The Crusades and the Near East / edited by Conor Kostick.

"The Long Room Hub."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Conor Kostick -- Warfare in the Mediterranean region in the age of the crusades, 1095-1291: a clash of contrasts / John France -- Muslim responses to the Frankish dominion in the Near East, 1098-1291 / Yehoshua Frenkel -- On the margins of Christendom: the impact of the crusades on Byzantium / Chris Wright -- Conflict and cohabitation: marriage and diplomacy between Latins and Cilician Armenians, c.1097-1253 / Natasha Hodgson -- National identity, language and conflict in the crusades to the Holy Land, 1096-1192 / Alan V. Murray -- Inimicus Dei et sanctae Christianitatis? Saracens and their Prophet in twelfth-century crusade propaganda and western travesties of Muhammad's life / Sini Kangas -- The impact of the First Crusade on Western opinion towards the Byzantine Empire: the Dei Gesta per Francos of Guibert of Nogent and the Historia Hierosolymitana of Fulcher of Chartres / Léan Ní Chléirigh -- Oriental and occidental medicine in the crusader states / Susan B. Edginton -- Architecture of the crusaders in the Holy Land: the first European colonial architecture? / Jürgen Krüger -- Peacemaking: perceptions and practices in the medieval Latin East / Yvonne Friedman -- Afterward / Bernard Hamilton.

The crusades are often seen as epitomising a period when hostility between Christian West and the Muslim Near East reached an all time high. As this edited volume reveals, however, the era was one which saw both conflict and cohabitation. Tackling such questions as whether medicinal and architectural innovations came to Europe as a direct result of the Crusades, and why and how peace treaties and intermarriages were formed between the different cultures, this distinguished group of contributors reveal how the Holy Wars led on the one hand to a reinforcement of the beliefs and identities of each side, but on the other to a growing level of cultural exchange and interaction. This volume breaks new ground in not only exploring the conflict between the Christian and the Muslim worlds, but also the impact of this conflict on the cultural evolution of European and Near Eastern thought and practices. Utilising the latest scholarship and original studies of the sources, this survey sheds new light on the cultural realities of East-West relations and marks a new departure for studies of the crusades. Contributors include John France, Yehoshua Frenkel, Chris Wright, Natasha Hodgson, A.V. Murray, Sini Kangas, Léan Ní Chléirigh, Susan Edgington, Jürgen Krüger, Yvonne Friedman and Bernard Hamilton.