July 07, 2005

HISTORY 3348/5341: THE CRUSADES
Second Summer Term 2005

MTWTF 12:00-1:45 Holden Hall 121 (moved from 127)

John Howe
Office: HH 143                                 Office Hours:  MTWThF  10-10:30 am, 2-2:30 pm, and by appointment 
Telephone:  Holden Hall  806 742-1004  ext 233; Administration Building 806 742-3656
FAX: 806 742-1060 or 806 742-0525                 E-Mail: john.howe@ttu.edu
Web:  http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/howe  (the best way to access this syllabus)
 

        To acquire a general knowledge of the crusading movement in Western Europe, including its ideology, organization, military strategies, and leadership. To situate the crusades in the larger economic, cultural, and religious context of the Mediterranean world, a cross-cultural world where three civilizations interacted. To use the crusades as a case study for analysis of the problems posed by "holy war," imperialism, colonization, and the formation of European consciousness.
        To introduce the process by which historians reconstruct historical events from conflicting primary sources.
 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Required Texts
Francesco Gabrieli. Arab Historians of the Crusades.
Joinville & Villehardouin. Chronicles of the Crusades.
Jonathan Phillips, The Crusades.
Steven Runciman, The First Crusade (A Canto Book).
Documents to be downloaded from the World-Wide-Web.
Copies:  Students also must purchase a collection of photocopied documents and excerpts from writings of crusade historians, which is available at Copytech, 145 West Hall, telephone 742-2321.

Required Reading
        Specific reading assignments for each class are listed in the Reading and Lecture Schedule, just ahead of the class date by which they should have been completed. Each assignment is the subject of the following lecture or discussion. Read so that you arrive in class prepared to explain, praise, criticize, and question. The assignments are manageable if read on schedule, but quickly become overwhelming if neglected.

Class Attendance
        Successful completion of this course requires regular attendance. In the classroom difficult reading assignments are interpreted and placed into their historical contexts; additional subject matter is introduced; and audio-visual materials are used. Part of the course grade is based on class participation, and you cannot participate if you are not present. Summer school classes proceed so rapidly that absences are especially damaging. You should not be enrolled if you cannot attend 80% or more of the scheduled classes, that is, if you must miss more than four.

Source Problems
        Course assignments include two crusade source problems, cases where the primary written evidence is contradictory. Students will attempt to reconstruct what happened. The first source exercise will be completed and written out in class, on Tuesday July 12, using materials provided in class. The second source exercise, will bec written as homework, with findings presented in papers no longer than five typed, double-spaced pages. Since the evidence provided for these case studies will not yield any single, incontrovertible "right answer," the exercises will present arguments for the "most probable" scenario. Grades will be based on logic, analysis, persuasiveness, and comprehensive use of the sources. Be careful not to violate the History Department and University guidelines on plagiarism ("offering the work of another as ones own, without proper acknowledgement"). Late papers will be assessed a one grade penalty; no papers will be accepted later than two class periods after the due date (that is, after the corrected on-time papers have been returned).

Examinations
        Midterm tests are scheduled for Monday July 18 and Wednesday July 27. Each will include multiple-choice questions, identifications, a single essay (to be selected from two or more choices), and perhaps map work. If, for good reason, a test is missed, a make-up test may be taken at 2:00 pm on Monday, August 1. Students receiving a grade below "C" on a midterm should meet with the teacher to discuss it (this will be part of the class participation grade).
        The final examination, Thursday, August 4, at 8:00-10:30 am, will feature multiple-choice and identification questions on the material covered since the second midterm, and several essay questions (to be chosen out of six or more alternative questions) covering the material of the entire course. Bring blue books.

[Note to Graduate Students
Students taking this course for graduate credit will write two book reviews and discuss them in two separate meetings.  On Monday, July 18, at 7:00 to 9:00 pm, in HH141, students will discuss a work, upon which they have written a two page book review, concerning the "Ideology of Crusade."  On Monday, August 1, at 7:00 to 9:00 pm, in HH141, students will discuss their reports on "Military Orders."  Lists of works of scholarship approved for these reports are hyperlinked above.  No late reviews will be accepted after 5:00 pm on Friday, Aug 5. ]

Movies?
            Much of what we think we know about the “Dark Ages” is wrong.  The power of ancient misconceptions is not reduced by the fact that they are often mutually contradictory (recall the contrasting dining scenes from Camelot and from The Vikings).  To advance our knowledge it can be useful to confront some of our cultural myths directly.  Errors are often enshrined in Hollywood’s film images, even in current crusade films such as Kingdom of Heaven  Therefore, three films about the crusades will be shown and discussed on designated evenings at 7:00 in HH104 during the course of the semester: on Tuesday, July 12, El Cid; on Monday, July 25, The Crusades; on Thursday, July 28, Alexander Nefsky.  Students attending two of these films and participating in the following discussions will receive extra credit as indicated below.

Necessary Accommodations
        Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations can be made.

Observance of a Religious Holy Day
        Texas House Bill 256 requires institutions of higher education to excuse a student from attending classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day. The student shall also be excused for time necessary to travel. An institution may not penalize the student for the absence and allows for the student to take an exam or complete an assignment from which the student is excused. No prior notification of the instructor is required.

