Fall Of Acre Research Articles

The Fall of Acre and the Salvation of Sodom. The use of peccatis exigentibus in response to the loss of Acre in 1291.

In 1291 the Egyptian Mamluks conquered the city of Acre. The loss of Acre has come to signify the end of the crusades into the eastern Mediterranean from the Latin West. This fact posed a great challenge to medieval audiences and the authors writing for them. The crusades were supposed to be ordained by God. How could their failure be explained in a world in which everything is supposed to happen according to God’s plan? A common discourse used to explain defeat that seemingly went against God’s plan is the so-called peccatis exigentibus. This phrase is frequently used in medieval historiography to posit that bad things happen to God’s favoured people – in the Latin Middle Ages this refers of course to the European Christians – as punishment for their sins. This template has been used and developed throughout the entire crusading period to explain the many defeats the crusading movement had to suffer since the early 12th century. It is again on display in various texts who now aim to explain the conquest of Acre from a Western point of few. This article explores the development of the peccatis exigentibus argument from its biblical roots to its particular place in crusader historiography in the 12th century and subsequently referring to the capture of Acre after 1291. The article then takes a closer look at two texts which in reaction to the conquest of Acre adapt the peccatis exigentibus argument with reference to the same passage from the Old Testament (Genesis 18,17–32) but arrive at very different conclusions.

Talk and Textual Production in Medieval England

Talk and Textual Production in Medieval England

THE ACCURSED TOWER: THE FALL OF ACRE AND THE END OF THE CRUSADES. By RogerCrowley. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2019. Pp. xvi + 254; plates, maps. Hardcover, $17.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 47, Issue 2 p. 235-235 Short Reviews Of Recent Publications: History of Christianity Modern/Global THE ACCURSED TOWER: THE FALL OF ACRE AND THE END OF THE CRUSADES. By Roger Crowley. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2019. Pp. xvi + 254; plates, maps. Hardcover, $17. First published: 08 August 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.15261Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume47, Issue2June 2021Pages 235-235 RelatedInformation

Role of Smyrniote Crusades on the Loss of Dominance of Western Anatolian Principalities in Aegean Sea

İzmir Haçlı Seferi, Haçlıların 1291'de Akka'yı kaybetmesinden sonra düzenlediği Haçlı harekâtları arasında en etkilisidir. Bu sefer sayesinde Aşağı İzmir adı verilen Liman Kale 1402'ye kadar Hristiyanların elinde kalmıştır. XIV. yüzyılda Türk denizci Ghazileri Ege Denizi'ndeki pek çok yerde akınlarda bulunmuştu. Önce Menteşe Beyliği'yle başlayan bu faaliyetler XIV. yüzyılın ikinci çeyreğinde Aydın Beyliği'yle devam etmiştir. Bu beylikte en kuvvetli lider olarak ön plana çıkan Aydınoğlu Umur Bey'in etkinlikleri Papalık dâhil Akdeniz'de bulunan Katolik güçlerinin tepkisi çekmiştir. Bu nedenle ona karşı harekete geçmekte gecikmediler. Avignon Papaları İzmir'de Haçlı egemenliği için özel bir çaba harcamışlardır. Kıbrıs Krallığı, Venedik ve Papalık donanmaları hep birlikte Umur Bey'e karşı mücadele ettiler. İki aşamalı olan İzmir Haçlı Seferi'nin birinci aşaması başarıyla sonuçlansa da ikinci aşaması sonuçsuz neticelenmiştir. Bu tarihten sonra Hospitalye şövalyeleri ile Kıbrıs Krallığı başarıyla sonuçlanan 1365 tarihli İskenderiye Haçlı Seferine katıldılar. Pek çok girişime rağmen ilerleyen yıllarda bütün Hristiyan âlemi doğuda yükselen yeni Osmanlı tehdidiyle baş başa kalacaktır.

