Christopher MacEvitt's Books

The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

Rough Tolerance

By: Christopher MacEvitt

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The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

Rough Tolerance

By: Christopher MacEvitt

In the wake of Jerusalem's fall in 1099, the crusading armies of western Christians known as the Franks found themselves governing not only Muslims and Jews but also local Christians, whose culture and traditions were a world apart from their own. The crusader-occupied swaths of Syria and Palestine were home to many separate Christian communities: Greek and Syrian Orthodox, Armenians, and other sects with sharp doctrinal differences. How did these disparate groups live together under Frankish rule? In The Crusades and the Christian World of the East, Christopher MacEvitt marshals an impressive array of literary, legal, artistic, and archeological evidence to demonstrate how crusader ideology and religious difference gave rise to a mode of coexistence he calls "rough tolerance." The twelfth-century Frankish rulers of the Levant and their Christian subjects were separated by language, religious practices, and beliefs. Yet western Christians showed little interest in such differences. Franks intermarried with local Christians and shared shrines and churches, but they did not hesitate to use military force against Christian communities. Rough tolerance was unlike other medieval modes of dealing with religious difference, and MacEvitt illuminates the factors that led to this striking divergence. "It is commonplace to discuss the diversity of the Middle East in terms of Muslims, Jews, and Christians," MacEvitt writes, "yet even this simplifies its religious complexity." While most crusade history has focused on Christian-Muslim encounters, MacEvitt offers an often surprising account by examining the intersection of the Middle Eastern and Frankish Christian worlds during the century of the First Crusade.

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288

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University of Pennsylvania Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0812202694

ISBN 13

9780812202694

The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

Islam, the Papacy, and an Order in Conflict

By: Christopher MacEvitt

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The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

Islam, the Papacy, and an Order in Conflict

By: Christopher MacEvitt

A study of three hundred years of medieval Franciscan history that focuses on martyrdom While hagiographies tell of Christian martyrs who have died in an astonishing number of ways and places, slain by members of many different groups, martyrdom in a Franciscan context generally meant death at Muslim hands; indeed, in Franciscan discourse, "death by Saracen" came to rival or even surpass other definitions of what made a martyr. The centrality of Islam to Franciscan conceptions of martyrdom becomes even more apparent—and problematic—when we realize that many of the martyr narratives were largely invented. Franciscan authors were free to choose the antagonist they wanted, Christopher MacEvitt observes, and they almost always chose Muslims. However, martyrdom in Franciscan accounts rarely leads to conversion of the infidel, nor is it accompanied, as is so often the case in earlier hagiographical accounts, by any miraculous manifestation. If the importance of preaching to infidels was written into the official Franciscan Rule of Order, the Order did not demonstrate much interest in conversion, and the primary efforts of friars in Muslim lands were devoted to preaching not to the native populations but to the Latin Christians—mercenaries, merchants, and captives—living there. Franciscan attitudes toward conversion and martyrdom changed dramatically in the beginning of the fourteenth century, however, when accounts of the martyrdom of four Franciscans said to have died while preaching in India were written. The speed with which the accounts of their martyrdom spread had less to do with the world beyond Christendom than with ecclesiastical affairs within, MacEvitt contends. The Martyrdom of the Franciscans shows how, for Franciscans, martyrdom accounts could at once offer veiled critique of papal policies toward the Order, a substitute for the rigorous pursuit of poverty, and a symbolic way to overcome Islam by denying Muslims the solace of conversion.

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304

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University of Pennsylvania Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0812251938

ISBN 13

9780812251937

The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

Rough Tolerance

By: Christopher MacEvitt

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The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

Rough Tolerance

By: Christopher MacEvitt

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288

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University of Pennsylvania Press

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ISBN 10

0812202694

ISBN 13

9780812202694

The Debate on the Crusades, 1099–2010

By: Christopher Tyerman

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The Debate on the Crusades, 1099–2010

By: Christopher Tyerman

David Hume, the eighteenth century philosopher, famously declared that ‘the crusades engrossed the attention of Europe and have ever since engaged the curiosity of man kind’. This is the first book length study of how succeeding generations from the First Crusade in 1099 to the present day have understood, refashioned, moulded and manipulated accounts of these medieval wars of religion to suit changing contemporary circumstances and interests. The crusades have attracted some of the leading historical writers, scholars and controversialists from John Foxe (of Book of Martyrs fame), to the philosophers G.W. Leibniz, Voltaire and David Hume, to historians such as William Robertson, Edward Gibbon and Leopold Ranke. Accessibly written, a history of histories and historians, the book will be of interest to students and researchers of crusading history from sixth form to postgraduate level and beyond and to cultural historians of the use of the past and of medievalism.

