The French revolution saw the destruction of thousands of medieval tomb effigies, idealized portraits in death of those important or wealthy enough to commission elaborate funeral monuments. Among the most remarkable survivals is a gothic thirteenth-century stone effigy of a knight now at the Cloisters Museum in New York.  The tomb is usually identified as that of Jean d'Alluye, the lord of St. Christophe in the Loire valley, who was known to have participated in the Barons' Crusade of 1239-1241. As Daphna Bendull explains, among the most remarkable features of this tomb effigy is the knight's sword, which does not appear to be of a European design. Could this be evidence of the types of objects that returned with crusaders from the Near East?

The Tomb Effigy of Jean D'Alluye by Daphna Bendull

On April 15, 2019 as fire ripped through the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris medieval historians around the world wondered what might become of the cathedral's many treasures. Among them, as Benjamin Hausman explains in this weeks' podcast, was the Crown of Thorns, a relic that had not only witnessed, but could even be said to have participated in the collapse of one medieval empire and the rise of France as a powerful centralized state. Benjamin takes us on a tour through the relic's history, from the fourth century (when it first appears in the writings of Paulinus of Nola) to the thirteenth, when it became the object of a major diplomatic and fundraising effort by the beleaguered Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II. It was a deal that would see the crown installed with pomp in Paris at the Sainte Chapelle of King Louis IX of France, while Baldwin's empire grew weaker and weaker.

Crown of Thorns and the Fate of The Latin Empire of Constantinople

Had it not been for the works of the severe Lutheran reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, we might never know that Gerard of Nazareth ever walked the byways of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. As Frances Seabrook explains, thanks to the Lutheran project of excerpting earlier works led to the survival of Gerard's work On the Conversion of the Servants of God. On the Conversion provides accounts of the Latin Christian hermits and monks who had come to the crusader states and were living in remote places. These men, who lived lives of extreme asceticism, and demonstrate strange behaviors, are otherwise unknown. Why had so many come to the Crusader States? Why were they living such strange lifestyles? Tune in to learn more about a remarkable and very poorly known source for the history of the Latin East.

Gerard of Nazareth and the Peculiar Hermits of the Crusader States

In order to find out more about the history of the Crusader States, historians often turn to what are known as "chronicles" – narrative works intended to set out historical events. Audiences understood these works to be true in a way that they did not expect what we consider literary works (such as, in Europe, epics and romances). As Emily Varker explains in this week's episode, the Tales of a Minstrel of Reims, a narrative composed in France in the thirteenth century, lies somewhere in between. The Tales include stories about the crusading adventures of King Philip Augustus, sisters Joan and Margaret of Flanders, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. While not what we would consider accurate history, these stories were popular, and can tell us a lot about how European audiences understood events in the crusading east.

Tales of A MInstrel of Reims

In 1926, workers at the Dome of the Rock discovered two enfolded parchment strips, the one bearing an Arabic and the other a Latin text. The Latin text (the only one of the two known to survive) is in the form of a letter written from Gerard of Ridefort to Odo of Vendome in 1184. Matt Salyer guides us in a discussion of this fascinating survival. How should we classify this type of document? What relationship does it bear to other types of medieval documents? What can it tell us about the situation in Jerusalem in 1184 and about the administration of the Order of the Temple? Tune in to hear Matt's thoughts on all of these questions and more!

"A Frankish Letter": Gerard of Ridefort's letter to Odo of Vendome

In 1187, Saladin, the Muslim Sultan of Egypt and Syria, captured the Holy City of Jerusalem from the
Franks. News of Saladin’s conquest reverberated throughout Western Christendom and triggered the
launching of the Third Crusade in 1189, led by Richard I of England, Philip II of France, and Frederick I,
Holy Roman Emperor. Nearly ten years later, at an obscure Yorkshire priory, the Augustinian canon
William of Newburgh began writing a chronicle of recent historical events, including the efforts of King
Richard in the Holy Land. Jaclyn Mulé walks us through the sharp, sophisticated commentary and critical
acumen that have made William’s work one of the most commended historical accounts written in
medieval England and a key source for the Third Crusade.

William of Newburgh and the Battle of Hattin

One of the great sources of the thirteenth-century crusader states is the chronicle known as the "Templar of Tyre". In this special episode, Dr. Jesse Izzo, currently at Medieval Fellow at Fordham University, talks with podcast host Nicholas Paul about this remarkable narrative.

The Templar of Tyre- Conversation with Jesse Izzo

Curtis Rager introduces us to a rare survival in the archives of the French city of Arras: a collection of original charter documents produced in the crusader states. Intriguingly, these documents all relate to a parcel of land in France that was still in the possession of the Ham family, constables of county of Tripoli. As Curtis explains, they shed light on how families in the Latin East held and inherited land and also how and why medieval documents like these survive to the present day.

Charters of Thomas of Ham, Constable of Tripoli

Among the richest sources of the medieval crusading phenomenon is the Life of Saint Louis composed by John of Joinville, seneschal of Champagne, and completed in 1309. Ostensibly a hagiography, or saint's life, of the great crusading king of France, Joinville's text is really something much more complicated. As Ryan Sheehan explains, Joinville is just as interested in telling all kinds of stories and anecdotes, many of them about himself and his experiences. John of Joinville was a participant in the Seventh Crusade, and an eyewitness to the king's campaign into Egypt, which met with defeat after the Battle of Mansurah in 1250. He then joined the king both in captivity and during the French sojourn in the crusader states, showing us an intimate look at the twilight world of the Latin East.

Joinville's Life of Saint Louis

From 1143 to 1180 the Crusader States' powerful northern neighbor, the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire, was ruled by Manuel I Komnenos. The son of a Latin mother (Irene of Hungary) Manuel's reign was marked a movement in political culture that favored Latin culture and seemed to mimic the personal lordship of the Latins. As Charles Fu explains, the chief chronicle of Manuel's reign, known as the Deeds of John and Manuel Komnenos by John Kinnamos, does not condemn the emperor for these policies, as later histories would do, nor does he disguise them. Instead, Kinnamos is a critical source for our understanding of Manuel's relationship with the Latin East, and especially the principality of Antioch.

John Kinnamos and the Reign of Manuel I Komnenos

Anthony Coxeter introduces us to a tremendous historical narrative and cultural production of the twilight period of the Crusader States. Het'um or Hayton of Corycus, a member of ruling family of Cilician Armenia who had been exiled to live as a Premonstratensian canon on Cyprus, dictated his grand narrative of the history of Asia, and particularly the history of the Mongols, to Pope Clement V in French in 1307. Widely popular, the work was not on retrospective, but attempted to "shape the future of an uncertain political geography" in the wake of crusading defeat and Mongol power in the region. As Anthony tells us, Het'um in his final book pointed to the continued importance of the figure of Prester John.

Het'um of Corycus and the Flower of Histories of the Land of the East

A podcast of Fordham University's History Department. This series explores themes in the current scholarship relating to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and its neighbors during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 

The Tomb Effigy of Jean D'Alluye by Daphna Bendull

The Crusader States

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