The First Crusade
A Brief History with DocumentsFirst Edition ©2015
This volume reveals the ways in which the First Crusade changed the direction of warfare, religion, and perhaps history itself. By highlighting the theme of prophecy, the volume deepens students understanding of the crusading ethos. The introduction situates the First Crusade in context, from Con...
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This volume reveals the ways in which the First Crusade changed the direction of warfare, religion, and perhaps history itself. By highlighting the theme of prophecy, the volume deepens students understanding of the crusading ethos. The introduction situates the First Crusade in context, from Constantine to the events twelfth-century chroniclers. The documents provide and often juxtapose a variety of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish viewpoints, offering insight into the religious, political, and personal motivations of those involved and illuminating the Crusades extensive impact and legacy.
Rubenstein is a gripping writer, his style lucid and easy to grasp. As a longtime scholar of the crusades, I found myself struck by the "fresh" tone of the introduction—imagining myself as a student who knew little about the subject. His introduction covers all of the important bases and along with his choice of sources also pays considerable attention to the Islamic and Jewish engagement with holy war and the contested nature of the Holy Land. The collection includes some of the usual suspects but also offers less familiar sources for the reader’s analysis. The theme of prophecy lends a distinctive coherence to the selection of documents.
Brett Whalen, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe author has done a commendable job of condensing a large body of material into a readable and accessible introduction. The scholarship on the crusades is up to date and well presented and approaching it from the perspective of prophecy and religious war provides an interesting angle. Sources that one doesn’t normally find in a reader on the First Crusade provide interesting information and points of discussion.
Amy Livingstone, Wittenberg UniversityThe prophecy theme is an excellent one to follow: it opens up, via a very distant subject to most American students a way to treat a very strange past empathetically. The documents are a good mix of important historical issues, richly laced with enough "action bits" to keep students reading
Steven Isaac, Longwood University
Table of Contents
PART ONEIntroduction: Christianity, Islam, and the Beginning of the Crusades Holy War Jerusalem The Call to Crusade The Crusade and ConstantinopleAntioch: Where the Crusade Became a Holy WarJerusalem: The Battle for Heaven Aftermath PART TWOThe Documents Holy War 1. Deuteronomy 20, An Old Testament Theory of Holy War 2. 1 Samuel 15, Holy War in Action 3. Surah 8, Holy War in the Qur’an Jerusalem 4. Ibn Ishaq, Jerusalem in Islamic Tradition: The Night Journey of Muhammad, Eighth Century 5. A View of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 6. Nas.er-e Khosraw, A Muslim Pilgrim’s Description of Jerusalem, ca. 1046–1052 7. A Latin Christian Travel Guide to Jerusalem, ca. 1100 8. A Map of Jerusalem from the Time of the Crusades, Twelfth Century 9. Pseudo-Methodius, The Revelation of Pseudo-Methodius: Christian Prophecy about Jerusalem and the Apocalypse, ca. 700 10. Rodulfus Glaber, A French Monk’s Account of the Destruction of the Holy Sepulcher, 1009 11. al-Maqrizi, A Muslim Historian’s Account of the Destruction of the Holy Sepulcher, Fourteenth Century 12. The Departure of the Great German Pilgrimage of1064, ca. 1125 13. Lambert of Hersfeld, The Crisis of the German Pilgrimage, March 27, 1065, Twelfth Century 14. A Replica in Bologna of the Holy Sepulcher, Late Eleventh Century The Call to Crusade 15. Bishop Lambert of Arras, Urban II’s Crusading Indulgence, 