Medieval History
The epic song cycles of the First Crusade, like Led Zeppelin?s debut album, plucked the same brash chord that was heard in Crusades Two, Three, Four and Five. They presented a Western view of the Byzantine Emperor, from which he never recovered, as a treacherous double-dealer, in sympathy with Islam, who knowingly encouraged up to nine-tenths of a Crusader force of 80,000 to their doom. This vitriolic portrait resounded through the centuries and was strummed in the 18th by a misled Edward Gibbon who claimed the Emperor?s widow inscribed on his tomb: ?You die as you lived ? an HYPOCRITE.?
Not true, says Peter Frankopan, an Oxford historian whose ambition is to restore Alexios I to his bold and rightful position, from which French and Italian chroniclers airbrushed him: as a figure who was crucial in galvanising a moribund 11th-century Europe to expand its horizons. ?After more than 900 years in the gloom, Alexios should once again take centre stage in the history of the First Crusade.?
The First Crusade reshaped the medieval world. It restored the authority of a divided papacy set the course for the Reformation and is ?one of the most written-about events in history?. And yet its narrative is one-sided, Frankopan argues, dominated by Western voices and by grossly over-promoted characters like the Frankish Prince Bohemond, a charismatic liability who failed three times to capture Ephesus and was not even present at the fall of Jerusalem in 1099.
Click here to read this review from the Daily Telegraph
- Book Review: The First Crusade: The Call From The East, By Peter Frankopan
?Deus vult!? ? God wills it! ? was the battle cry of the First Crusade, in which armies of Europe, at the very end of the 11th century, marched off to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem and conquer the infidel Turks, who were then sweeping all before...
- Crusade, Liturgy, Ideology, And Devotion Project
Cecilia Gaposchkin, assistant professor of history and assistant dean of faculty for pre-major advising, has accepted a fellowship at Princeton?s Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, where she will work on a project tentatively titled ?Crusade,...
- Historian Dispels Myths About Eleanor Of Aquitaine And The Role Of Women On The Second Crusade
One of the popular images of the Crusades is the story of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine taking 300 of her ladies-in-waiting with her on the Second Crusade during the years 1147-49. While this particular tale has long-been debunked, a recent article has shown...
- Crusaders Massacre Of Jerusalem Was Done In Cold-blood, Not Religious Frenzy, Historian Argues
A leading historian of the Crusades believes that 1099 massacre of Jerusalem?s inhabitants by the army of the First Crusade was not the result of religious fervour, but rather, ?the cold-blooded implementation of??ethnic cleansing?.? In his recent article,...
- The Problematic Crusades
The crusades as an historiographical (sub-)field have become increasingly problematic. Much of this has to do with 9/11 and the new emphasis on, and interest in, holy war and/or religious violence. But, in fairness, it was trending the way it's now...
Medieval History
The First Crusade, by Peter Frankopan
Not true, says Peter Frankopan, an Oxford historian whose ambition is to restore Alexios I to his bold and rightful position, from which French and Italian chroniclers airbrushed him: as a figure who was crucial in galvanising a moribund 11th-century Europe to expand its horizons. ?After more than 900 years in the gloom, Alexios should once again take centre stage in the history of the First Crusade.?
The First Crusade reshaped the medieval world. It restored the authority of a divided papacy set the course for the Reformation and is ?one of the most written-about events in history?. And yet its narrative is one-sided, Frankopan argues, dominated by Western voices and by grossly over-promoted characters like the Frankish Prince Bohemond, a charismatic liability who failed three times to capture Ephesus and was not even present at the fall of Jerusalem in 1099.
Click here to read this review from the Daily Telegraph
- Book Review: The First Crusade: The Call From The East, By Peter Frankopan
?Deus vult!? ? God wills it! ? was the battle cry of the First Crusade, in which armies of Europe, at the very end of the 11th century, marched off to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem and conquer the infidel Turks, who were then sweeping all before...
- Crusade, Liturgy, Ideology, And Devotion Project
Cecilia Gaposchkin, assistant professor of history and assistant dean of faculty for pre-major advising, has accepted a fellowship at Princeton?s Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, where she will work on a project tentatively titled ?Crusade,...
- Historian Dispels Myths About Eleanor Of Aquitaine And The Role Of Women On The Second Crusade
One of the popular images of the Crusades is the story of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine taking 300 of her ladies-in-waiting with her on the Second Crusade during the years 1147-49. While this particular tale has long-been debunked, a recent article has shown...
- Crusaders Massacre Of Jerusalem Was Done In Cold-blood, Not Religious Frenzy, Historian Argues
A leading historian of the Crusades believes that 1099 massacre of Jerusalem?s inhabitants by the army of the First Crusade was not the result of religious fervour, but rather, ?the cold-blooded implementation of??ethnic cleansing?.? In his recent article,...
- The Problematic Crusades
The crusades as an historiographical (sub-)field have become increasingly problematic. Much of this has to do with 9/11 and the new emphasis on, and interest in, holy war and/or religious violence. But, in fairness, it was trending the way it's now...