Brown University, Fall Term, 2006

Course Information:

Course Hour: I Hour, Tues and Thurs 10:30 - 11:50
Location: Wilson 302 (changed yet again from shopping-period locations).

Nathaniel L. Taylor

E-mail: nltaylor@nltaylor.net
Office hours: Tues, Thurs 9:30 - 10:30 (tentative), Sharpe 102A

Course website: http://www.brown.edu/Courses/HI0110/

Catalogue Copy / Course Scope:

From the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries, Christians from Western Europe were pitted in a series of Holy Wars against their Islamic, Pagan, and even other Christian neighbors. This course offers a multi-faceted overview of military, political, religious and cultural aspects of the Crusades, useful in several contexts.

The Crusades as a series of interwoven phenomena are central to a larger understanding of the course of European history, and the situation of Europe in the larger context of Asian and African developments which influenced the creation of modern Western society. For centuries historians, politicians, writers and artists have both vilified and romanticized the Crusades. By studying the Crusades through primary sources as well as through some later and modern interpretations, students can be introduced to the problematic of moral judgment on past human deeds.

In addition, the Crusades have a specific resonance in the modern global arena of conflict between elements of the Islamic world and the post-colonial international policy of the developed countries. Knowing the origins and development of Crusading movement is the first step toward a richer understanding of the current conflicts that are its legacy.

Books available for purchase (on line = cheaper than bookstore!):

Thomas Madden, New Concise History of the Crusades, revised edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). An up-to-date, informative narrative of the key crusades in the Holy Land.

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, ed. Jonathan Riley-Smith (Oxford, 2001).
An excellent thematic guide to the whole subject of crusade studies, also well illustrated as a coffee-table book.

The Crusades: a Reader, ed. S. J. Allen and Emilie Amt (Broadview Press, 2003). A broad-ranging collection of primary sources in translation, covering many aspects of crusading which will be addressed in this course.

Additional texts:

Each of these base texts will be on reserve at Rockefeller, with an additional list of primary sources in translation (a list of which will be distributed as a handout). These latter texts will be the basis for the second essay. Many other primary sources on the Crusades (including excerpts of the published works on reserve), in complement to Allen and Amt's reader, are available on line at Paul Halsall's Internet Medieval Sourcebook at Fordham University: the link is to the 'Crusades' subpage of this excellent site. Other material is at the ORB, the 'Online Reference Book' for Mediaeval Studies. Additional texts will be provided throughout the term, linked to the syllabus as e-texts or distributed as paper handouts. Please pay attention to the on-line syllabus for changes, especially substititions in the reading.

Course requirements:

Everyone must have an e-mail account and monitor it; e-mail will be used for course-related messages and for submitting written assignments. Attendance is required, with preparation of the relevant reading before the class with which it pertains. There will be two formally graded essays: a brief (1000-word) essay on a set topic (due September 19), and a longer open-topic essay (10 pp.), due December 8 (with mandatory preliminary submission of thesis statement, etc.). There will be a mid-term exam on Thursday, October 26 and a final exam on December 19.

Coursework and grade components (tentative):

Section Participation 20 %
Short Essay 10 %
Midterm exam 20 %
Second Essay 20 %
Final Exam 35 %

Note: while these components reflect relative weights of coursework components, students should be aware that failure to complete all assignments and course components will result in a failing grade for the course. Late work is penalized on a strict scale. A significant pattern of absence from class or discussion sections, after a warning, is also grounds for failure.

Statement on Intellectual Responsibility

Written work submitted in this course must be the student's own, and must accurately cite all sources on which it is based. Work which appears to transgress Brown's standing regulations on plagiarism will be sent to the proper committee for disciplinary review. In the event of a finding of plagiarism, students will receive a failing grade for the course in addition to any sanctions imposed by the committee.

Statement on Special Accommodations:

Students with disabilities who intend to request special accommodations or facilities for classroom or exam situations should make their needs known to me within the first two weeks of class, and should provide formal documentation of Brown's authorization of special accommodation as soon as it is available.