Course Description
The origins and development of the Crusades from 1095 until the fall of Acre in 1291. The origins of Crusading, the concepts of just war and Jihad, and the Byzantine and Islamic responses to the Crusades.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will undertake research under the direction of
the instructor. They will be expected to identify a major topic
of historiographical debate, familiarize themselves with the
principal contributions to the debate, and, where possible, read
the relevant primary sources so that they can reach an
independent judgment. They will then write a substantive paper
detailing their findings.
Athena Title
CRUSADES
Undergraduate Prerequisite
HIST 2301 or HIST 2311H or HIST 2701H or HIST 3330 or HIST 3561 or HIST 3570H or HIST 4330/6330 or HIST 4345 or HIST 4371/6371
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principle objectives of this course are to introduce students to the history of the Crusader period, 1095-1291. Some attention may also be given to later crusades, such as those against the Ottoman Empire, and to crusades within European Christian society, such as the Albigensian Crusade. The students will consider the influence these events had on medieval societies and the ways in which the events reflect basic concepts and institutions of medieval societies, both Muslim and Christian. Students will be expected to read primary sources in translation, and respond critically to these sources in class discussion and in written assignments. They will be expected to analyse the ideological claims made by the sources and the various ways in which modern historians have interpreted and evaluated these claims. The assignments will involve approximately twenty pages of writing per semester. Students will be expected to formulate an argument, provide evidence in support of the argument, consider alternative theses, and document their sources in an appropriate manner.
Topical Outline
Europe and the Middle East in the Eleventh Century The Origins of the Crusades The Events of the First Crusade The Revival of Jihad The Second Crusade Crusader Institutions Saladin and the Third Crusade The Theory of Crusading The Fourth Crusade and the Fall of Constantinople Crusades in Europe The Seventh Crusade Crusaders, Mongols, and Mamluks Late Medieval Crusades The Legacy of the Crusades