The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin. By Jonathan Phillips (London, The Bodley Head, 2019) 496 pp. $32.50

<i>The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin</i>. By Jonathan Phillips (London, The Bodley Head, 2019) 496 pp. $32.50

Edremit Deniz Savaşı (1334)

Türk gazilerinin XIV. yüzyılın ilk çeyreğinde yaptıkları sürekli akınlar Yakındoğu'da üsleri bulunan Hristiyan devletlerin tepkisini çekmiştir. Bu akınların kaynağı Batı Anadolu'da yer alan denizci Türk beylikleriydi. Onlardan birisi olan Karesi Beyliği, Doğu Roma imparatorluğu çevresinde ve Kuzey Ege'de önemli bir tehdit haline gelmiştir. 1320'lerden itibaren Türk denizcileriyle savaşmakta olan Venediklilerin Avrupa'da Türkler aleyhinde propagandaları da böyle bir seferin oluşmasına katkıda bulunmuştur. Buna rağmen Fransa kralı VI. Philippe ve Papa XXII. Iohannes'in esas arzuları Kudüs'ün Hristiyanlar tarafından geri alınmasıdır. Venediklerin Türk aleyhtarı söylemleri ve Türk gazilerinin akınları Ege Denizi'nde bir Haçlı ligi oluşturulması fikrini kuvvetlendirdi. 1331'den itibaren başlayan ilk müzakereler 1332 yılında Rodos'ta yapılan görüşmeyle sonuçlanmış, çeşitli sebeplerle ittifakın tam oluşması 1334'e kadar sürmüştür. Birleşik Haçlı donanması Karesi Beyliği'nin Bergama kolunun lideri Yahşi Bey'i boyunduruk altına almak için harekete geçip Edremit Körfezi'ne gelmiş, bunun sonucunda 1334 tarihli Edremit Deniz Savaşı yaşanmıştır. Savaşı Haçlı ordusu kazanmış, Karesi donanması ağır bir hezimete uğramıştır. Edremit Deniz Savaşı galibiyeti 1291'de Akka'nın düşmesinin ardından Haçlıların ilk önemli başarısı olmuş ve daha sonraki Haçlı liglerinin kurulmasını temellendirmiştir.

Muhammad ibn al‐Zain's basin (baptistère de Saint Louis)

AbstractThe traditional baptismal font of the kings of France for centuries, the so‐called baptistère de Saint Louis is part of 1750s–1900s French national legend. Against all evidence, the name suggests that it is the spoils of Louis IX's crusade of 1250–1254. In fact, that large, copper vessel of exceptional quality, with gold and silver figural decoration, was probably produced in Damascus or Cairo in 1320–1340, almost a century after French downfall at the hands of the Mamluks in Northern Egypt in 1250. As part of the crown treasure of France and because of its outstanding artistry, it is one of the most thoroughly researched Islamicate objects in the Louvre. The association with Louis IX is pure fiction that illustrates the nonsensical and yet persuasive economies of French national legends. Paradoxically, the ransom that the French army paid to leave Egypt in 1250 was one of the stepping stones for the rise of the Mamluk dynasty, renowned for gold and silver incrusted metalwork objects, such as the basin. In another paradoxical turn, the Mamluks who ruled the Central Islamic area from 1250 to 1517 are the military elite recruited from enslaved non‐Muslims, including Turkic and Christian populations. The basin invites us to connect the points on the archipelago that includes France, the Eastern Mediterranean (fall of Acre, 1291), Cyprus and Armenia under the Lusignans, Sicily, Naples, and the South of Italy under the Angevins. Further still, this splendid and still enigmatic work of art brings together Ming China, Mongol Persia, Mamluk Islam, and Gothic France. This paper includes the earliest French description of the basin, from 1606, published in 1642 and reproduced later, including in 1742 (Piganiol de la Force, 1742). The paper also discusses the French tradition of medievalists opposing white supremacist fantasy of white, Christian medieval origins of the French nation. Finally, the paper notes some differences between French and U.S. mentalités in relation to race, in the context of recent events (2019), based on the French ideal of republican universalism, citing such symptomatic events as the replacing of the word “race” by “sex” in the French constitution, the reluctance to base activism on collective identitaire claims, the reluctance to think in terms of race and use race‐related or communautariste terms with which to think about complex social, historical, or artistic rights and responsibilities, and the prohibition to collect race‐based statistics, but also, often in advance of similar laws enacted in other countries, such acts as the Taubira law of 2001 that recognizes France's responsibility for slavery and slave trade beginning in the fifteenth century as a crime against humanity and provides for teaching, research, and commemoration.

