Crusades

Question 1

William of Tyre Background

Answer 1

born 1175
highly educated member of the church
archbishop and chancellor of jerusalem
Major work: ‘History of the Deeds Done Beyond the Sea”
Composed within Jerusalem in the 1170s and 1180s, it charts the development of these Latin states until the author’s death

Question 2

William of Tyre limitations

Answer 2

Wrote the history of the Crusades as he saw it
Using propaganda to over-dramatise and appeal to people
William’s life and career was almost entirely linked to Jerusalem, with Thomas Asbridge noting that, as a consequence, the Chronicon is ‘concerned, first and foremost, with the history of Frankish Palestine’.
Historians studying the text have identified the influence of several of William’s motives for writing, such as his desire to promote western crusading, Jerusalem’s political supremacy
Desire not to damage the kingdom’s reputation → William’s decision not to detail the succession of Bohemond III in 1163
As the only surviving internal Latin narrative to deal with contemporary events in the crusader states for the years 1127–1184, it has significantly shaped historical understanding of that period.
William was not actually an eyewitness for the entire time he chronicled.
E.g. his account on Peter the Hermit was written a century later

Question 3

Johnathan Riley-Smith Background

Answer 3

Major Work:Wrote the “Crusades: A history” (1976)
Professor of Ecclesiastical History at University of Cambridge

Question 4

Critical Romantics

Answer 4

Critical romantics were predominantly Protestant Christians hence their belief was fueled by their opposition to the Catholic crusaders. As such due to Critical romanticism’s emergence following the English Reformation which formed a divide and mutual hatred between Catholics and Protestants there was an inherent bias.
The critical romantics aimed to demonstrate the war was nothing more than an act of intolerance by Catholics in the name of God –> Catholics were barbaric expansionists.

Question 5

Critical Romantics (sir walter scott)

Answer 5

The Talisman
tory of friendship between a Scottish knight and Saladin → Muslims portrayed in a far better light than the crusaders who were depicted as brash, intemperate and childish.
Writing “reinforced by a Protestant conviction that crusading was yet another expression of Catholic bigotry and cruelty. It was not hard for Scott. To portray the crusaders as brave and glamorous but backward and uncivilised, crudely assailing more sophisticated and civilised Muslims”
Sir Walter Scott’s works were widely popular and inspired painters in Britian, France and Italy and the portrayal of Saladin inspired generations of writers and politicians.

Question 6

Critical Romantics (sir steven runciman)

Answer 6

“High ideals were bersmirched by cruelty and greed, enterprise and endurance by a blind and narrow self-righteousness; the Holy War itself was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God.”

Question 7

Romantic Imperialists

Answer 7

The crusaders’ achievements were now being replicated and that ‘backward’ Muslim societies were going to benefit from Christian rule
As they were predominantly Catholic, they wanted to support the Crusades and Crusaders, unlike the Critical Romantics
French were the first to describe their contemporary imperialist ventured in crusading terms → in the 1850s, French military campaigns in south-east Asia were bathed in crusading rhetoric

Question 8

Romantic Imperialists (Joseph Michaud)

Answer 8

imbued with passionate nationalism. Michaud believed that crusading had enriched all the European nations engaged in it. → “The most positive of the results of the First Crusade is the glory of our fathers, this glory which is also a real benefit for a nation” → big deal for people in the mid 19th century to be associated with the Crusaders → because of the positive light the crusades were painted in

Question 9

Liberals

Answer 9

Liberal Historians are influenced by Liberal perspectives, which focus on notions of progress, individualism and the spread of Western values. According to this school of thought, the Crusades were an extension of European expansionism, that is colonialism. Historians believe that the Crusades were not simply religious in nature but they were driven by a desire for territorial expansion, economic gain and political control.

Question 10

Liberals (neo-imperialist)

Answer 10

Neo imperialist historians often highlight the supposed superiority of Western culture and institutions, showing the Crusaders as champions of Western civilisation.
. It also tends to overlook any negative consequences of the Crusades, such as loss of life, destruction of cities and cultural clashes. It overlooks the atrocities and focuses on their achievements.

Question 11

4th edition

Answer 11

understand need for historical revisionism, wider variety of sources, now able to look at motivations of crusaders from both sides right up until the current day (ongoing issue)
Deliberate incorporation of a wider range of historical perspectives, including Byzantine and Islamic historiographies, crusading against Christians and within Europe, women and gender, and the crusades in the context of Afro-Eurasian history
A dramatically expanded discussion of crusading from the sixteenth through twenty-first centuries
Bringing in minorities → expanding interpretations of crusades

Question 12

Christopher Tyerman

Answer 12

Major Work:
The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (2005), (2011)
Christopher Tyerman is an academic historian focusing on the Crusades. In 2015, he was appointed Professor of History of the Crusades at the University of Oxford.

