The Historia Ierosolimitana, attributed to Albert of Aachen, is the most complete, detailed and colourful of the contemporary narratives of the First Crusade, and of the careers of the first generation of Latin settlers in Outremer. This English translation, with original Latin text, has been prepared from a critical study of the manuscripts. Generating interest in previously disregarded aspects of crusade and settlement in the first decades of the twelfth century, it is set to alter the focus of crusades studies.
Albert of Aachen's History of the Journey to Jerusalem presents the story of the First Crusade (1095-1099) and the first generation of Latin settlers in the Levant (1099-1119). Volume 2, The Early History of the Latin States, provides a surprising level of detail about the reign of King Baldwin I (1100-1118), especially its earlier years and the crusading expeditions of 1101. Where it can be tested against other narratives, including Arabic and Greek sources, it proves to be worthy of both trust and respect. Susan B. Edgington's English translation has been widely praised, following its first publication in the Oxford Medieval Texts series, and is here presented with a new introduction and updated notes and bibliography.
The First Crusade (1095-1101) was the stimulus for a substantial boom in Western historical writing in the first decades of the twelfth century, beginning with the so-called "eyewitness" accounts of the crusade and extending to numerous second-hand treatments in prose and verse. From the time when many of these accounts were first assembled in printed form by Jacques Bongars in the early seventeenth century, and even more so since their collective appearance in the great nineteenth-century compendium of crusade texts, the Recueil des historiens des croisades, narrative histories have come to be regarded as the single most important resource for the academic study of the early crusade movement. But our understanding of these texts is still far from satisfactory. This ground-breaking volume draws together the work of an international team of scholars. It tackles the disjuncture between the study of the crusades and the study of medieval history-writing, setting the agenda for future research into historical narratives about or inspired by crusading. The basic premise that informs all the papers is that narrative accounts of crusades and analogous texts should not be primarily understood as repositories of data that contribute to a reconstruction of events, but as cultural artefacts that can be interrogated from a wide range of theoretical, methodological and thematic perspectives. MARCUS BULL is Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; DAMIEN KEMPF is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Liverpool. Contributors: Laura Ashe, Steven Biddlecombe, Marcus Bull, Peter Frankopan, Damian Kempf, James Naus, L an N Chl irigh, Nicholas Paul, William J. Purkis, Luigi Russo, Jay Rubenstein, Carol Sweetenham,
Albert of Aachen’s History of the Journey to Jerusalem presents the story of the First Crusade (1095-1099) and the early history of the crusader states (1099-1119). Volume 1, The First Crusade, is a long and richly detailed account of events well known from the reports of participants, such as Fulcher of Chartres, Raymond of Aguilers and the anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum, but told from a strikingly different perspective. Albert did not go on crusade himself, but gathered reports and anecdotes from those who did, and wove them into narrative that foregrounds the activities of Peter the Hermit, Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin of Boulogne, and their followers. His History therefore offers a counter-balance, and sometimes a corrective, to the established view. Susan B. Edgington’s English translation has been widely praised, following its first publication in the Oxford Medieval Texts series, and is here presented with a new introduction and updated notes and bibliography.
The First Crusade received its name and shape late. To its contemporaries, the event was a journey and the men who took part in it pilgrims. Only later were those participants dubbed Crusaders—"those signed with the Cross." In fact, many developments with regard to the First Crusade, like the bestowing of the cross and the elaboration of Crusaders' privileges, did not occur until the late twelfth century, almost one hundred years after the event itself. In a greatly expanded second edition, Edward Peters brings together the primary texts that document eleventh-century reform ecclesiology, the appearance of new social groups and their attitudes, the institutional and literary evidence dealing with Holy War and pilgrimage, and, most important, the firsthand experiences by men who participated in the events of 1095-1099. Peters supplements his previous work by including a considerable number of texts not available at the time of the original publication. The new material, which constitutes nearly one-third of the book, consists chiefly of materials from non-Christian sources, especially translations of documents written in Hebrew and Arabic. In addition, Peters has extensively revised and expanded the Introduction to address the most important issues of recent scholarship.
Albert of Aachen’s History of the Journey to Jerusalem presents the story of the First Crusade (1095-1099) and the first generation of Latin settlers in the Levant (1099-1119). Volume 2, The Early History of the Latin States, provides a surprising level of detail about the reign of King Baldwin I (1100-1118), especially its earlier years and the crusading expeditions of 1101. It offers much more information than the only other substantial Latin account of the same events, by Fulcher of Chartres, and where it can be tested against other narratives, including Arabic and Greek sources, it proves to be worthy of both trust and respect. Susan B. Edgington’s English translation has been widely praised, following its first publication in the Oxford Medieval Texts series, and is here presented with a new introduction and updated notes and bibliography.
'A nuanced and sophisticated analysis... Exhilarating' Sunday Telegraph Nine hundred years ago, one of the most controversial episodes in Christian history was initiated. The Pope stated that, in spite of the apparently pacifist message of the New Testament, God actually wanted European knights to wage a fierce and bloody war against Islam and recapture Jerusalem. Thus was the First Crusade born. Focusing on the characters that drove this extraordinary campaign, this fascinating period of history is recreated through awe-inspiring and often barbaric tales of bold adventure while at the same time providing significant insights into early medieval society, morality and mentality. The First Crusade marked a watershed in relations between Islam and the West, a conflict that set these two world religions on a course towards deep-seated animosity and enduring enmity. The chilling reverberations of this earth-shattering clash still echo in the world today. '[Asbridge] balances persuasive analysis with a flair for conveying with dramatic power the crusaders' plight' Financial Times
This collection of seventeen original essays offers new perspectives on the history and sources of the crusades from the Council of Clermont in 1095 to the late fifteenth century, and of the societies they established in Palestine, Greece, Cyprus and the Baltic. The volume begins with a masterly survey of the concepts and strategies of the crusading movement. The historical case studies deal with the reigns of Baldwin I and Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, the role of castles in Greece and Cyprus, the military orders and crusade vows in England, and female warriors in the Baltic crusades. The essays on sources provide critical assessments and re-assessments of the narratives of the first and fourth crusades, introduce little known Arabic sources on the Muslim population of crusader Palestine, and analyse interpretations of the last days of the crusader kingdom in medieval theology and modern historiography. The volume concludes with a classified bibliography of the first crusade, comprising over 400 texts, monographs and articles published up to 1997.
