Outremer through the Second Crusade
For Discussion
These questions are intended to help you read the primary sources. They are not intended to make it so you don't have to come up with your own questions and comments. Rather, they are here because there are certain aspects of each reading that I wish to emphasize.
Nota bene: many of the sources in the Medieval Sourcebook were scanned from physical books. The OCR software generally got the words right, but you will find numerous mistakes, such as "bad" where "had" is obviously meant. Most of the time, though, the correct word is easy to figure out. Try not to be distracted by this, but don't hesitate to ask if there's something that seems important but ambiguous.
Fall of Edessa
Nothing in particular to note here, except to see how the quarrels between the Christian princes left Edessa vulnerable to attack.
Call for the Second Crusade
This is an important document. The call for the First Crusade was unprecedented, so there were no expectations. With the Second Crusade, however, there was a powerful precedent. Moreover, fifty years had intervened, during which time the papacy had developed in sophistication.
Look carefully at the terms and conditions of the Second Crusade as set out by Pope Eugenius. Compare them to those set forth by Pope Urban for the First Crusade. Were they the same? In what ways were they significantly different?
Odo of Deuil
The Second Crusade followed the route of the First. In what ways were its experiences similar (up to its arrival in Outremer) and in what ways were its experiences different?
Disaster at Damascus
I have no particular comments here. I provide the reading as supplement to the secondary accounts.
Annales Herbipolenses
It seems obvious that there would have been negative reactions to the failure of the Second Crusade, but the historian must work not from assumptions but from sources. Here is documentary evidence of the reactions to the Second Crusade.
Bernard of Clairvaux
And, of course, there will always be those who defend or try to explain away failures.
Fulcher of Chartres
This is a famous passage, often cited.
Usmah Ibn Munqidh
And so is this passage, though it paints a very different picture!
Madden, Riley-Smith, "Early Crusaders and the Costs"
Riley-Smith is one of the leading crusade historians of the current generation. What does he say about the costs of crusading? How does this essay correspond with popular notions about why crusaders went East?
Madden, Runciman, "Byzantium and the Crusades"
Runciman is the most widely-read of the historians of the Crusades, mainly because his narrative is so engaging. His scholarship has come under fire, though, and he's often accused of being "pro-Byzantine" (he lived for many years in Istanbul). Here's your chance to read some Runciman for yourself.