HIST 496J Senior Thesis: The Crusades
The Crusades are controversial in both East and West, and they color our perceptions of modern conflicts in the Middle East to this day. They are typically thought of as covering the period from the late eleventh century, when the Byzantine Emperor Alexius first called on the West for help against the Turks, through the late thirteenth century, when the last enclave of Western rule in the Middle East fell to the Mamluks. However, the crusading phenomenon actually spans several centuries before this, when the theory of the just war was being worked out in the West, and several centuries after, when western Europeans redefined crusading as a defensive war against the Ottoman Turks. Crusading encompassed not just campaigns in the Holy Land, but also the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula and the Baltic Crusades in northeastern Europe.
Students in this section of Senior Thesis Seminar are welcome to explore any topic falling under these parameters, including the military orders and the reception of the Crusades in popular culture. It is important for anyone intending to take this section to engage with the instructor as far ahead as possible to begin planning.
Prerequisite
Open to history majors with senior standing