Bridge or Barrier? Mary and Islam in William of Tripoli and Nicholas of Cusa

Both Christianity and Islam claim the Virgin Mary, but most Christians throughout history have seen her as a barrier between the two religions, not a bridge. In the medieval period, Latin Christians noted errors in Qurʾānic Mariology and raised standards of the Virgin in wars against Muslims. By the sixteenth century, the use of Mary as an interfaith barrier escalated among Catholics who employed her to combat both Ottomans and Protestants. Yet two medieval churchmen, William of Tripoli and Nicholas of Cusa, stressed concord between Christian and Muslim Mariologies, despite the fact that they were both writing at times of great interreligious strife: William soon before the fall of Acre in 1291, and Nicholas soon after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This article discusses how William and Nicholas, unlike most of their confreres, saw Mary as a theological link between Islam and Christianity. This perspective represents but one point in the historical trajectory of Christian views of Mary vis-à-vis Islam, a spectrum which has shifted from seeing the Virgin as either a bridge or barrier, depending on her polemical or irenic utility.

La logistica dei pellegrinaggi in Terrasanta nei secoli XIV e XV

Written documents about Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land have been known since the Itinerarium burdigalense (fourth century). Since then, pilgrims’ travels have never stopped, but the fall of Acre (1291) was a dramatic turning-point. This paper aims to reconstruct the pilgrim’s life in partibus infidelium during the late mamluk period (1291-1517): how pilgrims travelled, where they sleep, what they eat, when, how and how long they visited churches and holy places.

Why the Crusades Failed? Narrating the Episode After the Fall of Jerusalem

The fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims in 1187 CE1 stood as a severe psychological jolt on the Christian West as they lost after an 88-year-long hegemony over Jerusalem. The subsequent preaching for Crusades invoked the Holy Land but each time the outcome turned to disappointment. The Fourth Crusade resulted in the sack of Constantinople, an act that Christians bemoaned as the crusaders became killers of their fellow Christians. The increasing schism between Byzantium and the Latin-West was coupled with the unity and expansion of the Muslims in the East to ultimately end crusader rule in the Levant with the fall of Acre in 1291. Notwithstanding, the crusading ideology persists today and is often echoed in Muslim as well as non-Muslim voices. The present paper re-tells the story with new insights based on contemporary scholarship on the Crusades following the fall of Jerusalem to Muslim forces. It focuses mainly on the military history and narrates about the ‘how’, ‘what’, and ‘why’ from the Third through to the Ninth Crusade. It also attempts to show that the Crusades were more than just confrontations since considerable cooperation and cultural exchange developed between the protagonists from the reign of Salah al-Din, particularly after the Third Crusade. The paper envisions that the current East-West dissent may be alleviated if scholars and policy makers on both sides attempt to find concrete examples of positive cooperation instead of highlighting instances of conflict from their historical perspectives.&#x0D;

Why the Crusades Failed ? : Narrating the Episode after the Fall of Jerusalem

The fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims in 1187 CE1 stood as a severe psychological jolt on the Christian West as they lost after an 88-year-long hegemony over Jerusalem. The subsequent preaching for Crusades invoked the Holy Land but each time the outcome turned to disappointment. The Fourth Crusade resulted in the sack of Constantinople, an act that Christians bemoaned as the crusaders became killers of their fellow Christians. The increasing schism between Byzantium and the Latin-West was coupled with the unity and expansion of the Muslims in the East to ultimately end crusader rule in the Levant with the fall of Acre in 1291. Notwithstanding, the crusading ideology persists today and is often echoed in Muslim as well as non-Muslim voices. The present paper re-tells the story with new insights based on contemporary scholarship on the Crusades following the fall of Jerusalem to Muslim forces. It focuses mainly on the military history and narrates about the ‘how’, ‘what’, and ‘why’ from the Third through to the Ninth Crusade. It also attempts to show that the Crusades were more than just confrontations since considerable cooperation and cultural exchange developed between the protagonists from the reign of Salah al-DA«n, particularly after the Third Crusade. The paper envisions that the current East-West dissent may be alleviated if scholars and policy makers on both sides attempt to find concrete examples of positive cooperation instead of highlighting instances of conflict from their historical perspectives.

