Crusader Period Research Articles

Archaeological, geomorphological and cartographical evidence of the sea level rise in the southern Levantine Basin in the 19th and 20th centuries

Sea level variability affected by sea water mass is strongly associated with global, regional and local climate. In this context, the eastern Mediterranean Sea has been intensively investigated in recent decades because of its sensitivity to climatic and environmental variables, due to the influence of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT). The sea level in Israel during the Crusader period (12th-13th centuries CE) was found to be −0.5 ± 0.20 m relative to the present mean sea level (MSL). The difference between the Crusader sea level and the present-day MSL raises some questions which bring us to the aim of this study: estimating the timeline of the changes in sea level elevation in the eastern Mediterranean over the last two centuries. Archaeological evidence from areas of low tidal range, such as the Mediterranean Sea, can provide significant information on sea level changes for times when instrumental measurements where not yet available (e.g., before 1955 in Israel). The method employed in this study integrates two dimensions: The vertical—estimating the changes in sea levels relative to the present MSL, based on archaeological evidence; and the horizontal—determining the coastline changes, based on coastal architectural and geomorphological structures appearing in historical maps. Both the structural and the cartographic evidence for sea level changes date to the 19th Century, and indicate a rise of 0.36 m over the last two centuries.Findings attesting to horizontal changes, indicate a gradual migration of the coastline landward, to the east since 1863 and a rapid change in the coastal geomorphology at the beginning of the 20th century. The sea level increase from the 19th century might be, in part, a consequence of regional trends and, in part, a result of a gap between method accuracy (archaeology and modern measurements). Nevertheless, the drastic change in the geomorphology of the coastline may indicate an extreme meteorological event, such as a storm at sea, accompanied by a local rise of sea level, but further research is required to verify this.

Reviving Forgotten Jewish Heroes: An Aspect of the Early Twentieth-Century Zionist Perception of the Crusader Period in Palestine

To date little attention has been paid to the perception and representation of the Crusader period in Palestine in works by Zionist scholars and activists in the early years of the British Mandate. To help fill this void, this essay analyzes the work of Ben-Zion Dinur and some of his contemporaries as it relates to Jewish armed resistance and heroism. These scholars revived Jewish heroes from the Crusader period in Palestine to convey Zionist ideals and shape a national narrative.

The Baltic Crusades and ecological transformation: The zooarchaeology of conquest and cultural change in the Eastern Baltic in the second millennium AD

From the end of the 12th century, crusading armies unleashed a relentless holy war against the indigenous pagan societies in the Eastern Baltic region. Native territories were reorganised as new Christian states (Livonia and Prussia) largely run by a militarised theocracy, dominated by the Teutonic Order. The new regime constructed castles, encouraged colonists, developed towns and introduced Christianity, incorporating the conquered territories into Latin Europe. At the same time, the theocracy sought to maximise the exploitation of natural resources to sustain its political and military assets, as well as provision its subjects. Arguably the most important resource was represented by animals, which were exploited for a range of primary and secondary products. Excavations across the eastern Baltic have uncovered tens of thousands of faunal remains from archaeological contexts on either side of the crusading period. Traditionally studied in isolation, the zooarchaeological data is here for the first time compared across the conquered territories, supported with isotopic analyses and integrated with other paleoenvironmental and historical sources, revealing how the new regime appropriated and intensified existing livestock husbandry practices, whilst accentuating earlier trends in declining biodiversity. At the same time, agricultural changes led to improved feeding regimes, resulting in noticeable changes in the size of stock in some regions.

Did the Teutonic Order create a sacred landscape in thirteenth-century Prussia?

ABSTRACTThis article defines ‘sacred landscape’ as a combination of factors that the two authoritative chroniclers of the crusades in Prussia, Peter of Dusburg and Nicolaus of Jeroschin, present in their texts. These are the intersection of hierophanies (manifestations of the sacred), martyrdom, relic veneration and pilgrimage activities at specific locations over time: connecting them can account for the Teutonic Order’s role in the sacralisation of Prussia. To map the growth of this concept, the article uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in combination with textual analysis, providing a visual and spatial representation of the landscape propagated by the Order. The succeeding period of crusades in the Baltic, namely those against Lithuania in the fourteenth century, shows how the places founded during the thirteenth century functioned as pilgrimage centres for knights going toward the frontier. This article considers to what extent the Teutonic Order’s crusades to Prussia in the thirteenth century created a sacred landscape.

