HISTORY 447

"CRUSADERS AND CHRONICLERS"
Fall 2004

GS 156 -- W 7.30 - 9.25 pm

PAUL R. HYAMS

Phone: 5-2076/257-3168
Net-ID: prh3@cornell.edu
Office Hours MG 307: Wednesdays 1:30 – 2:30 pm, and by arrangement

The full version of this course prospectus is available in my Web pages at URL: htpp://falcon.arts.cornell.edu/prh3/447/index.html.
That text will be periodically updated and so takes priority over the hard copy.
You should also check out the page for HISTORY 259 at htpp://falcon.arts.cornell.edu/prh3/259/index.html
for translated sources, links and other useful material 

This course is as much about reading medieval narrative sources, chronicles etc., as it is about the Crusades. By the semester end, you will have read and studied some of the most influential historical works of the 12th and 13th centuries. You will also have sampled a lot more western contemporary views and comments on the western crusades to the eastern mediterranea as well as some of the more easily accessible Muslim counter-views.

We shall submit these works and views to critical examination in class in order to position ourselves to assess the information they contain for itself and, doubtless also, for what it tells us about the formation of western culture and, especially its nomination of moslems etc. to act as the "Other". You may also read Madden's Concise History and samples of contemporary documents (in translation) to equip you for a narrative understanding of the expeditions and the Latin settlements in Syria over the period from, say, 1095-1291. This is not, however, the main goal.

The real aim is to study ways in which westerners represented their success and failures in crusades to the east and some of the consequences for western culture. So we study problems. My selection criteria have been diverse: to introduce different kinds of source and different techniques of study, including a simple example of the computer text-base searches and analysis which will be a part of all our lives for the forseeable future. I have also been guided by the availability of materials in pleasantly accessible English! We start from contemporary chronicles etc. rather than (as courses usually do) from modern secondary accounts. This is a tough option. You cannot expect quick results; nor will I expect them of you at grading time. Your challenge is to build up your own understanding at your own pace in the course of the semester. You must work towards this by posing questions at the sources. Sample starter questions for each source and each section are included below. Start by identifying relevant passages from your sources and then, in class, firing your questions about them at the instructor. He will be able to answer a few on the spot; suggest ways of looking at others; then refer you to other primary sources and secondary materials for the rest. Thus your secondary reading will be driven by the sources. Which is how it should be in theory! Once you have started into your chronicles, I can help with bibliography when you need it. Some Preliminary Advice on Source Criticism is available for you to try.
[For exemplary use of multiple sources to investigate a highly complex set of contentions, try a chapter or so of The 9/11 Commission Report (Norton: New York & London, 2004).]

I have always tried to keep this course flexible, so that we could improvise if we wished. The last time I taught it, adaptation was forced on us by the intervention of 9-11. This explains my inclusion of some Arabic sources this time. What we lose by complicating the purely Western approach with which I started, we shall I hope compensate for in cross-cultural insights plus, of course, the chance to discuss the modern relevance of crusades as concept and image. Do not expect to be expert in all the readings by Week 14! I give sample topics and potential questions below, but do not tie them to specific weeks. You should also regard the due dates for assignments (the calendar at the very end of the prospectus) as a rough guide only.

REQUIRED READINGS (available from Campus Store etc.):

Madden, Concise History of the Crusades
William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Seas, tr. Babcock & Krey (1943) [Course Packet]
Joinville and Villehardouin, Chronicles of the Crusades, ed. M.R.B. Shaw
Hitti, An Arab-Syrian Gentleman... [Usamah inbn-Munqidh's  Memoirs]
H. Gibb, Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades
D. Richards, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin [Behaeddin]

For the Text-Base on the First Crusade (HIDES Clermont package), see below under COURSE REQUIREMENTS, 1.

OPTIONAL READINGS:

H.E. Mayer, The Crusades, tr. J. Gillingham (2nd ed.)

URIS RESERVE:

