About the Course
This course charts the social, political, and cultural history of the feudal principalities that were established by Latin Christians in the Eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the First Crusade. Students will be introduced to the narrative and documentary sources through which the history of the Latin Kingdom has been constructed, as well as the archaeology and art of the Levant during the period of Frankish occupation and settlement. In addition, we will engage with the major historiographical debates concerning the constitutional organization of the Latin kingdom, the relationship between the Frankish crusaders and the Muslim and eastern Christian populations over whom they ruled, and the “colonial” character of the Latin settlements.
Readings and Assignments:
Readings:
The schedule of readings and assignments (see below) lists weekly reading assignments. These readings are drawn from course books, which students are expected to obtain in advance, and from scholarly articles and extracts of longer works. Every student is expected to arrive in class prepared to discuss the assigned reading with questions or points of argument in mind. On occasions when readings are too lengthy or numerous to print, it may be acceptable to consult them in-class using a laptop or reader. In all cases, students are advised to bring detailed notes or responses to readings and questions to facilitate discussion grounded in the readings.
Presentations and podcasts: Over the course of the semester, all students will make one in-class presentation and produce one public-engagement piece (a podcast or, with permission of the instructor, a blog post).
Presentations:
In-class presentations are of an historiographical nature. Topics for presentations are agreed in advance with the instructor and may include, but are not limited to, those suggested on the syllabus. All presentations are strictly limited to ten minutes, with an additional five minutes for questions and discussion. The presenter will prepare in advance a double-sided one-page handout for their presentation, including an abbreviated bibliography of between three and five relevant works of scholarship briefly annotated in two to three sentences.
Podcasts:
Podcasts are digitally recorded and edited presentations intended to make the study of the Crusader States accessible to a wider audience. This year, podcasts will be focused on primary sources (usually texts, but other forms of sources may also be appropriate). They will introduce the listening audience to the primary source text. What type of source is it? How as it made? In what form do historians encounter it (e.g. manuscripts and editions), and in what form is it available for the public? Why is it important for the study of the Crusader States? How has it been used in the past, and how might it be used in the future? Podcasts also have the function of preparing the class for a particular primary source text, and must be available by 8PM Sunday night of the week in question. Podcasts should run 7-10 minutes
Written assignments:
Glossary terms for Old French legal texts:
During the semester, students will write glossary entries for the collaborative edition and translation of Old French legal texts from the Latin East. Glossary definition should not exceed a single-spaced page, and will follow a set format. Where appropriate, reference may be made to other dictionaries or secondary works and links provided to online dictionaries. (Note that knowledge of Old French is not required to complete this assignment.)
Final research paper:
The course culminates with the writing of a research paper (15-17 pages not including title and bibliography) on a topic related to the themes of the course and agreed in advance with the instructor. A short written description of the topic, together with a five-item bibliography, is due in class on October 6. Draft introductions of papers (2-4 pages), introducing sources, problems, and historiography, are due November 10. Final papers are due December 15.
Papers should be paginated, double-spaced and in an attractive 12-point font preceded by a title page and followed by a bibliography divided between primary sources and secondary works. All citations must be in Chicago style.
Policies
Accommodation:
All students should familiarize themselves with the university’s policies regarding coursework, academic integrity, and accommodation. Those requiring accommodation can visit the Office of Disability Services.
Mandatory reporting/Title IX:
As a faculty member, I am a mandatory reporter and am required to contact and provide information to Public Safety, to the Dean of Students, and/or to the Title IX Coordinator if I learn you have been sexually harassed (verbally or physically), sexually assaulted /raped, stalked, had domestic violence or dating violence occur in a relationship, or been a victim / survivor of any behavior prohibited by the University's Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures. Once reported, the University will promptly seek to properly support any student and make efforts to stop the discrimination, prevent it from recurring, and remedy its effects. There are three confidential places on campus where you can seek support where it will not be "reported": clinical counselors in Psychological & Counseling Services, pastoral counselors in Campus Ministry, and medical service providers in University Health Services. The Student CARE Brochure can provide you with on and off-campus resources for support and more information, and you can also visit www.fordham.edu/care or www.fordham.edu/sexualmisconduct for more information.
