HIH1505 - The First Crusade
2021/2 Module description
| Staff | Dr Gregory Lippiatt - |
|---|---|
| Credit Value | 15 |
| ECTS Value | 7.5 |
| NQF Level | 4 |
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Co-requisites | None |
| Duration of Module | Term 2: 11 weeks; |
Module description
This module is based on the sources and texts relating to the First Crusade (1096-99), prompted by the preaching of Pope Urban II at Clermont-Ferrand. Western pilgrims travelled across Europe, equipped with a fiery faith and the weapons of war, to the Levant in order to wrest Christianity’s holy sites from Muslim occupation. You will examine how modern and medieval historians viewed the nature, purpose and motivation of the crusade and how evidence is used to construct arguments regarding the conflict of interests and ideologies. You will also consider the impact of the conflict on Christian, Muslim and Jewish writers.
Module aims
The primary aim of the module is to try to understand why lay people from western Europe responded in such unprecedented numbers to the Pope’s call to arms. More broadly the module will help you to develop your critical faculties as historians, to be sceptical of the documentary evidence on which historical arguments are based and to appraise thoroughly the existing scholarship. A particular challenge within this course is, by using contemporary sources, to understand how and why events took place and also to understand the ideologies, motivations and perceptions of the protagonists. Our quest will take us well beyond the historical narrative.
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. Understand and assess the main developments in the ways in which the First Crusade was perceived by contemporary writers and how these views have been mediated by secondary historians
- 2. Work critically with a range of written and visual sources relating to the topic
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 3. Identify the problems of using historical sources, e.g. utility, limitations, etc., and compare the validity of different types of sources
- 4. Present work orally, respond to questions orally, and think quickly of questions to ask other students
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 5. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
- 6. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
- 7. Work with others in a team and to interact effectively with the tutor and the wider group
- 8. Write to a very tight word-length
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- the call to arms and the subsequent response to the Pope’s preaching
- the People’s Crusade
- the persecution of the Jews by Crusaders in the Rhine Valley and its impact on Jewish communities
- Byzantine perceptions of the Crusade
- Muslim reactions to the First Crusade
- dissent amongst crusaders
- the nature and character of the society that emerged and the legacy of the First Crusade on pilgrimage and subsequent crusading movements
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 2 | 2 hour lecture: Introduction to module |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 20 | 10 x 2 hour seminars. At a meeting of the whole class generally a different group of 3-4 students will give a presentation to the whole class, followed by class discussion and working through the sources for that week carefully. Additional sources may be issued in the class and the lecturer will also use the time to set up issues for the following week. |
| Guided independent study | 128 | Students prepare for the session through reading and research; writing a weekly source essay and preparing one group presentation in the course of the term. |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation (3-4 students) | 10 minutes | 1-7 | Oral |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source commentary 1 | 33 | 850 words | 1-3, 5-6, 8 | Mark and written comments |
| Source commentary 2 | 33 | 850 words | 1-3, 5-6, 8 | Mark and written comments |
| Source commentary 3 | 34 | 850 words | 1-3, 5-6, 8 | Mark and written comments |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source commentary | Source commentary | 1-3, 5-6, 8 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Basic reading:
- Angold, Michael, The Byzantine Empire, 1025-1204: A Political History (Harlow, 1997)
- Bull, Marcus, Knightly Piety and the Lay Response to the First Crusade: The Limousin and Gascony, c.970-c.1130 (Oxford, 1993)
- Constable, G., ‘The Historiography of the Crusades’, in A.E. Laiou and R.P. Mottahedeh (eds.), The Crusades from the Perspective of the Byzantium and Muslim World (Washington DC, 2001), pp. 1-22
- Hillenbrand, C., The Crusades: The Islamic Perspective (Edinburgh, 1997)
- Housley, Norman, Contesting the Crusades (Oxford, 2007)
- Madden, Thomas F. (ed.), The Crusades: The Essential Readings (Oxford, 2002)
- Mayer, Hans Eberhard, trans. J. Gillingham, The Crusades (Oxford, 1965)
- Phillips, Jonathan (ed.), The First Crusade: Origins and Impact (Manchester, 1997)
- Richard, Jean, The Crusades, c. 1071-1291 (Cambridge, 1999)
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan (ed.), The Oxford History of the Crusades (Oxford, 1005)
- Riley-Smith, Jonathan, What Were the Crusades? (Basingstoke, 2002)
- Throop, Susanna A., Crusading as an Act of Vengeance 1095-2016 (Farnham and Burlington VT, 2011
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
Available as distance learning?
No
Origin date
2013
Last revision date
27/08/2021
Key words search
Crusade, salvation, vengeance, Byzantium, Islam, idealism, Urban II
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