Modelling Climate and Societal Resilience in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Last Millennium

This article analyses high-quality hydroclimate proxy records and spatial reconstructions from the Central and Eastern Mediterranean and compares them with two Earth System Model simulations (CCSM4, MPI-ESM-P) for the Crusader period in the Levant (1095–1290 CE), the Mamluk regime in Transjordan (1260–1516 CE) and the Ottoman crisis and Celâlî Rebellion (1580–1610 CE). During the three time intervals, environmental and climatic stress tested the resilience of complex societies. We find that the multidecadal precipitation and drought variations in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean cannot be explained by external forcings (solar variations, tropical volcanism); rather they were driven by internal climate dynamics. Our research emphasises the challenges, opportunities and limitations of linking proxy records, palaeoreconstructions and model simulations to better understand how climate can affect human history.

Evaluating ancient coastal wells as sea‐level indicators from the coast of Israel

AbstractThis paper re‐evaluates previous records and adds new data to the relative sea level (RSL; namely the sea level related to the level of the national terrestrial datum) reconstruction in Israel from the last 2400 years based on ancient coastal water wells. Different methods for obtaining the most accurate modern offset between coastal groundwater level and mean sea level are also tested, since this is a crucial component for using wells as reliable sea‐level indicators in the Mediterranean and beyond. Very few, if any, sea‐level studies outside of Israel use coastal wells as RSL indicators; refinements to the methods associated with this indicator type will facilitate their use in other regions. Coastal wells in the study are located within 200 m of the present‐day coastline. The functional age range for the wells is based on site stratigraphy, artifacts, historical records, and the coastal water well typology. These archaeological indicators rely on finding the vertical offset between present‐day coastal groundwater and sea level, and applying it to ancient times. The current study explores two methods to calculate accurate vertical offsets: a) modern averages of the upper aquifer groundwater elevation in the vicinity of ancient wells, which are calculated from 60 years of measurements by the Israeli Hydrological Service; and b) a hydrological model where groundwater elevation is a function of distance from the modern coastline. The model uses a simulation of the coastal aquifer with a two‐dimensional, vertical cross‐section. The modeled approach is found to be preferable. The results show that sea level in Roman times (1st century CE) was similar to present‐day, slightly higher in the Byzantine period (4th to 7th centuries CE), and lower in part of the Early Islamic period (9th to 10th centuries CE). For the later Fatimid/Ayyubid and Crusader periods (11th to 13th centuries CE), RSL reaches its lowest elevations (of about −0.5 m) as previously found. Following these low levels, sea level rose going into the 18th and 19th centuries CE.

The Status and the Position of the German Structure in Jerusalem in the 12th–13th Centuries

One of the interesting subjects in the study of Jerusalem during the Crusader period is the status and position of the German Structure located in the southeastern part of the Jerusalem. This article attempts to describe the phases in the establishment of the German structure in the 12th century, as well as its status in the mid-13th century till the demise of the city at the end of the Crusader presence in Jerusalem. This article describes also the history and the tradition of the German structure in its environment in Jerusalem. In this research I will try to direct and to observe if this German structure in its compound left any mark on the Teutonic Order tradition or its spiritual literature, which may link Jerusalem to the heritage and tradition of the Teutonic Knights in the late Middle Ages.