1095 16. Robert the Monk, Urban II’s Sermon at Clermont: The Version of Robert the Monk, ca. 1107 17. Guibert of Nogent, Urban II’s Sermon at Clermont: An Excerpt from Guibert of Nogent’s Version, ca. 1107 18. Albert of Aachen, Peter the Hermit as Inventor of the Crusade, ca. 1107 19. The Rosenfeld Annals, The Message of Peter the Hermit, Twelfth Century 20. Bohemond, a Norman Leader, Takes the Cross, ca. 1100 21. Ralph of Caen, Tancred Takes the Cross, ca. 1118 22. Ekkehard of Aura, Ekkehard of Aura on the Public Reaction to the Call to Crusade, ca. 1116 23. Solomon ben Simson, The Massacre of the Jews of Mainz, Recounted in the Hebrew Chronicle,Mid-Twelfth Century The Crusade and Constantinople24. Anna Comnena, Anna Comnena Describes Peter the Hermit’s Crusade, ca. 1148 25. The Crusaders at Constantinople: A Latin Perspective, ca. 1100 26. An Eleventh-Century Mosaic Depicting a Byzantine, Imperial Christ, Eleventh Century 27. Anna Comnena, Anna Comnena Describes the Crusaders at Constantinople, ca. 1148 28. Count Stephen of Blois, From Constantinople to Nicaea: A Letter from Count Stephen of Blois,June 24, 1097 29. Fulcher of Chartres, Fulcher of Chartres on the Battle of Dorylaeum, ca. 1106 30. Raymond of Aguilers, Raymond of Aguilers on the Battle of Dorylaeum, ca. 1100 31. Bishop Adhémar of Le Puy and Patriarch Simeon of Jerusalem, The Road to Antioch, October 1097 Antioch: Where the Crusade Became a Holy War 32. Count Stephen of Blois, The Siege of Antioch: A Letter from Count Stephen of Blois, March 1098 33. The Fall of Antioch, ca. 1100 34. Ibn al-Athir, An Arab Historian’s Account of the Fall of Antioch, Early Thirteenth Century 35. The New Enemy: Kerbogah, ca. 1100 36. Fulcher of Chartres, Two Visions Preceding the Battle with Kerbogah, ca. 1106 37. Raymond of Aguilers, The Discovery of the Holy Lance of Antioch, ca. 1100 38. A Final Parley with Kerbogah, ca. 1100 39. Raymond of Aguilers, The Battle with Kerbogah, ca. 1100 40. Ibn al-Athir, An Arab Historian’s Explanation for Kerbogah’s Loss, Early Thirteenth Century 41. Raymond of Aguilers, The Holy Lance on Trial, ca. 1100 Jerusalem: The Battle for Heaven 42. Ralph of Caen, The Armies Arrive at Jerusalem, ca. 1118 43. An Imagined Battle outside the Holy City, 1250 44. Raymond of Aguilers, The Main Army Arrives at Jerusalem, ca. 1100 45. Albert of Aachen, The Procession before the Final Battle, ca. 1107 46. Baudry of Bourgueil, An Imagined Sermon Delivered to Crusaders at Jerusalem, 1107 47. Raymond of Aguilers, The Battle for Jerusalem, ca. 1100 48. Ralph of Caen, Tancred Confronts Antichrist, 1118 49. Ibn al-Athir, An Arab Historian on the Fall of Jerusalem, Early Thirteenth Century 50. Albert of Aachen, The Treatment of Prisoners, ca. 1107 51. Christ Leads Crusading Knights into Armageddon, Early Fourteenth Century Aftermath 52. Archbishop Manasses of Reims, Latin Christian Reaction to the Crusade, 1099 53. Ali ibn Tahir al-Sulami, Muslim Reaction to the Crusade, 1105 APPENDIXESA Chronology of the First Crusade from Its Roots to Its Chroniclers (325–1108) Questions for Consideration Selected Bibliography IndexAuthors
Jay Carter Rubenstein
Jay Rubenstein (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley) is professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He specializes in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual worlds of Europe in the Middle Ages, with areas of focus in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in England, France, and the Crusader settlements. The author of Armies of Heaven: The First Crusade and the Quest for Apocalypse and Guibert of Nogent: Portrait of a Medieval Mind, he has also written, edited, or translated numerous books and articles in the areas of intellectual, cultural, religious, and military history. His recent work examines the extensive impact of the First Crusade on the European world.
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