"The Crusades in Context"
November 15, 2024
9a - 2:30p
Anthony Di Battista, Lecturer, Department of History, Rutgers University
The Crusades are considered by many historians to be the great culminating act of the medieval drama. The quest to recapture Jerusalem became for many European Christians an act of both penance and pilgrimage. As the crusades progressed (and continued to fail) many other elements of medieval culture came into relief against a backdrop of war. This seminar will examine the background causes of the crusades and discuss what they reveal about the European class system, the balance of power, and the economic implications of establishing crusader states in the Levant.
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