3. Why did the Turkish resistance to the Crusaders intensify during the Twelfth Century?

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about why Turkish resistance to the Franks intensified and developed in the course of the 12th century, focusing in particular on: (i) the main secondary sources on this period, including Niall Christie's Muslims and Crusaders (2014), Carole Hillenbrand's The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (1999), and Alex Beihammer's Seljuk Reactions to the First Crusade (2017); (ii) the struggles faced by the Turks at the time of the First Crusade, including: the death of Malik-Shah I and the rise of in-fighting between various Turkish factions; the extent to which the First Crusade galvanised Arab resistance to the Turks; the superiority of the Frankish battle tactics, especially the use of heavy cavalry; (iii) the figure of Zengi, his rule over Mosul (from 1127) and Aleppo (from 1128), and his conquest of Edessa in 1144; (iv) the figure of Nur-ad-Din, including: his devoutness to Islam; his use of the concept of jihad to galvanise Muslim resistance to the Franks; his conquest of various territories including the cities of Hama, Homs and Damascus, and then Egypt; (v) the figures of Shirkuh and Saladin; and (vi) the various primary sources that can help us answer this question, including: the accounts of Ibn al-Qalanisi, Ibn al-Athir, Usama ibn Munqidh, William of Tyre, Fulcher of Chartres, Walter the Chancellor, as well as the various letters written by crusaders.

Suggested reading:
– Niall Christie, Muslims and Crusaders: Christianity's Wars in the Middle East, 1095-1382, from the Islamic Sources (2014)
– Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (1999)
– Nicholas Morton, The Field of Blood: The Battle for Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East (2018)
– Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate, Letters from the East: Crusaders, Pilgrims and Settlers in the 12th–13th Centuries (2013)
– Alex Beihammer, Seljuk Reactions to the First Crusade (2017)

Course

In this course, Dr Nicholas Morton (Nottingham Trent University) considers four questions related the Second Crusade, 1147-49: (i) How did the Crusader States survive and grow in the decades following the First Crusade?; (ii) Why did the Second Crusade fail?; (iii) Why did the Turkish resistance to the Crusaders intensify during the Twelfth Century?; (iv) How committed was Saladin to Jihad against the Franks during the years 1169-1187? In each module, we outline some potential approaches to the question, as well as considering the sources that are available that might help us answer the question.

Lecturer

Dr Nicholas Morton is a specialist in the history of crusading and the Medieval Mediterranean between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. More recently he has begun to focus specifically upon the theme of inter-faith relations between Christianity and Islam in this region. He has published extensively on topics connected to this subject area, writing a range of monographs and scholarly articles. He is also an editor for the Ashgate series Rulers of the Latin East.

Currently Dr Morton is completing a monograph exploring the First Crusaders' attitudes and behaviour towards the various non-Christian peoples they encountered during their campaign. This will be a highly revisionist work addressing many key scholarly and public orthodoxies surrounding the nature of Christian/Islamic interaction during the crusade.