In this podcast Professor Andrew Jotischky of Royal Holloway University of London, discusses some of the key historians and interpretations of the Crusades. Professor Jotischky explores the influences and thinking that informed different historian's research, approaches and traditions and looks at how this has transformed the study and understanding of...

In this podcast Dr Natasha Hodgson of Nottingham Trent University discusses the development of the Crusader States, the role and influence of the Genoa, Venice and Pisa on this development and examines the origins and significance of the Holy Military Orders. Hodgson discusses what daily life was like and the role of the...

In this podcast, Professor Jonathan Phillips of Royal Holloway, University of London, provides an introduction to the Fourth Crusade.

In this podcast, Professor Jonathan Phillips of Royal Holloway, University of London, provides an introduction to the Third Crusade.

Steve Tibble explores the hidden world of crime during the Crusades, revealing how violence and lawlessness—driven largely by dislocated young men—were more central to the chaos in the Holy Land than religious conflict.

In this podcast Dr Dionysios Stathakopoulos looks at the period 1204-1453 and discusses the political, but also cultural history of the Empire in this era with an emphasis on what Byzantium bequeathed to the early modern world - the Renaissance in Italy.

In his book of the same name, A short history of Islamic thought, Dr Fitzroy Morrissey provides a concise introduction to the origins and sources of Islamic thought, from its beginnings in the 7th century to the current moment. In this talk he explores the major ideas and introduces the...

This podcasts looks at the two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Eastern Church and the temporal imperial hierarchy.

In this podcast Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith looks at the initial and long term effects of Crusades and examines how they have been treated by both western and eastern historians and thinkers over time.

The discovery in 1952 of the tomb of King Pakal II of Palenque has been called the most important archaeological find in the history of the Americas. Protected by a magnificently sculpted stone sarcophagus depicting Pakal’s descent to the underworld and re-birth as the maize god lay the body of...

In this podcast Dr Tom Asbridge of Queen Mary, University of London examines Saladin's rise to power, his motivations, his achievements and his legacy.

In this podcast Dr Dionysios Stathakopoulos looks at the court, the Church and the army as well as social stratification in the Byzantine Empire.

In this podcast Dr Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) discusses the role the Near East played in the development and transmission of technology and innovation during the medieval period. Dr Morton looks examines the significance of gunpowder, the navigational compass and maritime chart, and also how the changing civilisations of the medieval Near East...

In this set of podcasts Emeritus Professor Gerald Hawting of SOAS, University of London provides an introduction to the Abbasid (750-1258) Caliphate.

In this podcast Dr Dionysios Stathakopoulos looks at the period from 500-1204 charting the history of the Empire as it met with formidable enemies and had to adapt to change.

In this podcast, Nick Holmes, suggests that the Crusades formed part of amedieval world war that stretched from Asia to Europe. At its centre was the ancient empire Byzantium. Nick Holmes links three great events that changed history: the fall of Byzantium in the eleventh century, the epic campaign of...

In this podcast Dr Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) provides and introduction to the fall of the Crusader states from the Fourth Crusade to the fall of Jerusalem in 1291. Dr Morton illustrates how the Crusaders were able to regain control of Jerusalem in the early 13th century but lost it...

The Fatimid Caliphate also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. The Fatimids traced their ancestry to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband Ali, the first Shi'a imam.  Originating during the Abbasid Caliphate, the Fatimids initially conquered Ifriqiya (roughly present-day Tunisia and north-eastern Algeria). They extended their...

In this podcast Professor Riley-Smith examines Antioch: the turning point of the Crusade, Edessa, the advance on Jerusalem, the use of modern warfare, the massacre of Jerusalem, ethnic cleansing, the consequences of the fall of Jerusalem and the creation of the Crusader States.

In this podcast Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith gives an outline of events and causes of the First Crusade.