This page will contain a fairly detailed list of what we will cover in each day of class. It also links to specific pages for each day, where outlines and images for each lecture are posted. You will need the username and password given out in the first day of class to access them.

Schedule of Classes, Readings, and Assignments

Week One (8-10 Feb)

• T (8 Feb)  Introduction to the Course
• TH (10 Feb) The Preaching of the First Crusade
  • READING: "Urban's Call for a Crusade," Allen and Amt, 39-47.
  • Informal Writing Exercise 1 due today - Write a paragraph summarizing the argument of one version of Pope Urban's sermon announcing the First Crusade.  Versions will be pre-assigned in class on Tuesday.

Week Two (15-17 Feb)

• T (15 Feb) Origins of the Crusades 1 : Sacred Violence
  • READING: "Augustine of Hippo on the Just War," Allen and Amt, 7-9; and Madden, 1-14.  
• TH (17 Feb) Origins of the Crusades 2: Pilgrimage, Peace of God, Byzantium
  • READING: "The Pilgrimage of Etheria," "Declaration of the Truce of God," and "Matthew of Edessa on the Seljuk Conquests," Allen and Amt, 3-6, 28-34. 

Week Three (22-24 Feb)

• T (22 Feb) The First Crusade: Unauthorized Responses : Peter the Hermit and the First Wave, Anti-Jewish Violence
  • READING: "Albert of Aachen on the Peasants' Crusade," "Anna Comnena's Alexiad," and "Solomon Bar Samson on the Massacres of Jews," Allen and Amt 47-61; and Madden, 17-21.
• TH (24 Feb) The First Crusade: From Constantinople to Antioch
  • READING: "The Deeds of the Franks," "Letter of Stephen of Blois," and "Anselm of Ribemont on Events at Antioch," Allen and Amt, 61-8; and Madden, 21-33.
  • Informal Writing Exercise 2 due today - Based on your reading of Allen and Amt and Madden, as well as maps 1 (xii) and 2 (16) in Madden, make a map with the ten geographical features (rivers, mountains, cities etc.) that you believe had the greatest impact on the course of the First Crusade. Class will begin with a discussion of these maps.
  • Textual Analysis Exercise 1 handed out today

Week Four (1-3 Mar)

• T (1 Mar) The First Crusade: The Second Wave from Antioch to Jerusalem
  • READING: Read "Ralph of Caen on Divisions Among the Crusaders," "Raymond of Aguilers on the Fall of Jerusalem," "Letter of Pope Paschal on the Capture of Jerusalem," and "Abu L-Muzaffar Al-Abiwardi on the Fall of Jerusalem," Allen and Amt, 69-80; and Madden, 33-7.
•  TH (3 Mar) Crusades Documentary - Part 1
  • Assignment: take careful notes on the account of the First Crusade offered in the documentary we will be watching in class today. Class will conclude with a discussion of the documentary and crusader motives.
  • First Textual Analysis Exercise due in class today!!!!!

Week Five (8-10 Mar)

• T (8 Mar) Crusades Documentary - Part 2
• TH (10 Mar)  The Crusader States: Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Perceptions
  • READING: "The Travels of Ibn Jubayr," "Memoirs of Usamah Ibn Munqidh," and "The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tuleda," Allen and Amt, 108-24; and Madden, 39-49.
  • An essay on Crusader Castles
  • Taxes in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
  • Mid-term handed out today.

Week Six (15-17 Mar)

• T (15 Mar)  The Templars
  • READING: "Bernard of Clairvaux: In Praise of the New Knighthood," "The Rule of the Templars," "Order for the Arrest of the Templars," and "Papal Bull Suppressing the Templars," Allen and Amt, 197-204, 378-84; and Madden, 49-51.
  • Informal Writing Exercise 3 due today - Write a paragraph comparing the old knighthood with the new knighthood.
• TH (17 Mar) - No class. Take-home midterm due in my mailbox (Fifth floor, Holland Hall) by Thursday at 1:00.