Crusade and Christendom: Annotated Documents in Translation from Innocent III to the Fall of Acre, 1187–1291, ed. Jessalyn Bird, Edward Peters and J.M. Powell

Crusade and Christendom: Annotated Documents in Translation from Innocent III to the Fall of Acre, 1187–1291, ed. Jessalyn Bird, Edward Peters and J.M. Powell

Crusade and Christendom: Annotated Documents in Translation from Innocent III to the Fall of Acre, 1187–1291 ed. by Jessalynn Bird, Edward Peters, and James M. Powell (review)

Crusade and Christendom: Annotated Documents in Translation from Innocent III to the Fall of Acre, 1187–1291 ed. by Jessalynn Bird, Edward Peters, and James M. Powell (review)

Crusade and Christendom: annotated documents in translation from Innocent III to the fall of Acre, 1187-1291

Crusade and Christendom: annotated documents in translation from Innocent III to the fall of Acre, 1187-1291

Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta: Studies in Architecture, Art and History ed. by Michael J. K. Walsh, Peter W. Erdbury, and Nicholas S. H. Coureas (review)

Reviewed by: Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta: Studies in Architecture, Art and History ed. by Michael J. K. Walsh, Peter W. Erdbury, and Nicholas S. H. Coureas Neil Hillis Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta: Studies in Architecture, Art and History, ed. Michael J. K. Walsh, Peter W. Erdbury, and Nicholas S. H. Coureas (Burlington: Ashgate 2012) 329 pp. To the student of Mediterranean history, Cyprus stands as an important signpost in the chronological movement of people and cultures throughout multiple historical epochs from the ancient to the modern: thus it is difficult to accurately discuss the history of the region and bypass such a critical island. On the island sits the city of Famagusta, which rose to prominence after the fall of Acre in 1291, and was an important cultural city for the Byzantines, the Venetians, and the Ottomans. Yet an architectural and artistic survey of the buildings within the city shows an even more unique and culturally diffused society. The vibrancy that the city displayed included Armenian, Syrian, Venetian, Latin, Gothic, Byzantine, and Frankish influences, which brings art historians, archaeologists, medievalists, and early modernists all to the city to study. [End Page 305] Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta: Studies in Architecture, Art and History introduces the city as a living museum, and one that is in critical need of conservation. The editors, Nicholas S. H. Coureas of the Cyprus Research Center, Michael J. K. Walsh of Nanyang Technological University, and Peter W. Erdbury of Cardiff University collaborate with multiple art historians, conservationists, and archaeologists to present the city of Famagusta to twenty-first century academia as a subject of utmost importance. Such collaboration indicates the exhaustive nature with which the subject is treated in this monograph—and it is a monograph that solely focuses on Famagusta. The care with which the editors took into presenting a clear study can be seen in the physical nature of the book: at 329 pages (including appendices and bibliography) the subject is thoroughly introduced and discussed. The purpose of such a study manifests itself from the outset, in which the editors are keen to point out the need to spread the message of Famagusta and the problems it currently faces: the deterioration from both natural and human forces of the many historical buildings that dot the skyline. While certainly a lofty goal, the passion of the editors for the deteriorating city of Famagusta is made obvious to the reader, and understandably so. Split into three parts, Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta has a mission to both inform and spur the reader. The first part is dedicated to the history and historiography of the town. The economic importance of the town is what is primarily highlighted in the first section of the work: camlet (a piece of cloth) manufacturing, taverns, and Templars are all discussed, as well as specific writing of history in the Renaissance. It is here that the reader will notice my first criticism of the book: the book’s topics tend to lack a specific flow. Each chapter is separate and distinct, written by someone different. The choppy and at times confusing flow of a somewhat exotic subject can create confusion, especially if one is not ready for it. The second section is an enjoyable read for its treatment of concrete subjects, mostly the art and architectural history of various churches, and the cultural influences which manifest themselves throughout the multilayered city. By analyzing the structural and artistic elements of such structures as the cathedral of St. Nicholas, the image of a complex tapestry of cultural interactions is presented to the reader. Such cultural interactions are a poignant reminder of the potential study that Famagusta can provide to archaeologists and historians alike: there are not many places that display Armenian, Gothic, Latin, Byzantine, and Venetian artistic influences in the Mediterranean. Thus the middle section of the book provides a framework meant to incite the reader to take action, but what action should the academic as well as the layman take? The answer to this question is the mission of the editors in the third section. The third and final section of Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta is arguably the most polemic part of the work, and...

