Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2003 15:56:31 -0500
Subject: [SCA-AS] Links: The Crusades
Greetings all. This week we will discover what made the Crusades so
persistent. See espescially the section on famous Women of the Crusades.
As always please share this list wherever it will find an interest.
Cheers
Aoife
The Crusades: We Only Won The First One
~~ Paul V. Hartman ~~
http://www.naciente.com/essay23.htm
(Site Excerpt) Contrary to the widely held opinion that the Crusades were initiated
to colonize Arab lands and convert Muslims to the Christian faith, they were
in fact a purely defensive maneuver by European countries against a formidable,
religiously-inspired effort, by Middle Eastern countries to conquer the world
in the name of Allah. That effort had already gobbled up two-thirds of Europe
at a time when it was experiencing the ill effects of three hundred years of
the Dark Ages.
Contemporary Crusades Images
http://www.bnf.fr/enluminures/themes/t_1/st_1_02/a102_006.htm
Islam and Islamic History in Arabia
and The Middle East : The Crusades
http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Sec10.htm
(Site Excerpt) To Arab historians, the Crusaders were a minor irritant, their
invasion one more barbarian incursion, not nearly as serious a threat as the
Mongols were to prove in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
Internet Medieval Sourcebook: The Crusades
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1k.html
Medieval Sourcebook:
William of Tyre:
The Foundation of the Order of Knights Templar
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/tyre-templars.html
(Site Excerpt) For nine years after their founding, the knights wore secular
clothing. They used such garments as the people, for their soul's salvation,
gave them. In their ninth year there was held in France, at Troyes, a council
at which the Lord Archbishops of Reims and Sens and their suffragans were present,
as well as the Bishop of Albano, who was the legate of the apostolic see, and
the Abbots of Citeaux, Clairvaux, Pontigny, with many others. This council,
by command of the Lord Pope Honorius and the Lord Stephen, Patriarch of Jerusalem,
established a rule for the knights and assigned them a white habit.
Medieval Sourcebook:
A CHRISTIAN/MOSLEM DEBATE OF THE 12TH CENTURY
TRANSLATED BY KARIM HAKKOUM AND FR. DALE A. JOHNSON 1989
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/christ-muslim-debate.html
(Site Excerpt) In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one
God, Amen. With the help of God, we begin writing a debate that happened between
the monk Georgi and three Moslem theologians, in the presence of the prince
Al-Khana, Al-Mushar Abul-Mulk, Gazi Al-Zaher Usef Ibn Ayub Al-Salah, the Moslem
King of Aleppo and Syria, and during the reign of Leo the Armenian, son of Etienne,
King of the Armenian tribe, in October 6615 from our Father Adam and 1165 A.D.
God help us! The story says that the Abbot of the convent of "St. Simon the
Fisherman" paid a visit to the King of Aleppo and its dependencies.
Catholic Encyclopedia: The Military Orders
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10304d.htm
Medieval Sourcebook:
Otto of Freising: The Legend of Prester John
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/otto-prester.html
(Site Excerpt) We also saw there at that time [Dec 1145] the aforesaid Bishop
of Jabala in Syria.... He said, indeed, that not many years since, one John,
a king and priest living in the Far East, beyond Persia and Armenia, and who,
with his people, is a Christian, but a Nestorian, had warred upon the socalled
Samiards, the brother kings of the Medes and Persians. John also attacked Ebactanus
. I . the capital of their kingdom. When the aforesaid kings advanced against
him with a force of Persians, Medes, and Assyrians, a threeday struggle ensued,
since both sides were willing to die rather than to flee. At length, Prester
John so he is usually called put the Persians to flight and emerged from
the dreadful
slaughter as victor.
Crusader Sources in Translation
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cdesource.html
(Site Excerpt) Recueil des historiens des Croisades
Recueil des historiens des Croisades, (Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1841-1906),
16 Vols
Historiens occidentaux. t. 1-5, 1844-95.--
Historiens orientaux, t. 1-5, 1872-1906.--
Documents armeniens. t. 1-2,1869-1906.
Historiens grecs, t. 1-2, 1875-81.
Lois. Assises de Jerusalem ... t. 1-2, 1841-43. .......
Les Croisades: Sources, Images, et Histoire
http://www.callisto.si.usherb.ca/~croisade/Croisades.htm
While this site is entirely in French, click on the third link to see images
of the crusades.
Leo IV (847-855): Forgiveness of Sins for Those Who Dies in Battle With the
Heathen
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/leo4-ind850.html
(Site Excerpt) Given to the Frankish Army
Now we hope that none of you will be slain, but we wish you to know that the
kingdom of heaven will be given as a reward to those who shall be killed in
this war. For the Omnipotent knows that they lost their lives fighting for the
truth of the faith, for the preservation of their country,, aiid the defence
of Christians. And therefore God will give then, the reward which we have named.
