Crusades and Crusaders in the Middle Ages

3 credits · Undergraduate

(3 hrs Lecture/Seminar) This course focuses on the crusades in the Mediterranean world and Europe from the First Crusade to the Holy Land (eleventh century) to the capture of Granada from the Moors (fifteenth century). The course explores their roots, forms, and consequences. Special attention is given to the political, cultural, religious, and economic tensions and exchanges between Latin and Greek Christians, and between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East. Along with the crusading campaigns, participants' motivations, life in the crusaders' states, and the consequences of these movements on heretics, Jews, and pagan populations in Europe are explored.