A multi-proxy, diachronic and spatial perspective on the urban activities within an indigenous community in medieval Riga, Latvia

The research presented here represents the first urban medieval context in Latvia where an integrated, multi-proxy environmental sampling strategy has been applied. The establishment of Riga, the modern capital of Latvia, is synonymous with the Livonian Crusade, and the foundation of the medieval town is examined here. This study uses an intra-site comparison of environmental datasets from several buildings to provide a unique, high resolution, diachronic analysis of the daily life of the inhabitants within the pre-Hansa town, and specifically of the indigenous ‘Liv’ population during the period of the Livonian crusades, 1198–1291. The integrated zooarchaeological, archaebotanical, and geochemical datasets from two successive phases of buildings show a pattern of tradition and continuity in indigenous practices within the ‘Liv District’. Despite being located within Riga with access to wide trade networks, the environmental results from ‘Liv district’ show the self-contained, insular nature of the diet and craft activities of the inhabitants who exploited a range of open grassland, wetland and forest edge environments around the town.

The Castle of Smar Jbeil—A Frankish Feudal Stronghold in Lebanon

ABSTRACT Smar Jbeil is a medieval stronghold built during the Crusader period. A feudal mountain castle belonging to the barony of Boutron (Batrun), it was part of the Crusader county of Tripoli. The castle witnessed three consecutive phases of construction. The first phase is dated to the first quarter of the twelfth century AD. The barbican was built in third phase of construction, and its architectural elements date to the beginning of the second half of the twelfth century AD. This typical mountain fortress acted as a military observation post, controlling the settlements and sites of the inner countryside.

The Basilica, Bouleuterion, and Civic Center of Ashkelon

Five seasons of excavation (2008–2012) undertaken by the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon in the area of the forum of Roman Ashkelon (ancient Askalōn), a major seaport on the southern Levantine coast, have revealed a continuous sequence of occupation and building activity from the Hellenistic to the Crusader periods. Of primary interest are two monumental Roman phases: a first-century C.E. basilical structure that housed the city’s bouleuterion and a Severan enlargement and renovation of this building. Most of the Severan phase has been revealed, as well as substantial portions of the earlier basilica/bouleuterion phase and a monumental Hellenistic complex. This article provides an overview of these architectural phases, the evidence for their date, suggestions for reconstruction, and a conspectus of the preand post-Roman use of this area of the city. As some of the few systematically excavated examples of these building types in the southern Levant, these structures shed light on the principal monuments and the urban development of an important seaport at the height of its prosperity, and the evidence for the dismantling of the bouleuterion in late antiquity provides a glimpse into the end of Roman civic organization in an important city of the east.1

A new faith and a new name? Crusades, conversion, and baptismal names in medieval Baltics

ABSTRACTThe baptism of the natives in Estonia and Latvia in the thirteenth century did not result in compulsory name change. The native population accepted the “Christian” names by the mid-sixteenth century as a result of general cultural adaption of elements of the “German” culture of socially higher classes, but this process does not directly reflect the process of acceptance of the Christian religion. The few examples of receiving a new name in the crusading period indicate the re-arrangement of political relations, which were related to creating patronage ties and god-parenthood relations.

Old Restorations and New Discoveries in the Nativity Church, Bethlehem

Since 2010 the Nativity Church in Bethlehem underwent a number of significant restoration works, including the refurbishing of the wooden roof, the consolidation of the Armenian door, and, starting from March 2015, the cleaning and consolidation of the mosaic surfaces. This recent work lead to important discoveries, including the recovery of the figure of an angel which had been hidden under the plastering during the restoration made in 1842. The present article describes and comments on the newly discovered and cleaned portions of mosaics and describes the history of the alterations underwent by them and by their architectural setting since the Crusader period up to our days.

East Central Europe: the gate to Byzantium

AbstractMedieval East Central Europe is currently defined as the territory between the Holy Roman-German Empire and Byzantium. Little attention has been paid to how the region mediated between Byzantium and the rest of Europe. From relics to texts, and from coins and pottery to helmets, the countries in East Central Europe - Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia - have not let all things Byzantine move farther afield. What and when Byzantine things were allowed to pass has been a matter of political circumstances. Particularly significant in this respect was the crusading period, during which Hungary came to be regarded as the gate to Byzantium. East Central Europe was perceived as an alternative, not as a part of the Byzantine Commonwealth. That may explain the weak interest in things Byzantine among the scholars in the region, with the notable exception of the Hungarian historians.