D 151. G11 1969 --- F. GABRIELI ARAB HISTORIANS OF THE CRUSADES
D151. S53 1963 --- JOINVILLE & VILLEHARDOUIN, CHRONICLES OF THE CRUSADES
D152. G95 1943 --- WILLIAM OF TYRE, HISTORY OF DEEDS DONE BEYOND SEAS (2 vols.)
D157. E66 1977 --- ERDMANN, ORIGIN OF THE IDEA OF CRUSADE (1977)
D157. R57 --- RILEY-SMITH, SHORT HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES
D157.M46 1988 --- MAYER, THE CRUSADES, TR. J. GILLINGHAM (2ND ED. )
D161. 1. F76 1969 --- RYAN (ED) FULCHER OF CHARTRES, HIST. OF EXPEDITION TO JERUSALEM
D161.1.G83 G47x 1997 --- GUIBERT OF NOGENT, THE DEEDS OF GOD THROUGH THE FRANKS
D161. 1. G39 1962 --- HILL (ED) GESTA FRANCORUM
D161. 2. R57 --- RILEY-SMITH 1ST CRUSADE & THE IDEA OF CRUSADING
D162. 1. O25 --- BERRY (ED) ODO OF DEUIL, THE JOURNEY OF LOUIS VII TO THE EAST
D164. A3. R63 --- MCNEAL (ED) ROBERT OF CLARI, THE CONQUEST OF CONSTANTINOPLE
D187. P48 --- PETERS (ED.) CHRISTIAN SOCIETY & THE CRUSADES
DD3. M81 V. 19 --- BECKER, PAPST URBAN II (1088-1099), VOL II
DF 605 .C6 1969z --- SEWTER ANNA COMNENA, THE ALEXIAD
DS38.6 .H55x 2000 --- HILLENBRAND,  THE CRUSADES: ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE
DS 102. P15, V. 5, NO. 4 --- THEODERICH, GUIDE TO THE HOLY LAND
DS102. F15, V. 13 --- BEHA-ED-DIN THE LIFE OF SALADIN, ED. C. CONDER
DS135. G31 J59 --- EIDELBURG (TR.) THE JEWS & THE CRUSADERS
DS97. U84 A33 1964 --- HITTI (TR.) MEMOIRS OF AN ARAB-SYRIAN GENTLEMAN
Q11. P53 V. 101 --- HILL (TR.) PETER TUDEBOD
Q11. P53 V. 71 --- HILL (TR.) RAYMOND D'AGUILERS, HISTORIA FRANCORUM

I may add a Folder of articles and other goodies during the term. This will include Douglas Thorburn, The Children's Crusade (Studies in Empathy 2, 1985)

Available in Olin 404:

+ BR60 .C812 v.63-63A --- HUYGENS (ED.), WILLIAM OF TYRE, HISTORIA
+ BR 60 .C812 v.139 --- HUYGENS & PRIOR, PEREGRINATIONES TRES (incl Theodorich)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. To obtain an adequate control of the HIDES Clermont package and its software (HIDES and Wordcruncher), including researching the questions asked on CRUSADE.HQS and presenting your answers in an on-disk Notebook. For this purpose, you will need your own formatted PC (MS-DOS) disk.The texts and software, along with copies of the fairly helpful manuals, have been installed at the Electronic Texts Center in Olin Library. Click on the icon "Start HIDES". For warning about a (minor) bug in the text base, Click Here

2. A brief (5+ pp.) critical source report on a First Crusade chronicle of your choice. (In addition to the text base, several full texts in translation are on Reserve.)

3. A 2nd brief paper (5+ pp.) on William of Tyre: How well does he do the task he set for himself in the preface?

4. A Final Paper on a topic of your choice, selected to show off some of the source study accomplished over the semester. or a paper to answer the question: What have you learned over the semester to advance your views on any current 2004 issue? Examples might be concepts of the "Other", the case for and against religious fundamentalism, the legitimacy of force in international affairs, the virtues of the western media. Topics to be negotiated with me by Week 12 at the latest. This will make up at least 75% of final grade.

5. Active participation in class discussion, including prepared oral presentations to pose questions and direct attention to problem passages in the texts. Be sure to bring texts to class wherever possible.

I THE FIRST CRUSADE (Wks 1-4)

What did people think they were doing 1095-9, and how did they justify & defend it? or (since these are too hard to start with);

In what terms did people describe and understand the events of 1095-9? By what stages did they reach some kind of agreement? What existing notions or institutions (eg pilgrimage, penance, just or holy war etc.) did they draw on for models etc.

Each student to read the Preface and one of Bks. 1-12.

How faithful is WT to his sources in your "book"?

II CRUSADES AND THE FIRST KINGDOM (Wks. 5-8)

Whose idea was it to have a new "crusade"? Why now and not at some different time? How can one decide between Louis VII of France and Pope Eugenius as the initiator? Did the crusade fail because of bad decisions? If so, which and when were they made? Was it a good idea to travel overland? Assess the alternatives. How did the experience of the 2nd Crusade affect (a) people's understanding of the 1st Crusade, and (b) their notion of "crusade"? Do your sources suggest that the creation of a kingdom in Jerusalem was a predictable or natural outcome of the expeditions? Assess Jerusalem as the capital of a Latin Kingdom? as the goal for crusaders and pilgrims? as a place to live? as a symbol for westerners?

