: Dr H Antonsson
Level: Advanced
Mode of Assessment: 3 hour desk examination
Term: taught in term 2

Course Description:
This course will explore the medieval Crusades and the impact they exerted on European history, literature and art. The course will commence with a broad overview of the origin of the Crusades and their development. The second part of the course will examine the influence the Crusades had on literature and art from medieval to modern times, most notably in literature, art and cinema. The last part of the course will focus on the evolving political legacy of the Crusades, especially as it relates to relations between the West and the Muslim World. Particular emphasis will be placed on examining visual evidence – paintings, architecture and films – relating to the Crusades.

Primary Texts:

  • Sarah Jane Allen & Emilie Amt (eds.), The Crusades: A Reader (Broadview Press, 2003)
  • Francesco Gabrieli (ed.), Arab Historians of the Crusades, (University of California Press, 1984)
  • Edwin Peters (ed.), The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Material, ed. Edwin Peters (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998)

Initial Secondary Bibliography:

  • Vladimir P. Goss (ed.), The Meeting of Two Worlds: Cultural Exchange Between East and West During the Period of the Crusades (Medieval Institute Publications,1986)
  • Norman Housley, Contesting the Crusades (Blackwell, 2006)
  • Thomas F Madden (ed.), The Crusades. The Essential Readings (Blackwell, 2002)
  • Jonathan Riley-Smith, What were the Crusades? (4th edition, Ignatius Press, 2009)
  • Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam (Columbia University Press, 2008)