Western Societies and Islam

It is fair to say that the history of Europe, and by extension the United States, in relation to Islamic regions has been one characterized by violence and misunderstanding. By the end of the 8th century a vast empire from India to the east, spreading across the Middle East, North Africa and into Spain, consolidated Islamic rule. By the end of the 15th century Ottoman rule extended as far north as Hungary and across much of the Balkans. The response in Europe was over eight centuries of armed conflict, starting in the 8th century in a struggle to drive Islam out of the Spanish peninsula, which culminated in 1492, and almost simultaneously a long period of Crusades through the Middle East and Eastern Europe, beginning in the 11th century and lasting until the end of the 15th century. We do not need to revisit this troubled history to understand that what ensued has been an uneasy relationship between predominantly Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East. At the start of the 21st century, after the horrendous events that have come to be known as 9/11, it would appear that Europe and the US have entered a new round of ‘crusade-like’ conflict with the entire region. Under the pretense of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, the US and a loose coalition of so-called allies (mainly the UK) have been engaged in conflict in the region. Like all complex events, the underlying causes of this conflict can be found first in the struggle over Palestine since the end of the Second World War, then in the economic turmoil of the 1973 OPEC oil embargo as a result of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War during which Israel was supplied with military support by the US, and then in the Gulf War of 1990–1991 when a US-led force drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. We cannot understand the combination of forces arrayed without also considering the geo-politics of the day, as the US sponsored, trained and armed religious groups fighting against the Soviet forces that had occupied Afghanistan throughout most of the 1980s. As the 20th century came to a close, all of these factors contributed to the events that signaled the beginning of this new crusade. First, the US and some NATO forces invaded Afghanistan with the stated goal of pursuing and dismantling al-Qaeda in response to their role in the 9/11 events. By the Spring of 2003, US forces (again, leading a coalition mainly consisting of the UK, Australia, and Poland) was at war with, and invaded, Iraq under the pretext of what now has been documented to be false assumptions. As the first decade of the 21st century came to a close it appeared that European and US forces were finally withdrawing from the region. Troops were no longer in Iraq, leaving behind chaos and sectarian violence that has destabilized the region. The last troops are scheduled to depart from Afghanistan within the next year, and most people in the US, UK and NATO countries have little interest or willingness to remain engaged militarily – at least to the degree that troops are involved in a ground campaign, though selective bombing and the use of drone attacks continue. Yet, as 2014 comes to a close, the events unfolding in Syria and Iraq, and the rise of yet another extremist faction known as ISIS, has created one more round of saber-rattling in the US (the UK parliament 558198 CRS0010.1177/0896920514558198Critical Sociology research-article2014

Micromorphological and geochemical investigation of formation processes in the refectory at the castle of Margat (Qal'at al-Marqab), Syria

Margat Castle, located on the eastern coast of Syria, is an outstanding example of architecture from the Crusader Period, and the most important castle of the Hospitallers, who were one of the most famous Christian military orders during the medieval period. Excavations by the Syro-Hungarian Archaeological Mission have been conducted with the aim of better understanding the history and material culture of this important part of Syrian heritage. Whilst large scale excavation and architectural analysis can provide an understanding of broad changes over the lifetime of the monument, high resolution studies of deposits are essential to understand their formation processes, and to test hypotheses suggested during excavation. In the refectory at Margat, a series of dark deposits overlain by a pale ‘ashy’ layer, were hypothesised to be the result of a large-scale burning event. In this study we aimed to test this hypothesis by conducting micromorphological and geochemical analysis of the sequence, the first application of microarchaeological techniques to medieval deposits in Syria. It was observed that the composition of the deposits relates to degradation of anthropogenic debris and constructional material through cycles of wetting/drying and microbial and faunal activity, rather than fire/destruction debris. These observations have clarified important changes in the castles' function associated with multiple phases of ownership.

