The Crusades: c.1095-1204

Course Overview

The Crusades are often what people first associate with the Middle Ages, and they do so within an enduring context of a mythos of brutality, violence, faith and bravery which has remained a popular image of the medieval man from the first humanists to modern film. However, is it accurate? Crusading was an almost uniquely medieval phenomenon. It was a massive, pan-Catholic enterprise and one of the most important features of European culture and religion for almost 200 years. It involved statecraft, cross-cultural exchange, colonisation, conquest, diplomacy and finance - it facilitated possibly some of the greatest changes and developments to Christendom in the Middle Ages. Yet even as the First Crusade achieved what none could have seriously dreamt, the Crusading movement itself faltered and became debased. By 1291, there were no Frankish enclaves anywhere east of Byzantium. The Crusaders had only held on for 200 years. Why did Crusading succeed, and how did it become so popular? And why did it fail, and recede? What did Crusaders believe? Were they motivated by their love of God or their love of power? Crusading is one of the most interesting of medieval phenomena and touched almost every part of Europe from Lisbon to Constantinople. From violence to toleration, from faith to despair, the stories of holy men and vicious ones touch the very root of what is essentially 'medieval'.