This is an ambitious and truly interdisciplinary collection of essays, all studies which were presented at the third quadrennial International Symposium at Saint Louis University, most of them by early career researchers, the new generation of Crusade historians. It is rare to see gathered in one volume studies engaging with such a range of source materials, from seals and coins to archaeology, sermons to chronicles. Another strength is the use of texts and secondary materials in different languages bringing different perspectives to bear. While the volume is generally well produced it is a pity that there are a few typographical errors; not a large number but I picked up one or two in each essay.
The essays are organized in three sections. Part I "Structures of Crusading," consists of four essays, three of which deal with different aspects of material culture or material evidence; this is reflected in the importance of high quality illustrations in this section, colour plates and architectural plans (though a close up of the illumination of the manuscript in fig 2.14 would have been more useful than the whole folio). These three essays fulfil the expectations raised in the introduction of a focus on "the reception and expression of the crusades through creative mediums" (1). Lisa Mahoney examines the evidence regarding the now lost tree of Jesse in the Church of the Nativity and presents the building itself as bolstering the power of the kings of Jerusalem. Cathleen A. Fleck examines the buildings carved into a pilaster now in Cairo, but probably originally in Crusader Jerusalem, using seals and coins to help identify what they are representing. Tomasz Borowski explores the pilgrimage sites of Famagusta, arguing that some served more than one religious community, a study which fits well with recent interest in shared sacred spaces. This essay opened with a very clear introduction regarding the importance of relics, though it was not clear to me that this was necessary in a volume clearly aimed at scholars. Adam M. Bishop, in an essay that sits a little uneasily in this section, otherwise focussed on material culture, looks at legal structures rather than physical structures, demonstrating how Roman law was adapted for the crusader state.
Part 2, on Crusade Preaching, consists of three complementary essays. Jessalyn Bird explores how preachers adapted themes from the lectionary for Good Friday and Holy Week in the preaching of the crusades. Bird offers a detailed reading of her wide range of sources (edited primary sources and manuscripts); she includes alongside the work of well-known authors such as Alan of Lille and Jacques de Vitry, a sermon "probably preached" by John de Teuton, an abbot of Saint-Victor; her close analysis stresses the important evidence of the liturgy. Matthew Philips examines how crusade preachers responded to the loss of the relic of the True Cross in 1187, appropriating a specific form of typological exegesis. Charles W. Connell faces a difficult task: examining an absence--that is the likely absence of apocalyptic material in the Sermon at Clermont, tracing possible apocalyptic material in preaching of the crusade through to the late thirteenth century, serving as a reminder that the preaching of (and thinking about) crusading was not constant, but evolved over the duration of the medieval crusades.
Part 3, on perceptions of Crusade and Combatants, consists of three essays. The first two fit together well, with a focus on twelfth-century material. Richard Allington traces Byzantine and papal relations from the late 11th century with the main focus on the period of the Byzantine emperor John II, using a wealth of sources. Yan Bourke examines the Gesta derived texts closely to determine how each has added to his model. He engages with important issues regarding whether the distortion of the religion of Muslims is deliberate or the result of ignorance, with a nuanced discussion of the different texts. In the final essay of the volume Sam Zeno Condera S.J. takes us to the very end of the medieval period, indeed into the sixteenth century, with a consideration of crusading in the life and writings of Ignatius Loyola. Interesting though this analysis is, particularly with reference to his analysis of Loyola’s attitude to monarchy, and the possible long-term legacy of crusading, this essay stands apart from the others in the time period covered. What is lacking in this section is any engagement with the perception or representation of crusading and its combatants (Christian and Muslim) in fictional literature such as French chansons de geste.
Each individual essay in the volume displays excellent scholarship, but more could have been done to hold the three sections together. Matthew E. Parker makes a good effort in his introduction to explain the rationale for the volume, but this brief opening essay ultimately is little more than summary of the chapters. An afterword, a more detailed index and a composite bibliography (rather than a separate list of references at the end of each essay) would have been simple steps to enhance the cohesion of the volume. Nonetheless, the idea of exploring through different approaches the ‘intellectual space in which contemporaries experienced the crusades’ (1) offers new avenues to explore.