John S. Ott
Portland State University
Fall 2016
Linked content (c) John S. Ott
 
HST 454/554
Holy War in the Middle Ages: Christian and Muslim Perspectives
(T, Th 2:00-3:50, CH 494)


Course overview
 
This course examines multiple perspectives on the medieval phenomenon of holy war (and its primary manifestations of crusade and jihad) in Europe and the Mediterranean between the seventh and thirteenth centuries C.E. Through a combination of primary sources and a wide range of scholarly works, we will analyze, among other things: how historians have grappled with defining holy war, crusade, and jihad; the historically specific contexts and dynamics of crusade and jihad, and their preconditions and origins; the impact of the crusades on Europe and the Middle East; and the ways in which Latin, Greek, and Muslim thinkers evaluated the members of other confessions and their military and non-military relationships with them. Our course objectives will be: (1) to gain a reasonably specific contextual knowledge of the historical phenomena treated in class; (2) to develop skills in primary and secondary source criticism and applying theory to primary sources; (3) to hone formal writing and critical thinking skills; (4) to consider the way in which historically rooted cultural, religious, and political ideologies have shaped contemporary perceptions of events both past and present.
 
Course materials
 
The following materials are required and available for purchase at the PSU Bookstore:
   Note also that many of our readings this term are available through Course reserves at Millar Library.
 
Evaluation
 
Students will be evaluated according to the following criteria on a scale of 1000 points.  Guidelines for each assignment will be posted here in advance of due dates.
 

Plagiarism policy
 
Plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, is an intolerable infraction in any setting where ideas are exchanged and discussed.  I routinely uncover plagiarized papers.  Detecting plagiarism is extremely easy.  Papers that can be shown to have been plagiarized will automatically receive an “F” grade.  Students will be required to resubmit their (rewritten) papers, and will be deducted in their grade an amount appropriate to the late paper policy given in the assignment guidelines.  Repeated or particularly egregious offenses may be the cause for additional action.  Remember, ignorance is no excuse.  Please note that I consider work you’ve submitted for other classes to be unacceptable and, if discovered, will be handled as plagiarized papers.  If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, you may test yourself at this web site maintained by Indiana University: http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/plagiarism_test.html.
 
Students with disabilities
 
Students with disabilities who need additional consideration for the timely completion of any of the course requirements should speak to the instructor at the beginning of the term, and must be registered with PSU’s Disability Resource Center (drc@pdx.edu). 
 
E-mail policy
 
E-mail is a superb tool by which students may communicate with the course instructor about questions concerning the course material, content, and assignments.  It is especially useful for providing feedback to student ideas and for commenting on student theses or paper topics.  But please bear in mind the following:
- E-mail is not ideal for urgent matters.  I consider 48-72 hours to be a reasonable period in which to respond to inquiries.  I am usually much faster than this, but not always.
- I will not, in general, respond to student e-mails received after 5:00 p.m. until the following day(s), nor will I generally respond to student e-mail sent after 5:00 on Friday until Monday morning.  Please plan accordingly.
 - Please remember to identify yourself and state your query as clearly as possible.
- I will not fill in students who miss class on the details of a particular lecture or discussion.  Please seek that information from your fellow students.


Syllabus
 
I. Holy War in a Christian Context: Preconditions, Perspectives, and Experience

9/27 (T) – Introduction to course content and themes
Lecture: The real and enduring relevance of holy war
Handouts:
  • Course syllabus -- please read thoroughly!
  • Terminological glossary (Ott)
9/29 (TH) – Intellectual scriptural foundations for the Christian idea of holy war
 