What were WT's goals in writing? How far does he reveal them in his preface? elsewhere in the book? Try the "lost" chapter about his education, WT, xix. 12. Who do you think he was writing for? (Latins in the east? westerners? posterity?) Is a History different from a chronicle? Does WT depict a society ripe for the kind of conquest that happened in 1187? WT is clearly an informed, intelligent and accomplished writer. How does this affect his trustworthiness and value as a source? J. Prawer, "The Jerusalem the Crusaders Captured", C&S (1985) A. Lindner, "Topography & Iconography in 12th c. Jerusalem", Hattin, 81-98 B. Hamilton, "Rebuilding Zion: the Holy Places of Jerusalem in the 12th c.", SCH xiv. (1977)

How far do these Western works simply reproduce views of Islam current in their day over Western Europe? These were advancing swiftly and in intersting ways in the generations following 1099. Did your texts assist in this process? Works that might aid these judgments (and therefore be very useful for papers) include:

Norman Daniel, The Arabs and Western Europe (1975)  CB353 .D18 1979  
Norman Daniel, Heroes and Saracens : an interpretation of the chansons de geste (1984) PQ205 .D18
Dorothee Metlitzki, The matter of Araby in medieval England (1977) PR128 .M59
R.W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages (1962) BP172 .S67 1962 (Uris)
John Tolan (ed), Medieval Christian perceptions of Islam : a book of essays (1996) BP172 .M396x 1996 (Uris)
John Tolan, Saracens : Islam in the medieval European imagination (2002)  BP172 .T62 2002

III  HOW THE MUSLIMS REPRESENTED THEIR ADVERSARIES

       As-Sulami, Damascus Chronicle, Behaeddin, and Usamah
     
Read as-Sulami (written 1105 in Damascus) initially to see whether it could be a direct reaction to the events of the First Crusade. Almost all of the literature assumes that Christian and Moslem differed greatly in their religious cultures and almost every piece of mental equipment with which they approached their confrontation from the time of the First Crusade on. How can one make a fair comparison? Do our efforts to do so reveal any levels on which believers on the two sides thought similarly? How far dare one generalize from a single text?

How far and in what ways did Arabic writers see the "Crusaders" as a distinctive group? The quite swift reinvigoration of the notion of the external Jihad is one indication that they did. Look at the group names used. How distinctive did they look to Ibn al-Qalanisi?

Islamic historians regard the career of Saladin as a watershed in historical writing almost as significant as the First Crusade was in Latin historiography. Apart from Richards, you can scan other writers from Gabrieli, Arab Historians of the Crusades D151 .G11 1969 [On Reserve for another class], through encyclopedia articles, or in syntheses by P.M. Holt. Note that much of Behaeddin's long text is actually secondary in character.

Usamah is patently fun to read. Is he enything more? Given his date of writing, how much should we trust his take on twelfth-century relations between Frank and Muslim?

The best book for background is The Crusades : Islamic perspectives by Carole Hillenbrand DS38.6 .H55x 2000 [? Uris Reserve]

IV THIRTEENTH-CENTURY CRUSADES Wks. 9-13

Which do you take as the crucial "Deviation"? Zara or Constantinople? Was it the result of a conspiracy? If so, by whom? The Pope (favorite candidate of Greeks & Byzantinists)? Venice? The Hohenstauffen? When were your 2 texts written? What can their authors be known to have known? Can you catch either out in lies? Can you imagine yourself participating in an event like this? How convincing do you find the evidence for the large-scale participation of children? Were non-combatant crusaders rare? How do your conclusions here affect your overall view of the nature of the crusading movement? How come a crusade made Egypt its goal? Did it make any strategic or religious sense? What went wrong? Could you have led either crusade to victory? Do the failures point to a weakness in the concept of crusade or in western ideas on warfare or on the "Other"? Someone who wished to write a paper on Joinville could compare his account with those of Oliver of Paderborn and others on the Fifth Crusade; did they learn anything?

V CODA

E&OE prh/8-04

Class Meetings

1. W Sept 1
2. W Sept 8 ---    (This and the next two class meetings will be in OLIN LIBRARY 106, next door to the E.T.C.)
3. TBA                         [No class Sept 15 because of Rosh Hashanah]
4. W Sept 22
5. W Sept 29                                                                MINI-PAPER I due today

FALL BREAK Oct 6-10

6. W Oct 6          As-Sulami      Eugenius II's Bull
7. W Oct 13
8. W Oct 20
9. W Oct 27
10. W Nov 3
11. W Nov 10                                                                 MINI-PAPER II
12. W Nov 17
13. TBA                                                           THANKSGIVING BREAK Nov 24 - 29
14. W Dec 5

FINAL PAPER DUE W Dec 12

STUDY PERIOD Dec 5-8
EXAM PERIOD Dec 9-17