The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the Crusades

This volume offers a literary and cultural history of the idea of crusading over the last millennium.

Anthony Bale (Edited by)

9781108474511, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 January 2019

302 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.62 kg

'… significantly contributes to scholarship on crusading literature and its intersections with medieval studies. … I will … be ordering it for the library and recommending it to my students.' Hülya Tafl? Düzgün, Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean

How were the Crusades, and the crusaders, narrated, described, and romanticised by the various communities that experienced or remembered them? This Companion provides a critical overview of the diverse and multilingual literary output connected with crusading over the last millennium, from the first writings which sought to understand and report on what was happening, to contemporary medievalism, in which crusading is a potent image of holy war and jihad. The chapters show the enduring legacy of the crusaders' imagery, from the chansons de geste to Walter Scott, from Charlemagne to Orlando Bloom. Whilst the crusaders' hold on Jerusalem was relatively short-lived, the desire for Jerusalem has had a long afterlife in many cultural contexts and media.

Part I. Genres: 1. Chronicles Elizabeth Lapina
2. Chansons de geste Marianne Ailes
3. The troubadours and their lyrics Linda Paterson
Part II. Contexts and Communities: 4. Rome, Byzantium, and the Idea of Holy War Connor Wilson
5. Women's writing and patronage Helen Nicholson
6. Reading and writing in Outremer Anthony Bale
7. Hebrew crusade literature in its Latin and Arabic contexts Uri Zvi Shachar
Part III. Themes and Images: 8. The earthly and heavenly Jerusalem Suzanne Yeager
9. Orientalism and the 'Saracen' Lynn Ramey
10. Chivalry, masculinity, and sexuality Matthew Mesley
Part IV. Heroes: 11. Richard the Lionheart and Saladin Christine Chism
12. 'El Cid' (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar) Julian Weiss
13. Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Louis IX of France Anne Latowsky
Part V. Afterlives: 14. Romance and crusade in Late Medieval England Robert Rouse
15. Renaissance crusading literature Lee Manion
16. Crusading and medievalism Louise D'Arcens.

Subject Areas: Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literature: history & criticism [DS]