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Page Count

338

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1847798993

ISBN 13

9781847798992

The World of the Crusades

By: Christopher Tyerman

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The World of the Crusades

By: Christopher Tyerman

A lively reimagining of how the distant medieval world of war functioned, drawing on the objects used and made by crusaders Throughout the Middle Ages crusading was justified by religious ideology, but the resulting military campaigns were fueled by concrete objectives: land, resources, power, reputation. Crusaders amassed possessions of all sorts, from castles to reliquaries. Campaigns required material funds and equipment, while conquests produced bureaucracies, taxation, economic exploitation, and commercial regulation. Wealth sustained the Crusades while material objects, from weaponry and military technology to carpentry and shipping, conditioned them. This lavishly illustrated volume considers the material trappings of crusading wars and the objects that memorialized them, in architecture, sculpture, jewelry, painting, and manuscripts. Christopher Tyerman’s incorporation of the physical and visual remains of crusading enriches our understanding of how the crusaders themselves articulated their mission, how they viewed their place in the world, and how they related to the cultures they derived from and preyed upon. A note to readers: the grey-shaded pages throughout this volume look at the Crusades in detail, exploring individual themes such as food and drink, medicine, weapons and women’s role in the Crusades. These short essays are interspersed throughout the chapters and the main text will continue after each one. For instance, ‘Taking the Cross’ runs from pages 4 to 7, and the Introduction continues on p. 8.

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545

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300217390

ISBN 13

9780300217391

The Battle Rhetoric of Crusade and Holy War, c. 1099–c. 1222

By: Connor Christopher Wilson

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The Battle Rhetoric of Crusade and Holy War, c. 1099–c. 1222

By: Connor Christopher Wilson

This book examines Latin narratives produced in the aftermath of the First Crusade and challenges the narrative of supposed brutality and amorality of warfare in this period--instead focusing on the moral and didactic concerns surrounding warfare and violence with which medieval authors wrestled. The battle oration, a rousing harangue exhorting warriors to deeds of valour, has been regarded as a significant aspect of warfare since the age of Xenophon, and has continued to influence conceptions of campaigning and combat to the present day. While its cultural and chronological pervasiveness attests to the power of this trope, scholarly engagement with the literary phenomenon of the pre-battle speech has been limited. Moreover, previous work on medieval battle rhetoric has only served to reinforce the supposed brutality and amorality of warfare in this period, highlighting appeals to martial prowess, a hatred for ‘the enemy’ and promises of wealth and glory. This book, through an examination of Latin narratives produced in the aftermath of the First Crusade and the decades that followed, challenges this understanding and illuminates the moral and didactic concerns surrounding warfare and violence with which medieval authors wrestled. Furthermore, while battle orations form a clear mechanism by which the fledgling crusading movement could be explored ideologically, this comparative study reveals how non-crusading warfare in this period was also being reconceptualised in light of changing ideas about just war, authority and righteousness in Christian society. This volume is perfect for researchers, students and scholars alike interested in medieval history and military studies.

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205

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000800148

ISBN 13

9781000800142

The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

Islam, the Papacy, and an Order in Conflict

By: Christopher MacEvitt

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The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

Islam, the Papacy, and an Order in Conflict

By: Christopher MacEvitt

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

304

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0812251938

ISBN 13

9780812251937

Book's by Christopher MacEvitt

The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

The Crusades and the Christian World of the East

The Debate on the Crusades, 1099–2010

The Debate on the Crusades, 1099–2010

The World of the Crusades

The World of the Crusades

The Battle Rhetoric of Crusade and Holy War, c. 1099–c. 1222

The Battle Rhetoric of Crusade and Holy War, c. 1099–c. 1222

The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

The Martyrdom of the Franciscans

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