| Paper 1520-a | 'In the form of a cross': A Comet, a Crusade, and 12th-Century Chroniclers
(Language: English)
Elizabeth Lapina, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Index terms: Crusades, Historiography - Medieval, Science |
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| Paper 1520-c | Motivation and Recalculation: Louis VII, Suger of Saint-Denis, and the Crusade of 1150
(Language: English)
James Logan Naus, Department of History, Oakland University, Missouri
Index terms: Crusades, Ecclesiastical History, Political Thought |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
Several chronicles of the First Crusade report strange sighting in the skies, such as a fire moving from West to East, a flame falling on the Turkish camp, etc. These descriptions and accompanying interpretations are both numerous and diverse. At exactly the same time, in the Fall of 1097, there was indeed a comet, which is also mentioned in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean sources. Unlike its more famous counterpart that appeared in 1066, the comet of 1097 has received no attention. My paper will focus on how chroniclers transformed this empirical experience to explain historical events.
Paper -b:
The paper will explore the image of Byzantine culture presented in the First Crusade narratives. Separated into two parts it will first deal with the sources and their problems before examining the questions posed by the title: what images of Byzantine cities did they put down in their writings, and what common themes can be found within the various texts? The paper will focus on the descriptions of the three major Byzantine constructed cities that the Crusaders encountered: Constantinople, Nicaea, and Antioch.
Paper -c:
This paper will examine the reaction in France to the failure of the Second Crusade, led by King Louis VII. In particular, it will aim to situate Odo of Deuil's crusade chronicle in the cultural and social setting of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, which since the 1120s had been working to shape the image of Capetian kingship. To this end, scholars must remember that Odo's chronicle was not simply intended to be a narrative of the Second Crusade, but rather was supposed to form part of a broader (propagandistic?) literature on Crusading French Kings. Thus, when the Second Crusade proved a failure, I will demonstrate that Suger reacted in desperation, by trying to organization the ill-fated Crusade of 1150.
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