New Perspectives on the First Crusade:
Impact and Legacies between Medieval and Modern

Live talks and workshops

Thank you for registering to take part in our short course New Perspectives on the First Crusade: Impact and Legacies between Medieval and Modern. (If you have not already registered you can do so via this page.)

Please find the dates and details for our live course sessions below. 

We recommend you attend live where possible to make the most out of the experience, however if you are unable to make the dates we will upload a recording of each session to the online unit around a week after it takes place which can be viewed on demand. Please note that you do not need to register for the sessions in order to watch the recordings - the recordings will be automatically uploaded to the unit and will be accessible to all.

What you need to do next:

• Book for each of the sessions you wish to attend live below. Please note that these are all online webinar sessions held virtually via Zoom. Please ony register for the sessions you intend to join live.

Access to the accompanying online resource module will be sent to course participants by 4 July.

If you have any queries in the meantime please email enquiries@history.org.uk

Session 1: Introduction - The Christian World on the Eve of the First Crusade

Professor Jonathan Phillips
Tuesday 11 July, 7.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE

Professor Jonathan Phillips will introduce the world before it is rocked by the First Crusade. Setting the scene across Europe and areas of the Middle East this talk will introduce you to the many issues that gave rise to the defining events of the period and why the ideas, politics, power games and people of that time set Christendom into a path of conflict that would leave its mark for centuries. 

Session 2: The Call for the First Crusade - Appeal and Response

Dr Natasha Hodgson
Tuesday 25 July, 7.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE

This lecture will consider the appeal made by Urban II at Clermont and the influence of other leading figures, such as the Emperor Alexius I and Peter the Hermit on the formation and dissemination of the crusade appeal.  No verbatim script of Urban’s appeal survives, thus historians have gauged the content of the message from the works of later authors.  We can also evaluate the appeal of the crusade by looking at who responded and why – nobles, workers, women and clergy.  The so-called ‘People’s Crusade’ which became synonymous with brutality, violence and sin, is seen to be representative of a popular outpouring of support for the crusading idea. This session will take us up to the defeat of Peter’s forces in Anatolia, and the arrival of the ‘Second Wave’ of crusaders at Constantinople. 

August meetings

Tuesday 1 August, 10.30am-11.30am - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE
Wednesday 23 August 7.30pm–8.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE

These workshop sessions will allow an opportunity for course participants to meet informally and discuss learning points so far with our course facilitator Paula Kitching. You can attend one or other of these sessions, or both if you wish. 

Session 3: The Impact of the First Crusade on the Muslim World

Professor Jonathan Phillips
Tuesday 5 September, 7.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE

Professor Philips explores the characters of those involved in the Crusade as well as their actions. Ensuring that the Crusades is viewed from all sides of the conflicts and disputes, this talk will allow you to understand how the attacks from the Christian World affected the internal discourses of the Muslim world, impacting on their own attitudes and politics.    

Session 4: The Siege of Antioch

Dr Andrew Buck
Tuesday 19 September, 7.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE

This lecture will take as its case study the eight-month siege of the north Syrian city of Antioch, which lasted between October 1097 and June 1098. Across these months, the crusaders experienced hunger, thirst, illness, appalling weather, warfare, and death, as their resolve was tested to the limits. Yet, with help from a city guard, they captured Antioch and then faced off a large Muslim relief force. Here, then, we will learn about the crusade’s ultimate testing ground and what it means for our understanding of the venture and its participants.  

Session 5: The Call of the Holy City: dissension and devotion

Dr Natasha Hodgson
Tuesday 3 October, 7.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE

During the Siege at Antioch a miraculous event was seen to occur.  The discovery of the Holy Lance by Peter Bartholomew and the subsequent success at the battle of Antioch is often interpreted as a sign of the crusaders’ strong morale at this point, yet in fact the Lance story heralded a period of dissent within the crusading army, as rival factions and discontent with the actions of leaders threatened to dissolve the momentum of the crusade. The continued pull toward Jerusalem, conflict over who would keep Antioch and a power vacuum in the clergy lent Peter extraordinary influence, and his death following an ordeal by fire set the course for the remainder of the crusade.     

Session 6: The Siege of Jerusalem and the Appointment of Godfrey of Bouillon

Dr Simon John
Tuesday 17 October, 7.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE 

This lecture will explore the culminating moment of the First Crusade, the crusaders’ siege upon the Holy City of Jerusalem. It will focus particularly on the seismic events that unfolded in the city when the crusaders captured it on 15 July 1099. It will also examine the circumstances in which Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of one of the crusader armies, was appointed as Jerusalem’s first Latin ruler a week later.  

Session 7: The Establishment of the Latin East, 1099-1131

Dr Andrew Buck
Tuesday 31 October, 7.30pm - RECORDING NOW AVAILABLE VIA MODULE

This penultimate lecture will trace the establishment of the Latin East, that being the four polities formed at Jerusalem, Antioch, Edessa and Tripoli as a result of the crusade. It will explore the means by which these new settlements were forged, what role “crusading” played in this, and the distinct challenges (and opportunities) offered by ruling over such a diverse cultural region. 

Session 8: Commemorating the First Crusade: From Medieval to Modern

Dr Simon John
Tuesday 14 November, 7.30pm
Register for this session

This concluding lecture will place the First Crusade into a wider historical perspective. It will trace how the events of the expedition were remembered in the years, decades and centuries after its conclusion, paying particular attention to its influence on later crusading expeditions. It will also chart enduring legacies of the crusade down to the modern era.