GRADING
        The course grade will be computed as follows: 30% from the midterm tests (that is, 15% from each); 30% from documentary source analyses (that is, 15% from each); 10% from class participation; and 30% from the final.  Students attending any two of the film screenings and discussions will receive an additional 5% A grade. [For graduate students, the midterms together will count 25%; the final 25%; and the additional book reviews 5% each.]
        The class participation grade is computed on the basis of attendance, class preparation, and class contributions by dividing students up at the end of the semester into three groups: 1) outstanding; 2) generally average; and 3) significantly below acceptable standards. In computing the course grade, the first group gets the class participation component credited as an `A'; the second group has these points dropped out (so they neither help nor hurt); and the third group has them credited as an `F'.

READING AND LECTURE SCHEDULE

W July 6    Introduction / Geography

                        Phillips 1-13; Copies 5-8 (Maps); Copies 12-35 (Wilkerson, Piacenza Pilgrim, Date Chart,
                        Adalbert’s Annals; Hollister, Armor); Runciman 13-22; Radulfus Glaber

Th July 7    Early Medieval Pilgrimage / The Latin West at 1000 BCE

[Th July 7 Last day for student-initiated add on the web]

F July 8      The Greek East at 1000 AD / Islam at 1000 AD

                        Runciman 23-40; Copies 61-63 (Maps); Leo IV, John VIII, and Gregory VII

M July 11   Holy War / Church Reform

[M July 11  Last day for full refund for student initiated drop on web ]

                        Runciman 41-47; Phillips 13-19

Tu July 12   The Call (In-Class Source Problem Exercise Using Primary Sources)

[Tu July 12   Extra Credit Crusade Movie:  El Cid, in HH104 at 7:00pm]

                        Runciman 52-93; Phillips 19-22; Copies 90-102 (Solomon bar Simson, Anna
                        Comnena)                   

W July 13    The Peoples' Crusades / Major Crusades: To Constantinople

                        Phillips 22-24; Runciman 94-144; Gabrieli xxvii-xxviii, 3-9; Copies 103 (Siege of Antioch)

Th July 14    Constantinople to Antioch

                        Runciman 145-92; Philips 24-26; Gabrieli 9-12; Copies 104-06 (Maps); Fulcher  

F July 15    The Capture of Jerusalem

                        Study

M July 18     Midterm Test No. 1 / Images of Crusaders

                        Phillips xiv, 27-35, 173-75; Copies 106-37 (Map, Riley-Smith, Hamilton, two studies)

[M July 18  at 7:00-9:00 pm in HH141     Graduate Student Meeting on Crusading Ideology]

Tu July 19 The Kingdom of Jerusalem / Crusader Church

                        Copies 138-69 (Partner, Hamilton, Nicholson); Phillips 52-62; Templar Rule 

W July 20 Military Orders/ Crusader Women

                        Phillips 35-51; Copies170-202 (Holmes); Gabrieli xxviii-ix, 73-84; Gabrieli xxvi and
                        36-55. Begin Source Problem #2: read materials in Copies 203-24, Phillips 63-76, and Gabrieli
                        56-63

Th July 21 Daily Life in the Crusader States

{Th July 21   Last day to declare pass-fail intentions, last day to drop a course and receive an automatic W]

                        Phillips 63-71, 180-85.  Work on Source Problem #2

F July 22 Islam Strikes Back / The "Second Crusade"

                        Copies 225 (William); Phillips 77-137; Gabrieli 64-72, 85-113.  Finish source problem #2

M July 25 Islam Ascendant / The Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

                        Phillips 138-52, 191-96; Copies 226-245 (Mayer, Ambrose, Map); Gabrieli 200-07, 222-37

[M  July 25 Extra Credit Crusade Movie:  The Crusades, in HH104 at 7:00pm]

Tu July 26 The Third Crusade

                        Study for test; Copies 246-251 (Strayer, Nickel, Maps)

W July 27 Midterm Test No. 2 / Spanish and Baltic Crusades

                        Copies 252-70 (Russell, Roger of Wendover, Queller, Map); Villehardouin 1-57

Th July 28 Children’s Crusade / Albigensian Crusades / The Fourth Crusade

                        Villehardouin 57-107; Innocent III

[Th July 28   Extra Credit Crusade Movie:  Alexander Nefsky, in HH104 at 7:00pm]

F July 29 The Latin Empire of Constantinople / The Fifth Crusade

                        Joinville 161-264; Copies 271-81 (Riley-Smith); Phillips 188-90

M Aug 1 Crusader Feudalism / Louis IX and the Sixth Crusade

[M Aug 1  Last day to drop a course, transfer between colleges, or withdraw from the university]

[ M Aug 1 at 2:00 pm Make-Up Exams]

                        Joinville 265-88; Copies 282-321 (John of Plano Carpini, Maps, Runciman, Mitchener);
                        Mongols; Joinville 345-353; Gabrieli 326-33, 341-50    

[M Aug 1 at 7:00-9:00 pm in HH141:  Graduate Student Meeting about Military Orders]                   

Tu Aug 2 The Mongols / The Fall of the Mainland Crusader States

                        Copies 322-28 (Runciman); Phillips 1-13, 152-58

W Aug 3 27 The Later Crusades / Summing Up

                        Study for Final

Th Aug 4 FINAL EXAMINATION at 8:00-10:30.