State and Religion

Even if you know little else about Medieval history, you have likely heard of the Crusades, a series of major military struggles between the European kingdoms and the rising Islamic powers for the control over the Holy Land (modern-day Israel, and especially, Jerusalem). But were the Crusades entirely about religion? And what was the impact of the Crusades on Europe, the Byzantine World, and the Islamic World both in the short term and in the long term? This essay is an opportunity for you to consider the origins of the First Crusade and its subsequent development in more detail through the eyes of eye-witnesses and subsequent medieval historians.

Please select TWO sources from this collection of primary sources about the First Crusade: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/sbook1k.asp#The%20First%20Crusade

Based on your sources and their chosen topics of focus, please write an essay considering 2 of the following questions:

How were the aims of the Christians and Muslims involved in the Crusades different?
What are some examples of the Christian Crusaders completely misunderstanding Middle Eastern society and the religion of Islam?
How were the goals of Pope Urban II different from Alexius, emperor of Byzantium?
How do different historians present the events of the First Crusade? Do they see the events as praise-worthy or problematic, and why?
How do the early European historians of the First Crusade describe their Muslim opponents? Why was this, that is what was their bias? Were these legitimate biases?
How did the Crusades transform Europe? That is, how did it affect trade, affluence, and religion?
How did the Crusades transform the Middle East? That is regarding trade, affluence, and religion?
Who attacked the Jews living in Europe during this period, and why? How were these attacks connected to the Crusade?
According to the different historians, what were the aims and motivations of the Crusaders? Were their motivations entirely religious?
Who “won” the Crusades? That is, were the goals of the original Crusaders met and how has this affected YOUR personal ideas about the difference between your country and the modern Middle East?
Writing Guidelines–PLEASE READ THESE VERY CAREFULLY–THEY ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST ESSAY YOU DID IN THIS CLASS:

Your completed assignment should be 700-1000 words minimum.
You must double space your essay.
Your essay must have the following components (sections):
A clear introduction which does the following:
places the subject within the proper historical period with dates and the era’s name,
should include the geographical region you are discussing,
should introduce your subjects in a manner that demonstrates you understand the subject.
Finally, your introduction ought to have the purpose of your essay.
A methodology–in this section, you explain in specific detail the allowed sources you used and how they were important to your research.
A very specific thesis statement that provides your perspective/argumentative position to the question among the list above you chose.
Your main body of your essay–this should be in multiple paragraphs by subject.
Your essay’s conclusion which restates the main points of your defense.
Cite each and every paragraph in your essay using only Turabian style footnotes–you may not use any parenthetical style citation in the text of the essay itself. Since no paragraph in your essay will be what is known as “common” knowledge and you’ll be relying on our allowed sources throughout, every paragraph will need at least one footnote at the end of the paragraph. If you use multiple sources in a paragraph, separate your sources in your footnotes with a semi-colon.
Your essay needs a Turabian style, alphabetized bibliography at the end of the essay and not as a separate page.
Be original – All papers submitted in this class are reviewed via Turnitin.com, a proprietary software database that identifies unoriginal material in papers. Please review the syllabus statement regarding the penalty for plagiarism which for this assignment would be a zero for the exercise.