Question 13

Christopher Tyerman Origins

Answer 13

From the beginning → propaganda and romanticisation
“One story circulated to boost morale concerned the heroic death in battle” of Jakelin de Mailly. → standard piece of crusading propaganda
Yet the tale of Jakelin de Mailly emphasised certain features particularly characteristic of the Crusades, especially the belief or assertion that violence for the faith will earn heavenly reward.
His horrible, violent death was interpreted as ‘gentle’ and ‘sweet’; his memory provided inspiration; his remains were thought to convey virtue

Question 14

Christopher Tyerman 18-19

Answer 14

“Crusading’ popularised in 18th century due to romanticisation
Entered Anglo-American language as a synonym for a good cause vigorously pursued
Romanticised iconography → Popular history
Knights bearing crosses on surcoats and banners, fighting for their faith under an alien sun

Question 15

Christopher Tyerman 20-21

Answer 15

Popular media of Hollywood, television, imaginative literature
Crossovers between history and entertainment
Crusading exemplifies the exploition of the fear of what sociologists call ‘the other’
Communism/capitalism
Whites/non-whites
That is why the study of the Crusades possesses an importance beyond the confines of academic scholarship

Question 16

Christopher Tyerman Definition

Answer 16

“the continuing popular and political resonance of crusading feeds on an historical phenomenon that… has lacked objective rescission in definition, practice, perception or approval.”

“Thus at the heart of this form of Christian warfare lay a possible convenient amibuity of ideas and action that spawned a wide diversity of responses.

Question 17

Constable Giles

Answer 17

Major Work:
“The Crusaders from the Perspectice of Byzantium and the Muslim World” (2001)
Highly educated university lecturer from University of Iowa and Harvard, specialising in medievel and religious history
“The crusades were from their inception seen from many different points of view, and every account and reference in the sources must be interpreted in light of where, when, by whom, and in whose interests it was written.”
Affabulation → Crusades becoming a work of collective imagination rather than a historical reality

Question 18

Constable Giles Traditionalist

Answer 18

Think of the crusades as aimed at Jerusalem and Outremer. In the opinion of these historians, location is the most critical issue, and only those expeditions launched to defend or recover the Holy Land were true crusades

Question 19

Constable Giles Pluralist

Answer 19

They place papal authority, the crusade vow, and crusade privileges, such as spiritual rewards, at the center of any definition. Location and chronological limits are not so important. For the pluralists, true crusaders received some form of papal approval and papally sanctioned spiritual reward for their participation in the endeavor, wherever and whenever it happened to take place.

Question 20

Constable Giles Generalist

Answer 20

Believe that all religiously motivated warfare carried out by Christians can be termed crusades.

Question 21

Constable Giles Popularist

Answer 21

Hold that crusades were not authorized so much as grew out of popular enthusiasm, and they often attribute this to prophetic beliefs such as millenarianism. In very recent times, the popularists have made something of a resurgence.

Question 22

Crescent and the Cross

Answer 22

2005
Cover Christian atrocities and show they were the true agressors in this conflict
Contains interviews from both the Christian and Muslim nations
Show both sides viewed each other as “barbarian infidels” during the Middle Ages.
Tariq Ali: people who participated in crusades were barbarians who wanted to destroy the peak of Islamic civilisation
Weath was also a motivation.
Jerusalem was a centre of trade.
From a Muslim POV, Christians were coming for wealth
Showcases the negative effects of the Crusades on both the Islamic and Western world
some crusaders motivated by religion, others (particularly higher up) motivated by land and wealth

Question 23

Kingdom of Heaven

Answer 23

2005
Sir Ridley Scott
Riley-Smith: Romanticised view of Crusades (Muslims) propagated by Sir Walter Scott (The Talisman) → Muslims as sociphisticated and civilised, Crusaders as brutes and barbarians “Nothing to do with reality” Riley-Smith
“Its trying to be fair and we hope that the Muslim world sees the rectification of history” ~ film spokesperson
Amin Malouf: “it does not do any good to distort history, even if you believe you are distorting it in a good way.”
Oversimplification → multiculturalism and secularism (random)
During the climactic battle, Balian (MC) unites the people of Jerusalem by denying that any religion has claim to the city bc all have equal claim
Over-simplification and inaccuracy to tie the narrative together neatly imposes serious problems in the dissemination of the film to civilians

Question 24

Jacques Theron and Erna Oliver

Answer 24

Historical revisionism of Crusades is still occuring
Was written by dominant class → therefore needs objectivity and reassessment
Reevaluation upon new evidence/sources
Reevaluatoon upon distance and objectivity catalysed by time
Term ‘crusade’ still used in popular discourse → often loaded with emotional connotations
describing a “religious zeal that inspired Christians to wage war in God’s name”. Further, they seem to blame the “atocities of the Crusades” upon the Roman Catholic church, “selling the lie of the forgiveness of sins.”

Question 25

Tariq Ali

Answer 25

Pakistani writer and political activist based in Britian
Educated of Oxford University and became an independent tv producer
He presents the motivations of the ‘barbaric’ christians as for greed and wealth as Jerusalem was a trade centre.
He also divulges that European civilisation was in a dire state with war and famine, and so he belived the christian crusaders wanted a better life with more resources in Jerusalem.
Writing in 2003, after the September 11 attacks, Ali aims to challenge Western assumptions pushed by the White house and its supporters that there was only one choice to “stand shoulder to shoulder against terrorism or be damned”.
He argues instead that we have returned to a horrific form of history with religious symbols on both sides and prvoides an explanation for the rise of islamic fundamentalism as a result of new forms fo western colonialsim.