Women and the Crusades
http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine3.html
(Site Excerpt) "Jerusalem, you do me a great wrong by taking from me that which
I loved best. Know this to be true: I'll never love you, for this is the reason
for my unhappiness...
Crusades Information (Note: Slow to Load)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/9767/crusades.html
(Site Excerpt) These pages aim to provide a centre of discussion for the crusades,
while offering some useful links to other crusade and medieval history pages.The
Crusades are generally accepted as being initiated as a consequence of Pope
Urban II's preaching tour from July 1095 to September 1096 and the proclaination
of a crusade at the Council of Clermont in November 1095. However, one can see
precursors for the First Crusade in the Reconquista, or even in the dream of
emperor Justinian I (527-565) to reunite the Roman Empire, in that they intended
to extend the boarders of Christendom, or regain what had been lost.
Female Heroes from the Crusades:
Eleanor of Aquitaine
http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine2.html
(Site Excerpt) Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful and fascinating
personalities of feudal Europe. At age 15 she married Louis VII, King of France,
bringing into the union her vast possessions from the River Loire to the Pyrenees.
Only a few years later, at age 19, she knelt in the cathedral of Vézelay before
the celebrated Abbé Bernard of Clairvaux offering him thousands of her vassals
for the Second Crusade. It was said that Queen Eleanor appeared at Vézelay dressed
like an Amazon galloping through the crowds on a white horse, urging them to
join the crusades.
Female Heroes from the Time of the Crusades
Shagrat al-Durr
Sultan of Eqypt (died, 1259)
http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine1.html
(Site Excerpt) Women who were "powers behind the throne" are always fascinating.
But those who move out of the shadows to sit on the throne itself can be even
more so. Shagrat al-Durr took upon herself the title of Sultan and regrouped
the Egyptian army to take Damietta back from the Frankish Crusaders.
Female Heroes from the Time of the Crusades
Melisende Queen of Jerusalem (1105-1160)
http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine4.html
(Site Excerpt) Melisende was the daughter of the king of the Frankish kingdom
of Jerusalem and his Armenian wife. Christian crusaders had wrested Jerusalem
from the Muslims in 1099. Melisende began her reign with her father at the end
of his life. In 1129 she married Fulk V of Anjou (France). In 1131, they became
joint rulers of Jerusalem, although Fulk outshone Melisende and effectively
ignored her. In the mid 1130s this changed. Rumors flew, accusing Melisende
of having an affair with Fulk's biggest rival, the rebel Hugh II. Fulk chose
to believe the rumors and provoked a war against Melisende and her supporters.
But her forces prevailed, and her fortunes changed.
Female Heroes from the Time of the Crusades
Anna Comnena
Byzantine Historian of the First Crusade (1083-1153)
http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine5.html
(Site Excerpt) Anna Comnena is considered the world's first female historian
and a major source of information about the reign of her father, Alexius I.
Her works are full of details about daily life at court, the deeds of her family,
and the exchanges between the Byzantines and western crusaders during the first
crusades.
The Crusades - an Introduction and Overview
by Sulis (An Historical Gaming Company)
http://stronghold.heavengames.com/sc/history
(Site Excerpt) On November 17th 1095, Pope Urban II gave an important speech
at the end of a church council in Clermont, France, calling for the nobility
of Western Europe to assist their Eastern brothers in a Crusade to liberate
the Holy Lands from the Muslim Turks, who were rapidly encroaching on the Byzantine
Empire. The Turks had already overrun most of the Byzantine Empire and were
within striking distance of the capital, Constantinople.
BBC: Anglo-Normans
Richard I and the Crusades 1189
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/ang_crusades_01.shtml
(Site Excerpt) Richard I (1189-99), 'Coeur de Lion', is remembered in legend
as a great English king, yet he was born of French parents, spoke no English
and spent a mere six months in England following his accession. Historians have
alternately glorified his prowess as a warrior and lambasted him for plundering
England's wealth in pursuit of glory in France and the Holy Land.
HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES LINKS
http://www.ku.edu/kansas/med/crusades.html
Political Maps of Europe from 1100 to 2000
http://www.euratlas.com/time2.htm
Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain
http://libro.uca.edu/rc/captives.htm
(Site Excerpt) This fourteenth-century account of captivity by the Berber historian
Ibn Khaldun describes a phenomenon that was a constant in the life of the western
Mediterranean from antiquity until the demise of the barbary pirates in the
nineteenth century. The threat of capture, whether by pirates or coastal raiders,
or during one of the region's intermittent wars, was consequently not a new
but rather a continuing threat to the residents of Catalonia, Languedoc, and
the other coastal provinces of medieval Christian Europe. So persistent and
ordinary was this problem that individual instances of capture rarely elicited
much notice beyond allusions in chronicles and wills.
Islam During the Crusades (links)
http://crusades.boisestate.edu/contents.html