Readings (NB: Dense readings ahead!):
  • “Augustine of Hippo on the Just War,” in The Crusades: A Reader, pp. 5-8;
  • Carl Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of Crusade (Princeton University Press, 1977), pp. 3-34 (Course reserves; note that this .pdf includes pages from the reading assigned in Week 3);
  • Philippe Buc, Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror. Christianity, Violence, and the West, ca. 70 C.E. to the Iraq War (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), pp. 67-105 (Course reserves)
  • “The Pilgrimage of Etheria,” “Liturgy for Pilgrims and Crusaders,” “The Travels of Saewulf,” and “John of Wurzburg’s Plilgrim Guide,” all in The Crusades: A Reader, pp. 1-5, 97-104, 191-194;
  • Jay Rubenstein, Armies of Heaven. The First Crusade and the Quest for Apocalypse (New York: Basic Books, 2011), pp. 1-15 (Course reserves);
  • Victor Turner and Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, chap. 1: “Pilgrimage as a Liminoid Phenomenon” (pp. 1-39) (Course reserves)
Handout:
10/6 (TH) - A critical alliance: the warrior class and the papacy

Readings:
10/11 (T) – Lay devotion and warrior ideals
 
Readings:
10/13 (TH) – Coalescence: Clermont (1095) and Pope Urban II
Readings:
II. Jihad: Preconditions, Perspectives, Experience
 
10/18 (T) - Intellectual/scriptural foundations for the Islamic concept of holy war
Readings:
  • “The Quran,” in The Crusades: A Reader, pp. 10-14;
  • Quran, Selected verses on warfare and Paradise (handout);
  • Rudolf Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam: A Reader (Princeton: Markus Wiener, 1996), pp. 9-17 (“The Prophet’s Lessons on Conduct in War: Hadīths on Jihad from the Sahīh of Ibn Hajjāj”) (Course reserves);
  • Michael Bonner, Jihad in Islamic History, chaps. 1-2 (pp. 1-35);
  • Abdulaziz A. Sachedina, “The Development of Jihad in Islamic Revelation and History,” in Cross, Crescent, and Sword. The Justification and Limitation of War in Western and Islamic Tradition, ed. J. T. Johnson and John Kelsay (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990), pp. 35-50 (Course reserves)
RESPONSE ESSAY #1 DUE, IN CLASS

10/20 (TH) – Cultural and historical conditions for an Islamic conception of holy war
 
Readings:
  Readings:
III.  The Impact of the Crusades on Latin Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean

11/1 (T) - The experience of crusading, with an emphasis on the First Crusade
  • From The Crusades: A Reader, selections #13-14, 16-20, pp. 42-51, 56-71;
  • Jonathan Riley-Smith, “Early Crusaders to the East and the Costs of Crusading, 1095-1130,” in Cross-Cultural Convergences in the Crusading Period, ed. M. Goodich, et al (New York: Peter Lang, 1995), pp. 237-257 (Course reserves);
  • John France, “Patronage and the Appeal of the First Crusade,” in The First Crusade: Origins and Impact, ed. Jonathan Phillips (Manchester University Press, 1997), pp. 5-20 (Course reserves)

11/3 (TH) – Reactions to the First Crusade: the Muslm and Byzantine Worlds
Readings:
11/8 (T) – Reactions to crusading success and failure in Christian Europe: First and Second Crusades
 
            Readings:
RESPONSE ESSAY #2 DUE, IN CLASS

11/10 (TH) – Daily Life in Palestine-Syria
 
            Readings:
 
11/15 (T) – Military Responses to the Latin Kingdom: Nur ad-Din and Saladin
 
Readings:
11/17 (TH) – The Tide Turns: Hattin and the Third Crusade
 
Readings:
         
IV.  The Evolution and Devolution of Holy War
 
11/22 (T) – The transformation of crusade [NO CLASS, INSTRUCTOR AT CONFERENCE, but please do the readings]
 
Readings:
11/24 (TH) -- NO CLASS, THANKSGIVING OBSERVED

11/29 (T) – Transformations of jihad and the fall of crusader Acre
 
Readings:
SECONDARY SOURCE CRITIQUE DUE NO LATER THAN TODAY, IN CLASS
 
12/1 (TH) -- The impact of medieval holy war on the modern world
           
Readings:

12/5 (Monday) - FINAL EXAM (UNDERGRADUATES)

12/7 (Wednesday, by 5:00 p.m., in my office) -- GRADUATE STUDENT ESSAYS DUE