In the last thirty-five years B.Z. Kedar has become a leading historian of the field of the crusades, and of medieval and Middle Eastern history more broadly. This volume presents 31 essays written by eminent medievalists in appreciation of Kedar's talent, method and diversity. The collection relates to the Latin East and to the reciprocity between West and East in the time of the crusades. The individual essays deal with the history, archaeology and art of the Holy Land, the crusades and the military orders, Mediterranean commerce, medieval mentality, and the Jews.
In the thirty-five years since B.Z. Kedar published the first of his many studies on the crusades, he has become a leading historian of this field, and of medieval and Middle Eastern history more broadly. His work has been groundbreaking, uncovering new evidence and developing new research tools and methods of analysis with which to study the life of Latins and non-Latins in both the medieval West and the Frankish East. From the Israeli perspective, Kedar's work forms a important part of the historical and cultural heritage of the country. This volume presents 31 essays written by eminent medievalists in his honour. They reflect his methods and diversity of interest. The collection, outstanding in both quality and range of topics, covers the Latin East and relations between West and East in the time of the crusades. The individual essays deal with the history, archaeology and art of the Holy Land, the crusades and the military orders, Islam, historiography, Mediterranean commerce, medieval ideas and literature, and the Jews Given Benjamin Kedar's close involvement with the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East and his years as its President, and his work to establish the journal Crusades, it is fitting that this volume should appear as the first in a series of Subsidia to the journal. For information about the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, see the society's website: www.sscle.org.
Contents: Introduction; Benjamin Z. Kedar: list of publications; The
Holy Land, Archaeology and Iconography: De plaga que facta est in Hierusalem
eo quod dominicum Deum non custodiebant: history into fable?, Amnon Linder;
Gestures of conciliation: peacemaking endeavors on the Latin East, Yvonne
Friedman; The medieval evolution of by-naming: notions from the Latin Kingdom
of Jerusalem, Iris Shagrir; Islamic preaching in Syria during the
Counter-Crusade (12th-13th centuries), Daniella Talmon-Heller; 3 stages in
the evolution of rural settlement in the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the 12th
century, Adrian J. Boas; Frankish castles, Muslim castles and the medieval
citadel of Jerusalem, Ronnie Ellenblum; Dialogo di due intellettuali intorno
a Gerusalemme (sec. XIII ex), Gabriella Airaldi; Mongol provincial
administration: Syria in 1260 as a case study, Reuven Amitai; A new text of
the Annales de Terre Sainte, Peter W. Edbury; An icon of the Crucifixion and
the Nativity at Sinai; investigating the pictorial language of its ornamental
vocabulary: chrysography, pearl-dot haloes and Ƨintemani, Jaroslav Folda;A
deposit of 12th-century medieval seals at Caesaea: evidence of the cathedral
archive of St Peter, Robert Kool; Notes on some inscriptions from crusader
Acre, Denys Pringle; Acre au regard d'Aigues-Mortes, Jean Richard; Sharing
sacred space: holy places in Jerusalem between Christianity, Judaism and
Islam, Ora Limor; Der Prophet und sein Vaterland. Leben und Nachleben von
Reinhold Rƶhricht, Hans Eberhard Mayer. Mentality, Law, Jews and World
History: Naming pains: physicians facing sensations, Esther Cohen; Did all
the land belong to the king?, Susan Reynolds; Medieval treasure troves and
Jews, Michael Toch; Comparative history and world history: contrasts and
contacts, Diego Olstein. The Crusades, The Military Orders and Commerce: Pope
John X (914-928) and the antecedents of the 1st Crusade, Bernard Hamilton;
Papal war aims in 1096: the option not chosen, Bernard
Iris Shagrir is from the Department of History at the Open University of Israel, Israel. Ronnie Ellenblum is an Associate Professor of Historical Geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Jonathan Riley-Smith was formerly Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge, UK.