Academic Integrity:
Students should familiarize themselves with the GSAS policy on academic integrity violations. Any suspected violations will be thoroughly investigated. A good guide to plagiarism is provided by the American Historical Association on their website.
Changes to this syllabus:
The instructor reserves the right to make changes to this syllabus, in particular to the schedule or readings and assignments in the case of changes to the university schedule due to weather or other closures. Any changes to the syllabus will be announced immediately via email.
Accommodation:
All students should familiarize themselves with the university’s policies regarding coursework, academic integrity, and accommodation. Those requiring accommodation can visit the Office of Disability Services.
Mandatory reporting/Title IX:
As a faculty member, I am a mandatory reporter and am required to contact and provide information to Public Safety, to the Dean of Students, and/or to the Title IX Coordinator if I learn you have been sexually harassed (verbally or physically), sexually assaulted /raped, stalked, had domestic violence or dating violence occur in a relationship, or been a victim / survivor of any behavior prohibited by the University's Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures. Once reported, the University will promptly seek to properly support any student and make efforts to stop the discrimination, prevent it from recurring, and remedy its effects. There are three confidential places on campus where you can seek support where it will not be "reported": clinical counselors in Psychological & Counseling Services, pastoral counselors in Campus Ministry, and medical service providers in University Health Services. The Student CARE Brochure can provide you with on and off-campus resources for support and more information, and you can also visit www.fordham.edu/care or www.fordham.edu/sexualmisconduct for more information.
Academic Integrity:
Students should familiarize themselves with the GSAS policy on academic integrity violations. Any suspected violations will be thoroughly investigated. A good guide to plagiarism is provided by the American Historical Association on their website.
Changes to this syllabus:
The instructor reserves the right to make changes to this syllabus, in particular to the schedule or readings and assignments in the case of changes to the university schedule due to weather or other closures. Any changes to the syllabus will be announced immediately via email.
Reading list:
Suggested texts (for the history of the crusades to the East):
Required Texts:
- Andrew Jotischky, Crusading and the Crusader States (Harlow and New York, 2004)
- Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: A History (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014)
Required Texts:
- Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, tr. Frances Rita Ryan and Harold S. Fink (Knoxville, 1969, repr. W.W. Norton, 1972) (used from $10)
- Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 950-1350 (Princeton: Princeon Univ Press, 1993) (Paperback, used from $8)
- [Lyon Eraces] The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, tr. Peter Edbury (Brookfield, VT, 1196 repr. 1999) (used from $6)
- Christopher MacEvitt, The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance (Philadelphia, 2008) (used from $16)
- Usamah ibn Munqidh, Book of Contemplation: Islam, the Crusades, and the East. tr. Paul M. Cobb (London. 2008) (used from $4)
- Andrew Jotischy, The Perfection of Solitude: Hermits and Monks in the Crusader States (Philadelphia, 1995) (used from $25)
- Ronnie Ellenblum, Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge, Pbk edition 2009) (used from $29)
Schedule of Class Meetings and Assignments
Class 1: (Sept 1) Intro. Background to Scholarship, intro to Library resources, and Course Themes
Readings:
Class 2: (Sept 8) The Near East on the Eve of the First Crusade
**Map quiz!**
Readings:
Some geopolitical concerns:
Two new theses:
Class 3: (Sept 15) The Expedition:
Reading:
Source Reading:
Class 4: (Sept 22) Conquest and the Pattern of Domination
Readings:
Source Reading:
Class 5: (Sept 29) Political and Military Institutions
Readings (selections will be assigned):
The challenges:
The trouble with the sources:
And compare:
with
An approach to the lordships:
The Military Orders:
Women and lordship:
Source Reading:
Class 6: (Oct 6) Towns and the Rural Scene
Readings:
Towns and Trade
Agriculture and Rural Life
