JUST WAR?
CRUSADES AND HOLY WARS

Themes

• intertwining of religion and politics
  • authority and succession
  • religious warfare
  • cross-cultural contact:
    • Christian, Muslim, Jew
    • Europe, Byzantium, Palestine

Authority and Succession

• worldview
  • united by a common faith
  • belief in universal truths
• Christian Societies
  • 2 centers of authority
  • empire versus regional kingdoms
  • investiture contest
• Islamic Society
  • one center of authority
  • problem of succession
  • cultural diversity

Religious Warfare: Oxymoron?

• worldview
  • the spiritual realm interpenetrates this one
  • truth is knowable, and there is only one truth
• cultural synthesis
  • Arab and Germanic warrior values
  • Arab-Persian-Turk
  • Germanic-Roman-Christian
  • spiritual rewards
• Codes of chivalry
  • Christian knighthood: Knights Templars; Rule
  • Muslim toleration: Pact of Umar, Battle of Yarmuk

Crosscultural Contact: what happens when they meet?

Iberian Peninsula

• Creation of Al-Andalus
  • Ibn Abd-el-Hakem, The Islamic Conquest of Spain, 711
  • Al Maggari, Tarik's Address to his Soldiers, 711
  • Battle of Poitiers (Tours), 732: Three accounts
  • Song of Roland
• Reconquista: the legend of El Cid, aka Rodrigo Diaz, d. 1099

Holy Land

• Islamic Holy Wars
  • geopolitical expansion
  • Islam, jihad
  • believers and unbelievers
  • dhimma: Pact of Umar
• European Crusades
  • Peace and Truce of God
  • Pope Urban II, call to 1st Crusade, 1095
  • European Jews Solomon bar-Samson
  • 1147: capture of Lisbon; fiasco at Damascus
• Byzantines
  • 10th century German ambassador: Liutprand of Cremona 963
  • 10th century Arab ambassador
  • First Crusade: Anna Comnena
  • Fourth Crusade: Geoffrey de Villehardouin
• Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, 1187
• Christian-Muslim debate

Conclusions

What is the connection between religion and militarism?

Is there such a thing as a just war?

religion, politics and warfare:

• conflict and assimilation
• authority and leadership

Links

• Military Orders (European)
• Medieval Cultures: The Crusades (summer 99 class syllabus and readings)