Spring Break

Week Seven (29-31 Mar)

• T (29 Mar) The Muslim Response to the Crusades: Unity and Jihad
  • READING: Read "The Quran," "Al-Baladhuri on Early Muslim Conquests," "The Pact of Omar," Ibn Al-Qalanisi on Zengi and Nur Ad-Din," and "Ibn Al-Athir on the Fall of Edessa," Allen and Amt, 10-18, 127-34; and Madden, 51-3.
• TH (31 Mar) The Second Crusade
  • READING: "Letter of Bernard of Clairvaux," "Odo of Deuil: The Journey of Louis VII to the East," and "Analyses of the Second Crusade," Allen and Amt, 134-43, 145-7; and Madden, 54-63.

Week Eight (5-7 Apr)

• T (5 Apr) Saladin
  • READING: "Imad Ad-Din on the Battle of Hattin," "Roger of Wendover on the Fall of Jerusalem" and "Letters on the Fall of Jerusalem," Allen and Amt, 148-66. Handout on life of Saladin
  • Informal Writing Exercise 4 due today: You are on a summer "work-study" program with Saladin. Write a letter home describing your impressions of the famous ruler
• TH (7 Apr) The Third Crusade
  • READING:"Taxation and Regulations for the Third Crusade" and "Accounts of the Third Crusade," Allen and Amt, 167-77; and Madden, 81-97.   

Week Nine (12-14 Apr)

• T (12 Apr) Crusades Documentary - Part 3
  • READING: Read ahead for Fourth Crusade
• TH (14 Apr) Fourth Crusade
  • Assignment: Read Villehardouin, 29-107 (note change) ; and Madden, 99-112. 
  • Assignment: "Documents on the Sack of Constantinople," Allen and Amt, 234-40; and Madden, 112-122.
  • Assignment: Queller article and Perry article
  • Second Textual Analysis Exercise handed out today

Week Ten (19-21 Apr)

• T (19 Apr ) Fourth Crusade
• READING:
• Participate in debate on responsibility for diversion of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople. Will include a written statement as part of informal writing exercise 5.
• TH (21 Apr) The Logistics of Crusading and the Fifth Crusade
  • READING:"Gerald of Wales on Preaching a Crusade," "Privileges and Indulgences," "Personal Arrangements," "Liturgy for Pilgrims and Crusaders," "Decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council," Allen and Amt, 181-96, 252-6.
  • Film: Alexander Nevsky (in parts)

Week Eleven (26-28 Apr)

• T (26 Apr) The Expansion of the Crusades: the Baltic and Spain
  • READING:"Proclamations of Northern European Crusades," "Chronicle of the Cid," "Accounts of Arab Learning," "Muslim-Christian Treaty," "Moorish Laws," "Christian Laws," Allen and Amt, 268-70, 299-304, 314-26.
  • Also read (print out): Rule of the Teutonic Knights. For discussion - Compare this to the rule of the Templars
  • Muslim Accounts of war in al-Andalus. How do they see their enemy? Is the Reconquista a crusade/jihad situation?
    If you're feeling really feisty, here's a link to a great Siete Partidas page, one of the most interesting law codes of the Middle Ages (from Christian Spain).
  • Film: Alexander Nevsky (in parts)
  • Second Textual Analysis Exercise due in class!!!
• TH (28 Apr) The Expansion of the Crusades: the Albigensian Crusades
  • READING:"Bernard of Gui's Manual for Inquisitors," and William of Tuleda's "Song of the Cathar Wars," Allen and Amt, 241-8; Handouts on the Crusade. And Madden, 123-41.

Week Twelve (3-5 May)

• T (3 May) Saint Louis's Crusade
  • Assignment: Read Joinville, 163-264; "Financial Accounts," Allen and Amt, 204-7; and Madden, 167-86.
• TH (5 May)   Joinville's Eastern Adventures and Mongols, Mamluks, and the Fall of the Crusader States
  • Assignment: Read Joinville, 264-316, 345-353. Madden, 187-215
  • Informal Writing Exercise 6 Draw a map of the Far East as Joinville describes it, making sure to identify the lands of "the Tartars," "Gog and Magog," and "Prester John." 

Week Thirteen (10-12 May)

• T (10 May) Art, Literature, and Legacy of the Crusades
  • Assignment: Read "Stories of Women Crusaders," and "Crusading Songs," Allen and Amt, 211-7.
  • Informal Writing Exercise 7 : Write a poem describing your departure on crusade. - This is due
• TH (12 May)  Let's go out to the movies!
  • Take-Home Final will go online today

Take-home Final Examination will be due Thursday, May 19, at 2:30