Source Reading:
Class 7: (Oct 13) Churches, Relics, Religious
Readings:
Class 8: (Oct 20) Neighbors and Rivals
Readings (selection to be assigned):
Source Reading:
Class 9: (Oct 27) The Principalities: Tripoli and Antioch
Source Reading:
Class 10: 9 (Nov. 3- Class must meet at alternate day/time) The “International” Kingdom (Part 1)
Readings:
The debate on Angevin intentions:
Jonathan Phillips, Defenders of the Holy Land (Oxford, 1996), 1-13 and 168-224
Hans Eberhard Mayer, "Henry II of England and the Holy Land," English Historical Review 97: 385 (1982), 721-739
Source Reading:
Letters from the East: Crusaders, Pilgrims, and Settlers in the 12th-13th Centuries, ed. Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate (Burlington, VT, 2013) [Selections]
[Charters of Independent Crusaders] Independent Crusaders Mapping Project
The Oxford Outremer Map Project
Class 11: (Nov 10) La desconfiture: Hattin and The Third Crusade in History and Memory Outremer
Readings:
Source Reading:
Class 12: (Nov 17) Cyprus and Beirut: the World of the Ibelins
**Glossary entry due**
Readings:
Source Reading:
Philip of Novara, Memoires
Class 13: (Dec. 1) The Kingdom of Acre: Culture, Arts, and Diplomacy
Readings:
Source Reading:
THANKSGIVING BREAK: NO CLASSES
Class 14: (Dec 8) (Class must meet on alternate day) The “International” Kingdom (Part 2)
Readings:
Source Reading:
Class 15: (Friday, December 15) Epilogue: the Castle of the Sparrow Hawk
Readings:
- Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 950-1350 (London, 1993)
- "The Crusading Kingdom of Jerusalem: The First European Colonial Society?" in The Horns of Hattin, ed. B.Z. Kedar (Hampshire and Brookfield, VT, 1992), 341-366.
- Ronnie Ellenblum, Crusader Castles and Modern Histories (Cambridge, 2009). pp. 18-61.
Class 2: (Sept 8) The Near East on the Eve of the First Crusade
**Map quiz!**
Readings:
Some geopolitical concerns:
- P.M. Holt, “The Geography of the Region,” in The Crusader States and their Neighbors, 1098-1291 (New York: Pearson, 2004)
- Christopher MacEvitt, “Religious Communities of the Levant,” The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance (Philadelphia, 2007) 7-12.
Two new theses:
- Ronnie Ellenblum, Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean: Climate Change and the Decline of the East (Cambridge, 2012), 1-40 [Ebook]
- Peter Frankopan, The First Crusade: The Call from the East (Oxford, 2012), 57-101
Class 3: (Sept 15) The Expedition:
Reading:
- Jonathan Riley-Smith, “The Motives of the Earliest Crusaders and the Settlement of Latin Palestine, 1095-1100,” English Historical Review 98:389 (1983), 721-736 [Ejournal]
- Marwan Nader, “Burgess Origins and the First Crusade,” in Burgesses and Burgess Law in the Latin Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus (Burlington, VT 2006). 11-34 [Ebook]
Source Reading:
- Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, tr. Frances Rita Ryan and Harold S. Fink (Knoxville, 1969, repr. W.W. Norton, 1972), pp. 61-136 (Book I). For introductory information see Marcus Bull, “Western Narratives of the First Crusade,” and “Fulcher of Chartres” in Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History Volume 3 (1051-1200), ed. David Thomas and Alex Mallett (Leiden: Brill, 2011)
Class 4: (Sept 22) Conquest and the Pattern of Domination
Readings:
- Benjaming Kedar, "The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant," in Muslims Under Latin Rule, ed. James M. Powell (Princeton, 1990), pp. 135-174
- Christopher MacEvitt, The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance (Philadelphia, 2007)
Source Reading:
- Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, books 2-3.
Class 5: (Sept 29) Political and Military Institutions
Readings (selections will be assigned):
The challenges:
- Malcolm Barber, "The Challenge of State Building in the Twelfth Century: the Crusader States of Palestine and Syria," Reading Medieval Studies 36 (2010), 7-22. [link]
The trouble with the sources:
- Adam Bishop, “The Assizes of Jerusalem,” in Criminal Law and the Development of the Assizes of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century (Unpublished PhD Diss., Toronto, 2011), pp. 17-54.
And compare:
- John La Monte, Feudal Monarchy in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge, 1932), 85-165
with
- Joshua Prawer, “The Earliest Period of Crusader Feudalism: A Reconsideration,” and “Crusader Nobility and the Feudal System,” in Crusader Institutions (Oxford, 1980), pp. 3-45.
