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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: The Crusades and the Euro-Mediterranean world of the Central Middle Ages (PGHC11389)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeOnline Distance Learning AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe crusades were a very distinctive and extremely significant aspect of the medieval world, whose influence is still deeply felt to the present day. This course aims to provide an advance introduction to some of their major themes, their evolution through the central Middle Ages (11th-13th centuries), and their interpretations by scholars. They will include topics such as management, legitimacy, criticism, the background of the participants, warfare, relations with non-Christians, non-Latin Christians and Christian dissenters, as well as the legacy of the crusades to the present day. Indeed, it will not focus only on the crusades directed to the Holy Land, but will rather take a pluralist approach that considers other theatres too, from the Iberian peninsula, to the Baltic Sea and the Byzantine world, as well as campaigns that targeted heretics and political enemies of the Papacy from within Western Christendom. The same variety will apply to the range of primary sources that will be examined, which includes Western, Jewish, Byzantine and Muslim accounts, thus considering a great variety of views and different perceptions of the phenomenon. Indeed, in the period examined by this course the crusades became quite a pervasive phenomenon within medieval society, to the extent that, in many ways, this course constitutes an advance introduction to European and the Mediterranean worlds of the central Middle Ages in general.
Course description Week 1 Introduction: what were the crusades?
Week 2 Authority, legitimacy and management: popes, kings, barons, and popular crusades [asynchronous forum seminar]
Week 3 Who were the crusaders? [synchronous seminar]
Week 4 The first crusade and the conquest of Jerusalem [asynchronous forum seminar]
Week 5 After the Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem: the later crusades against the Muslims [synchronous seminar]
Week 6 Other theatres: The Iberian peninsula and the Baltic [asynchronous forum seminar]
Week 7 Crusades against Christians: eastern Christians, heretics and the so-called political crusades [synchronous seminar]
Week 8 Muslim, Jewish and Eastern Christian views [asynchronous forum seminar]
Week 9 Warfare [synchronous seminar]
Week 10 The crusader states and their neighbours[asynchronous forum seminar]
Week 11 The legacy of the crusades [synchronous seminar]
Asynchronous forum discussions will include front-loaded screencasts or podcasts of short 10 minute lectures introducing the topics to be discussed over the course of the week's seminar. All primary source material discussed in both synchronous and asynchronous seminars will be provided electronically by the course organiser via Learn.
In addition to this there will be two half-hour virtual office slots provided per week, via Skype.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to:
- demonstrate a detailed knowledge of themes and issues connected to the history of the crusades, of Europe and of the Mediterranean in the central Middle Ages
- independently identify and pursue research topics in this period of Medieval History
- exhibit an understanding for and an engagement with different conceptual approaches for the study of the crusades and Medieval History in general
- engage with the relevant scholarship
- analyse and contextualise primary source material
- arrive at independent, well-argued, well-documented and properly referenced conclusions in their coursework essay
- demonstrate their skills in group discussion, collaborative exercises and oral presentations
- demonstrate their written skills, their analytical and theoretical skills in coursework
- demonstrate their ability to reflect on their reading & research and provide feedback for their peers
Reading List
There is a gargantuan bibliography for this course, a good portion of which is available online. The following is a very small sample of journal articles and e-books that are already available (to be supplemented by purchase of new ebooks and by selected material for e-reserve):
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, 1187-1291, ed. D. Pringle (2012)
William of Puylaurens, The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: the albigensian crusade and its aftermath, trans. W. A. Sibly and M.D. Sibly (Woodbridge, 2003)
C. Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2005)
The crusades and the near east, ed. C. Kostick ed. C. Kostick (London, 2011)
R. Ellenblum, Crusader castles and modern Histories (Cambridge 2007)
R. I. Moore, Formation of a persecuting society: authority and deviance in Western Europe, 950-1250 (Oxford, 1987)
L. Marvin, The Occitan war: a military history of the Albigensian crusade, 1209-1218 (Cambridge 2008)
C. Maier, 'The roles of women in the crusade movement: a survey', Journal of medieval history, 30 (2004).
P. Chevedden, 'The Islamic view and the Christian view of the crusades a new synthesis', History, 92 (2008).
J. Riley Smith. 'Crusading as an act of love', History, 65 (1980), 177-92.
P. O'Banion, 'What has Iberia to do with Jerusalem? Crusade and the Spanish route to the Holy Land in the twelfth century', Journal of medieval history, 34 (2008).
S. Menache, 'Papal attempts at a commercial boycott of the Muslims in the crusader period', Journal of ecclesiastical history, 63 (2012)
J. Powell, 'Church and crusade: Frederick II and Louis IX', Journal of ecclesiastical history, 63 (2012).
B. Weiler, 'The Negotium Terrae Sanctae in the political discourse of Latin Christendom, 1215-1311', International history review, 25 (2003).
R. Kay, 'The Albigensian twentieth of 1221¿3: an early chapter in the history of papal taxation', Journal of medieval history, 6 (1980), 307-15
G Dickson, 'The flagellants of 1260 and the crusades', Journal of medieval history, 15 (1989), 27-67
H. Attiya, 'Knowledge of Arabic in the Crusader States in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries', Journal of medieval history, 25 (1999).
A. Forey, 'The military orders and the conversion of Muslims in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries', Journal of medieval history, 28 (2002).
M. Muzinger, 'The profits of the cross: merchant involvement in the Baltic Crusade (c.1180-1230)', Journal of medieval history, 32 (2006).
A. Hoose, 'Francis of Assisi's way of peace? His conversion and mission to Egypt', Catholic historical review, 96 (2010).
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills The study of the past gives students a unique understanding of the present that will enable them to succeed in a broad range of careers. The transferable skills gained from this course include:
- understanding of complex issues and how to draw valid conclusions from the past
- ability to analyse the origins and development of historiographical debates on early modern Italian history
- a command of bibliographical and library- and/or IT-based online and offline research skills
- a range of skills in reading and textual analysis
- ability to question and problematize evidence; considering the relationship between evidence and interpretation
- understanding ethical dimensions of research and their relevance for human relationships today
- ability to marshal arguments lucidly, coherently and concisely, both orally and in writing
- ability to deliver a paper or a presentation in front of peer audiences
- ability to design and execute pieces of written work and to present them suitably, as evidenced by the final assessment essay of 3,000 words
KeywordsCrusades Euro Med Middle Ages
Contacts
Course organiserDr Gianluca Raccagni
Tel:
Email: gianluca.raccagni@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk
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