| Unit name | Crusading in the Middle Ages |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HIST10020 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Miss. Webster |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit examines the concept of crusading in the Middle Ages. It focuses on the peoples involved in the crusades, from the various groups who made up the ‘Franks’ (including the Germans, French and English participants), through to the settlers in the Latin East, the military orders, and even the Greeks and Muslims. Key issues include the evolving motivations for going on crusades, the impact and consequences of the crusading movement on these various groups, and how we might evaluate their achievements and pass judgement on their relative success and failures. This unit will take advantage of emerging scholarship to examine in more detail the identities and self-representation of different crusading groups. In considering these themes, the unit will use a wide range of source material, including historical narratives, eyewitness accounts, letters, charters and papal decrees.
On successful completion of this unit students will have a critical understanding of the groups and peoples involved in the crusades and their motivations for going in the period c. 1050 – 1300. Students will develop their skills in assessing, presenting, analysing and evaluating complex ideas and arguments, and in researching and writing essays.
1 x 2-hour seminar per week.
1 x 3,000 word essay (formative); 1 x 2-hour exam (100%). Both elements will assess knowledge and critical understanding of the peoples and motivations involved in the crusades in the period c. 1050-1300; skills in assessing, presenting, analysing and evaluating complex ideas and arguments, and in researching and writing essays.
Shaw, M.R.B.( ed.); Chronicles of the Crusades: Joinville & Villehardouin, (London,1963). Bull, M.G.; Knightly piety and the lay response to the First Crusade :the Limousin and Gascony, c.970-c.1130 (Oxford, 1993). Riley-Smith, J.; The Crusades :a history (London, 2005). Phillips, J.; Holy warriors :a modern history of the Crusades (London, 2009). Housley, N., and Bull, M.G., (eds.); The experience of crusading (Cambridge, 2003). Barber, M.; The Two Cities : Medieval Europe, 1050-1320 ( London, 2004), Chapter 5.