An approach to the lordships:
- Steven Tibble, Monarchy and Lordships in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1099-1291 (Oxford, 1989)
The Military Orders:
- The Knights Hospitaller in the Levant, c. 1070-1309 (Houndmills, Basingstoke, 2012), pp. 1-3, 15-37, 171-184
Women and lordship:
- Sylvia Schein, “Women in Medieval Colonial Society: The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century,” in Gendering the Crusades, ed. Susan B. Edgington and Sarah Lambert (New York, 2002), 140-154.
- Bernard Hamilton, “Women in the Crusader States: the Queens of Jerusalem (1100-1190)” in Medieval Women, ed. Derek Baker (Oxford, 1978), pp. 143-173.
Source Reading:
- The Rule of the Templars, tr. J.M. Upton-Ward (Woodbridge, 1997) [online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Rule]
- The Canons of the Council of Nablus (at crusaderstates.org)
Class 6: (Oct 6) Towns and the Rural Scene
Readings:
Towns and Trade
- David Jacoby, “The Venetian Privileges in the Latin Kingdom: Twelfth and Thirteenth-Century Interpretations and Implementations,” in Montjoie repr. Commecial Exchange Across the Mediterranean: Byzantium, the Crusader Levant, Egypt, and Italy (Aldershot, 2005), 155-175
- Eugene H. Byrne, “Genoese Trade with Syria in the 12th century,” American Historical Review 25 (1919-1920), 191-219 [Ejournal]
- Marwan Nader, "Borgesies," in Burgesses and Burgess Law in the Latin Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus (Burlington, VT, 2006), 71-128.
- Joshua Prawer, “The Social Classes of the Latin Kingdom: the Communes” in A History of the Crusades, vol. 5: the Impact of the Crusades on the Near East, ed. N.P. Zacour and H.W. Hazard (Madison, 1985), 171-193 [Online at Wisconsin-Madison]
Agriculture and Rural Life
- Ronnie Ellenblum, Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge, 1998).
Source Reading:
- Pactum Warmundi in William of Tyre, A History of the Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, tr. E. A. Babcock and A.C. Krey (New York, 1943), 1: 550-556.[Ebook]
Class 7: (Oct 13) Churches, Relics, Religious
Readings:
- M. Cecilia Gaposchkin, "Celebrating the Capture of Jerusalem in the Holy City," in Invisible Weapons: Liturgy and the Making of Crusade Ideology (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2017)
- Andrew Jotischy, The Perfection of Solitude: Hermits and Monks in the Crusader States (Philadelphia, 1995)
- Bernard Hamilton, "Rebuilding Zion: the Holy Places of Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century," in Renaissance and Renewal in Christian History, ed. Derek Baker (Oxford: Blackwell, 1978)
- Benjamin Z. Kedar, “The Convergence of Oriental Christian, Muslim, and Frankish Worshippers: the Case of Saydnaya and the Knights Templar,” in The Crusades and the Military Orders, ed. Zsolt Hunyadi (Budapest, 2001), pp. 89-100.
Class 8: (Oct 20) Neighbors and Rivals
Readings (selection to be assigned):
- D. M. Metcalf, “Islamic, Byzantine, and Latin Influences in the Iconography of Crusader Coins and Seals,” in K. Cigaar and H. Teule, eds., East & West in the Crusader States: Context, Contacts, and Confrontations (Leuven 2003), pp. 163-175.
