Content

In this unit students will explore the crusading movement and the world of the crusaders from the first crusade in 1095 to the fall of Acre in 1291. Students will consider the various types of crusade – those against ‘infidels’, and those against ‘heretics’ – as well as the justifications that were provided for legitimizing ‘holy wars’. Attention will also be given to the emergence of the military orders, such as the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights. In the final week(s) of the unit, students will consider the modern re-emergence of crusading rhetoric in the West's wars against Islam.

Unit code: CH3600T

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 18.0

Unit level: Undergraduate Level 3

Unit discipline: Church History

Proposing College: Trinity College Theological School

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Learning outcomes

1.

Describe the cultural, social, political and religious contexts in which the crusades occurred

2.

Articulate the effect of the crusades on the Church-State relationship during the early medieval period.

3.

Outline ways in which the crusades shaped the later medieval Church

4.

Assess the theological presuppositions by which the crusades were justified.

5.

Critically engage with selected primary sources, and the key historiographical debates, concerning the crusades.

Unit sequence

Prerequisites: at least one foundational unit of CH

Pedagogy

This unit presumes a small degree of familiarity with Church history and with methods of historical interpretation. It builds on this foundational knowledge by providing exposure to textual and visual artifacts from the time, and to competing historiographical evaluations.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Asbridge, Thomas, The Crusades: the War for the Holy Land, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010).
  • Baldwin, Marshall W., and Kenneth Setton (eds), A History of the Crusades, Volume 1: The First Hundred Years, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1958, repr.2016).
  • Bull, Marcus, and Damien Kempf (eds), Writing the Crusades: Text, Transmission and Memory, (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2014).
  • Cassidy-Welch, Megan, The Crusades and Violence, (Amsterdam University Press, 2023).
  • Hillenbrand, Carole, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999).
  • Kienzle, Beverley Mayne, ‘Preaching the Cross: Liturgy and Crusade Propaganda’, in Medieval Sermon Studies, 53 (2009), 11-32.
  • Mayer, Hans Eberhard, The Crusades, (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).
  • Qurashi, Emren, and Michael Sells (eds), The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003).
  • Riley-Smith, Jonathan, The Oxford History of the Crusades, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
  • Wolff, Robert, Harry W. Hazard and Kenneth Setton (eds), A History of the Crusades, Volume 2: The Later Crusades, 1189-1311, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962, repr.2016).

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Document Study

1000-word primary source analysis

1000 30.0
Essay - Research Essay 3500 45.0
Oral Presentation

An oral presentation on the topic chosen for the final essay

500 25.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 28 Jul, 2025

Unit record last updated: 2025-07-28 09:24:46 +1000