‘O Damietta’: war memory and crusade in thirteenth-century Egypt

The Egyptian port city of Damietta was a place which occupied a brief but important position in the crusading imaginary of the thirteenth century. This article examines how this city was used both to communicate particular memories of war experience and to lay down future patterns of remembrance. Processes of eyewitnessing, establishing the wider meaning of war, creating a warrior tradition and affirming the value of location or place were all ways in which war memory was articulated during the crusading period. Through an exploration of crusader encounters with the city of Damietta, this article offers some new insights into the nature and importance of medieval memory and remembrance of war.

Cargoes of Iron Semi‐Products Recovered from Shipwrecks off the Carmel Coast, Israel

Underwater surveys along the Israeli Carmel coast have revealed six cargoes of iron semi‐products associated with shipwrecks. They are described and dated according to the associated artefacts. Metallographic and chemical analyses on samples from the biggest cargo have determined the stages of the chaîne opératoire, identified the properties of the iron and characterized the iron trade along the Israeli coast. The new discoveries contribute to our understanding of the circulation of iron in the South Levant, which was characterized by an almost complete absence of local iron production. During the Byzantine and Crusader periods, this absence was compensated by long‐distance sea trade, depending on political circumstances and restrictions. Three main types of iron semi‐products were identified: (a) partly consolidated blooms, (b) short pointed bars and (c) elongated pointed bars. The cargoes discovered represent a time period of nearly a millennium. Altogether, 148 iron semi‐products were studied. Of these, 166 were from cargo a, which was dated by coins to around 1130–1200 ce. Those coins could have been imported from Europe for Crusader military and civil uses in the Levant. The iron from cargoes b, d and f, dated perhaps to the Byzantine period, could have been imported from Anatolia or Venice for military and civil purposes.

Cosmopolitan Trade Centre or Bone of Contention? Alexandria and the Crusades, 487–857/1095–1453

This article examines the position of Alexandria during the crusading period (487–857/1095–1453), seeking to open up the question indicated in the title for discussion. Did Alexandria's importance as a trade centre have an impact on whether or not it became the target of military attacks by the Franks? What other forms of contention was it a focus for during the period? While not claiming to provide conclusive answers, we seek at least to provide a starting point for discussion of this complex issue.

The positive representation of the diplomatic Byzantine ceremonial in the Western chronicles of the first four Crusades

The period of the first crusades has been intensively debated in both Romanian and foreign literature, at its various levels : religious, economic, political, social, cultural and demographic. This epoch led to the intensification of relations between the West and the Byzantine and to the rediscovery of the Byzantine Empire by the Western nations. The meeting between the two cultures and civilizations and the manner of perceiving the other are highlighted particularly by the episode of the diplomatic receptions given by the Greek sovereign at the court of Constantinople. This study is based on the general assumption that diplomatic ceremonial, as full expression of imperial Byzantine ideology, becomes the meeting place between the splendor, opulence and diplomatic strategies characteristic to Easterners and the honor, chivalrous ideal and the simplicity characteristic for Westerners. The profound implications of this protocol are reflected in the divergent interests of the two sides. The acceptance or rejection of the diplomatic ceremonial by the Latin seniors represents a proof that they understood more or less the meaning and symbolism of these diplomatic meetings. This paper analyzes the main episodes in which the West appreciated positively the imperial protocol, thus contributing to effective collaboration with the Byzantines in the spirit of the ideal Christian brotherhood.

A TWELFTH-CENTURY OIL PRESS COMPLEX AT THE CRUSADER TOWN OF ARSUR (APOLLONIA-ARSUF) AND THE OLIVE OIL INDUSTRY IN THE LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM

ABSTRACT This article documents an oil press discovered in the southern part of the Crusader town of Arsur (Area E), dating to the twelfth century CE. To date, no olive press from the Crusader period, excavated in systematic-scientific excavations, has been published in full. The article also discusses the olive oil industry in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem based on the available archaeological findings published thus far. It includes our current understanding of the development of olive oil production technology in the Holy Land and the role of the Crusader interlude as bridging the period between large-scaled and sophisticated Byzantine oil presses with those of late Ottoman (pre-modern) industry, which were smaller and simpler.