- Oleg Grabar, “The Crusades and the Development of Islamic Art,” A. E. Laiou and R.P. Mottahedeh, eds., The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World (Washington, D.C. 2001), pp. 235-246
- Uri Schachar, "'Re-Orienting' Estoires d'Outremer: the Arabic Context of the Saladin Legend," in The French of Outremer: Communities and Communications in the Crusading Mediterranean, ed. Laura K. Morreale and Nicholas Paul (New York, 2017)
- Charles Burnett, “Antioch as a Link between Arabic and Latin Culture in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries," in Occident et Proche-Orient: Contacts Scientifiques au Temps des Croisades, ed. B. van den Abeele, A. Tihon and I. Draelants (Turnhout, 2000), 1-78. (and see Louisa Foroughi, "Translation in the Latin East: Antioch, Acre, and Cyprus”
Source Reading:
- Usamah ibn Munqidh, Book of Contemplation: Islam, The Crusades, and the East. tr. Paul M. Cobb (London. 2008)
Class 9: (Oct 27) The Principalities: Tripoli and Antioch
Source Reading:
- Andrew Buck, The Principality of Antioch and its Frontiers in the Twelfth Century (Woodbridge, 2017)
- Kevin James Lewis, The Counts of Tripoli and Lebanon in the Twelfth Century: the Sons of St. Gilles (Abingdon, Oxon., 2017)
Class 10: 9 (Nov. 3- Class must meet at alternate day/time) The “International” Kingdom (Part 1)
Readings:
The debate on Angevin intentions:
Jonathan Phillips, Defenders of the Holy Land (Oxford, 1996), 1-13 and 168-224
Hans Eberhard Mayer, "Henry II of England and the Holy Land," English Historical Review 97: 385 (1982), 721-739
Source Reading:
Letters from the East: Crusaders, Pilgrims, and Settlers in the 12th-13th Centuries, ed. Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate (Burlington, VT, 2013) [Selections]
[Charters of Independent Crusaders] Independent Crusaders Mapping Project
The Oxford Outremer Map Project
Class 11: (Nov 10) La desconfiture: Hattin and The Third Crusade in History and Memory Outremer
Readings:
- Peter Edbury, "Ernoul, Eracles, and the Collapse of the Kingdom of Jerusalem," in The French of Outremer: Communities and Communications in the Crusading Mediterranean, ed. Laura K. Morreale and Nicholas Paul (New York, 2017)
- Nicholas Paul, "In Search of the Marshal's Lost Crusade: the Persistence of Memory, the Problems of History, and the Painful Birth of Crusading Romance," Journal of Medieval History 40:4 (2014), 292-310
Source Reading:
- [Lyon Eracles] The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, tr. Peter Edbury (Brookfield, VT, 1196 repr. 1999)
Class 12: (Nov 17) Cyprus and Beirut: the World of the Ibelins
**Glossary entry due**
Readings:
- Riley-Smith, The Feudal Nobility and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1177- 1291 [extracts]
- John of Ibelin, Le Livre des assises, ed. Peter Edbury, "Introduction”, pp. 1-10, 34-44.[Ebook]
- BNF fr. 19025 [Galllica]
Source Reading:
Philip of Novara, Memoires
Class 13: (Dec. 1) The Kingdom of Acre: Culture, Arts, and Diplomacy
Readings:
- Jaroslav Folda, "What is Crusader Art?" in Crusader Art in the Holy Land: From the Third Crusade to the Fall of Acre (Cambridge, 2005), pp. 511-530
- David Jacoby, "Aspects of Everyday Life in Frankish Acre," Crusades 4 (2005), 73-105.
- David Jacoby, "Knightly Values and Class Consciousness in the Crusader States in the Eastern Mediterranean," Mediterranean Historical Review 1:2 (1986), 158-186.
- David Jacoby, “Society, Culture, and the Arts in Crusader Acre,” in France and the Holy Land: Frankish Culture at the End of the Crusades, ed. Daniel Weiss and Lisa Mahoney (Baltimore, 2004), 97-137.
Source Reading:
- John of Joinville, Life of Saint Louis, tr. Caroline Smith in Chronicles of the Crusades (London, 2009), 246-299.
THANKSGIVING BREAK: NO CLASSES
Class 14: (Dec 8) (Class must meet on alternate day) The “International” Kingdom (Part 2)
Readings:
- Bjorn Weiler, "The Negotium Terrae Sanctae in the Political Discourse of Latin Christendom, 1215-1311," The International History Review 25:1 (2003), 1-36. [Ejournal]
- Philip Baldwin, “Charles of Anjou, Pope Gregory X, and the Crown of Jerusalem,” Journal of Medieval History 38:4 (2012) 424-442. (Ejournal)
Source Reading:
- "The Templar of Tyre" [Extracts]
Class 15: (Friday, December 15) Epilogue: the Castle of the Sparrow Hawk
- Jean d'Arras, Mélusine, or The Noble History of Lusignan, tr. Donald Maddox and Sarah Sturm Maddox (Philadelphia, 2012), 1-13 ("Introduction"), 160-180, 223-226.