1st Edition
Controversial Histories – Current Views on the Crusades Engaging the Crusades, Volume Three
Engaging the Crusades is a series of volumes which offer windows into a newly-emerging field of historical study: the memory and legacy of the Crusades. Together these volumes examine the reasons behind the enduring resonance of the Crusades and present the memory of crusading in the modern period as a productive, exciting and much needed area of investigation.
Controversial Histories assembles current international views on the Crusades from across Europe, Russia, Turkey, the USA and the Near and Middle East. Historians from the related countries present short narratives that deal with two questions: What were the Crusades? and What do they mean to "us" today? Narratives are from one of possible several "typical" points of view of the related country and present an international comparison of the dominant image of each respective historical culture and cultures of remembrance. Bringing together ‘victim perspectives’ and ‘perpetrator perspectives’, ‘key players’ and ‘minor players’, they reveal both shared and conflicting memories of different groups. The narratives are framed by an introduction about the historical and political significance of the Crusades, and the question of history education in a globalized world with contradicting narratives is discussed, along with guidelines on how to use the book for teaching at university level.
Offering extensive material and presenting a profile of international, academic opinions on the Crusades, Controversial Histories is the ideal resource for students and educators of Crusades history in a global context as well as military history and the history of memory.
1 Introduction
Felix Hinz and Johannes Meyer-Hamme
2 Experts write about historical cultures – theoretical premises and methodological comments
Felix Hinz and Johannes Meyer-Hamme
3 International views on the Crusades
3.1 The ambiguous memory of Norwegian crusading – a view friom Norway
Kristin B. Aavitsland
3.2 ‘Frankish invasions’ and ‘a cosmic struggle between Islam and Christianity’ – A view from Jordan
Mazhar Al-Zo'by
3.3 The idea of crusading is still alive in the West – a view from Russia
Vardan Bagdasarjan
3.4 Still a particular interest in the former 'Outremer' – a (first) view from France
Michel Balard
3.5 The ‘Island of the Knights’ at the fault line to the Islamic World – a view from Malta
Emanuel Buttigieg
3.6 Crusades and maritime expansion – a view from Portugal
Paula Maria de Carvalho Pinto Costa
3.7 The crusades confront the orthodox – a Greek Cypriot viewpoint
Nicholas Coureas
3.8 Western aggression and Greco-Latin interaction – a view from Greece
Nikolaos G. Chrissis
3.9 The former victors over the Crusades in Palestine – a view from Egypt
Taef El-Azhari
3.10 A hostile and aggressive stance of the West towards Turkey based on othering and a double standard – a view from Turkey
Mehmet Ersan
3.11 A Crusader-flag falling from the sky – a view from Denmark
Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt
3.12 Reconquista as Crusade? – a view from Spain
Luis García-Guijarro Ramos
3.13 The heirs of the first Crusader Kings – a view from Belgium
Thérèse de Hemptinne
3.14 In the light and shadow of Richard the Lionheart – a view from the United Kingdom
Mike Horswell and Jonathan Phillips
3.15 A state of continuous rape and violation – a view from Syria
Mohamad Isa
3.16 The deplorable crusades – a view from Sweden
Kurt Villads Jensen
3.17 Neither Rome nor Baghdad: the Crusades – a view from Ireland
Conor Kostick
3.18 For too long French historians were not critical enough – a (second) view from France
Guy Lobrichon
3.19 In the frontiers of the former kingdom of Jerusalem: risk of misunderstandings – a view from Israel
Sophia Menache
3.20 Fighting at the Nile between history and fantasy – a view from the Netherlands
Jaap van Moolenbroek
3.21 The destiny of the West. America and the crusades – a view from the USA
Mark Pegg
3.22 From Grunwald to Vienna – a view from Poland
Karol Polejowski
3.23 The Teutonic Order forgotten today – a view from Germany
Malte Prietzel
3.24 Constantinople pillaged, Venice risen and Gerusalemme Liberata – a view from Italy
Luigi Russo
3.25 700 years of slavery – a view from Estonia
Anti Selart
3.26 The axe of Lalli and the cap of St. Henry – a view from Finland
Miikka Tamminen
3.27 The Crusaders as allies – a view from Georgia
Mamuka Tsurtsumia
4 First interpretations of the case studies
Felix Hinz and Johannes Meyer-Hamme
5 Historical education under the conditions of conflicting narratives in a globalized world
Felix Hinz and Johannes Meyer-Hamme
6 Methodological suggestions and concrete tasks for working with this book at school and university level
Felix Hinz and Johannes Meyer-Hamme
7 Epilogue
Felix Hinz and Johannes Meyer-Hamme
Biography
Felix Hinz is Professor of Politics and History and their Didactics at the University of Education in Freiburg, Germany.
Johannes Meyer-Hamme is Professor of Theory and Didactics of History at the University of Paderborn, Germany.
‘Since the 1980s, history didactics has begun to reflect more on contemporary perceptions of history and historical events. […]
The handbook begins with a methodological introduction in which the editors present the concept of the volume and introduce the notion of historical culture (pp. 1-20). The main part consists of 27 case studies, each of which traces the changing position of the Crusades in the historical culture of a nation on two to three pages, usually taking into account both the perspective of academia and non-academic views (pp. 21-97). In doing so, the editors have succeeded in attracting many big names in crusade scholarship, such as Michel Balard and Jonathan Phillips, to their project. The selection and number of nations covered is also convincing, as it covers a representative cross-section of those countries whose population understands the Crusades as part of their history.[3] This includes not only obvious candidates such as England (pp. 59-61), Spain (pp. 53-55) or France, which is represented twice (pp. 29-32 and 70-71), but also countries such as Syria (pp. 62-63) or Estonia (pp. 89-90), which were the target of the Crusades. Only Southeastern Europe, with the exception of Greece (pp. 42-44) and Turkey (pp. 47-49), is insufficiently represented in the collection. […]
Notwithstanding the aforementioned problems, the handbook is thus a profitable read for history teachers at a time when different historical cultures and historical narratives clash in the classroom.’
Gion Wallmeyer in: H-Soz-Kult, 14.09.2022, <www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-93155>.
‘Within the increasingly globally oriented research, more attention is also being paid to the areas previously considered peripheral. The Crusades have also left their mark within historical culture. Thus, the ubiquitous term "crusade" is used in a figurative sense to describe very different activities.
This is where the editors of this volume pick up. Their interest is in the current reception of the Crusades in the countries of Europe and the Middle East affected by them. […]
The intensity and seriousness of the editors' struggle to understand the extremely valuable and up-to-date source material they have collected are impressive.’
Bea Lundt in: Zeitschrift für Geschichtsdidaktik (2 02 1) 7/8, pp 765-767