From Pilgrimage to Crusade: The Liturgy of Departure, 1095–1300

In 1293, only two years after the fall of Acre, but many years before the end of crusading aspirations to reclaim Jerusalem, William Durandus, Bishop of Mende, composed a new rite for those taking up the cross “to go in aid of the Holy Land,” which he included in his magisterial and enduring edition of the Roman pontifical. In this rite the bishop would bless and then bestow to the departing crusader the devotional insignia of his canonical status: the cross, along with the traditional pilgrim's scrip and staff. Durandus' rite drew on a number of long-standing texts for travel benedictions and pilgrimage benedictions, but reworked them into an elegant whole, the sum of which was far greater than its inherited parts. It enjoined the crusader to “take up the cross” (cf. Matt. 16.24) and hasten towards “your [that is, Christ's] tomb,” beseeched God to protect him from danger and absolve him from the chains of sin, and emphasized taking the cross as a passion emblematic of Christ's own salvific sacrifice. The rite thus echoed the ideals, shaped the language, and embodied the spiritual and devotional values of crusading around 1300, which had increasingly emphasized Christomimetic suffering as central to the spiritual value of crusade. As such, the rite is testament to the idea of the crusade and crusading as it had developed over the course of two centuries.

The Fall of Acre as a Spiritual Crisis: The Letters of Riccoldo of Monte Croce

The Fall of Acre as a Spiritual Crisis: The Letters of Riccoldo of Monte Croce

« Indiens, Éthiopiens et Nubiens » dans les récits de pèlerinage occidentaux : entre altérité constatée et altérité construite (XIIe-XIVe siècles)

Indians, Ethiopians and Nubians in western pilgrimage narratives : mere observation or construction of otherness ? ; The rise of pilgrimages, which followed the first crusade and the foundation of the Crusader States and resumed after a short interruption after the fall of Acre (1291), led to contacts between Western Christians and Eastern Christians, among whom were those that the pilgrims called Ethiopians, Nubians and Indians, considered as one group. Discovering these people in flesh and blood in their own environment enabled western scholars to know them better, for until then their knowledge was mainly based on written sources, namely Latin and Greek authors and medieval encyclopaedias. Concrete, realistic elements that commanded pilgrims’ attention were added to elements taken from ancient or contemporary traditions, like the evangelization of India by Saint Thomas or the legend of Prester John, a mythical sovereign whose kingdom was sometimes thought to be in India, sometimes in Ethiopia. These different sources of knowledge led pilgrims to mix up Ethiopians, Nubians and Indians – such confusion reflected both the specific preoccupations of each author and the complexity of medieval knowledge, which relied on the appeal of mirabilia and a questioning and critical approach of what was new and different. The fact that these Eastern Christians were increasingly present in pilgrimage narratives is evidence of their growing integration into western culture in the course of the 14th century.

Frankish Captives in Mamlūk Cairo

Latin presence in the Middle East came to an end with the fall of Acre in 690/1291. Among the last prisoners, Roger of Stanegrave, who gave testimony of his captivity in Cairo, was released around 715/1315. Therefore, how can we explain that Egyptian chroniclers kept on telling the life and tribulations of “Frankish captives” (asārā min al-Afranj) in Cairo as late as the last decades of the fourteenth century? This article looks first at the conditions of the Latin prisoners in Mamlūk Cairo and at their forced labour on the building sites of the city. It investigates afterwards the astonishing life and business of their descendants, trading wine and dealing with entertainment and prostitution in the city centre of Cairo, before being confronted with repression by Mamlūk authorities and being scattered over the most disreputable areas of the city. The history of Cairo and its urban fabric gives a unique opportunity to bring to light the life of people still referred to as “Frankish captives”, one century after the end of the crusader wars, and to understand how they finally became indigenous.

The Destruction d’Acre and Its Epistolary Prologue (BnF fr. 24430)

Immediately following the fall of Acre in 1291, the master of the Hospitallers, Jean de Villers, wrote a letter to his superior, Guillaume de Villeret, describing the fierce battle that ended Western control of the city. This unique document, originally written in French, survives in a single manuscript, Bibliothèque nationale de France fr. 24430, where it has been attached to a French translation of the Excidium Aconis. The text of the Destruction, as included in fr. 24430, is the sole surviving copy of a translation based on the Latin version found in two 14th-century manuscripts: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert Ier, nr. II-2212; and Madrid, Escorial, Q.II.21. Jean de Villers’s letter and the Destruction are here edited in their entirety for the first time. A close examination of the base MS, an anthology produced in Tournai ca. 1300, shows that the inclusion of these Crusade-oriented texts was of a political nature, establishing a flattering analogy between events in the Holy Land and the early history of Christian evangelisation in the Tournaisis.