History and religion of the Arab-Muslim world I

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Frédéric Bauden, Bogdan Smarandache

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

War and Peace during the crusades: Islamic perspectives

This course deals with the relations between Muslims and Christians during the period of the crusades, concentrating especially on hostile interactions and peaceful exchanges. Instead of focusing on the crusades as defining events of the period, the course considers long periods of stable relations, multi-directional relations, and daily interactions. This allows the crusades to be put in perspective as sporadic interruptions to ongoing processes. The course will begin with the political situation in the early 11th century. Then, it will touch on the links between Muslim and Christian societies in the Mediterranean, the origins, definitions, and perceptions of the crusades according to Islamic sources, Muslim reactions to crusade campaigns and colonization, and finally the legacy of the crusades and contemporary jihad discourse. The course will also highlight the diversity of dynasties, ethnicities, and Muslim sects, and the diversity of crusader movements and the people who participated in them.

Each session will be devoted to broader events and chronology, especially transitions between Islamic dynasties; social developments in Islamic lands; and the succession of crusades, alongside themes that will reappear throughout the course. The themes to be discussed will include: the issue of Muslim resistance to the presence of crusaders and Franks, protocols of negotiation and agreements negotiated by Muslim sovereigns and their Christian counterparts, colonization and the daily life of civilians, material and non-material exchanges in terms of cuisine, art, commerce, language, and knowledge.

 

The course will concentrate on Islamic perspectives in the following contexts:

1) Relations between Byzantium, the Normans, and Italians during the Fatimid and Seljuk periods;

2) The Papacy, the genesis of the crusading movement, and the Muslim societies confronted by the crusades;

3) Muslim reactions to the settlement of the Franks: between the First Crusade and the rise of the Zengids;

4) The Third Crusade: the limits of warfare and diplomacy;

5) Muslim powers confronted by the expansion of Christianity in the Mediterranean in the 13th century; and,

6) Effects, responses, and the contemporary legacy of the crusades.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

By the end of the course, students will have a basic understanding of the chronology of the Near East during the crusades and be able to define what a crusade was, explain its effects and Muslim reactions, identify principal sources, and compare and critically read accounts and studies that treat the periods.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

None

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course will be given ex cathedra.

During the course lectures, raising questions and participating in further discussion on the readings listed in the bibliography will be encouraged.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

Formal presentation with Powerpoint presentations.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège


Further information:

A more specific bibliography will be provided for distinct thematics studied during the course, for students wishing to study the content in more depth.

The presentation slides of each lectures will be posted on MyULiège at the end of each session.



Recommended Reading

General handbooks and syntheses 

J.-C. Garcin et alii, États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiéval (Xe-XVe siècles). Tome 1, L'évolution politique et sociale, Paris, Nouvelle Clio, 1995.

Denoix et H. Renel (éd.), Atlas des mondes musulmans médiévaux, Québec, Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 2022.

Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, Edimbourg, Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

M. Cobb, The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014.

H. A. R. Gibb et alii, Encyclopédie de l'Islam, Leiden, Brill, 1960-.


 

Readings on specific course topics

1

- J.-C. Garcin et alii, États, sociétés et cultures du monde musulman médiéval (Xe-XVe siècles). Tome 1, L'évolution politique et sociale, Paris, Nouvelle Clio, 1995.

- P. M. Cobb, The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014.

- C. Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, Edimbourg, Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

 

2

- P. Chevedden. « The Islamic View and the Christian View of the Crusades: A New Synthesis », History, 93/310, 2008, p. 181-200.

- H. E. J. Cowdrey, « Pope Urban II and the Idea of Crusade », Studi medievali, ser. III, 36, 1995, p. 721-742.

- F. Micheau, « L'Orient musulman face aux croisades », dans. F. Micheau (éd.), Les relations des pays d'Islam avec le monde latin du milieu du Xe siècle au milieu du XIIIe siècle, Paris, Association pour le développement de l'histoire économique, 2001, p. 11-13.

- C. Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, Edimbourg, Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

 

3

- C. Cahen, « Notes sur l'histoire des croisades et de l'Orient latin: le régime rural syrien au temps de la domination franques », Bulletin de la Faculté des Lettres de l'Université de Strasbourg, 29, 1951, p. 286-310.

- E. Sivan, L'Islam et la croisade. Idéologie et propagande dans les réactions musulmanes aux Croisades, Paris, Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient, 1968.

 

4

- A.-M. Eddé, Saladin, Paris, Flammarion, 2008.

 

5

- H. Bresc, « Frédéric II et l'Islam », in A.-M. F. Héricher (éd.), Frédéric II (1194-1250) et l'héritage normand de Sicile, Caen, Presses universitaires de Caen, 2001, p. 79-92.

- S. A. Mourad, « Crusader-Muslim Relations: The Power of Diplomacy in a Troubling Age », dans H. Williams, D. Boucher, P. Sutch, D. Reidy et A. Koutsoukis, The Palgrave Handbook of International Political Theory, vol. I, Cham, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2023, p. 125-46.

- A.-A. Khowaiter, Baibars the First: His Endeavours and Achievements, London, The Green Mountain Press, 1978.

- P. Thorau, The Lion of Egypt: Sultan Baybars I and the Near East in the Thirteenth Century, trans. P. M. Holt, New York, Longman, 1992.

- P. M. Holt, Early Mamluk Diplomacy (1260-1290): Treaties of Baybars and Qalawun with Christian Rulers, Leiden, Brill, 1995.

 

6

- F. Micheau, « Les croisades vues par les historiens arabes d'hier et d'aujourd'hui », dans. A. Vauchez (dir.), Le concile de Clermont de 1095 et l'appel à la croisade. Actes du Colloque Universitaire International de Clermont-Ferrand (23-25 juin 1995), Rome, École Française de Rome/Palais Farne`se, 1997, p. 65-83.

- C. Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, Edimbourg, Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam


Further information:

Oral examination

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Course director

Prof. Frédéric BAUDEN
Département des Sciences de l'Antiquité
Place du 20-Août, 7 à B-4000 Liège
Tél. 04 366 53 32 - Fax 04 366 56 55
E-mail F.Bauden@ulg.ac.be
Secrétariat
Valérie ELIAS
Tél. 04 366 55 44

Course lecturer
Dr. Bogdan SMARANDACHE
Département des Sciences de l'Antiquité
Place du 20-Août, 7 à B-4000 Liège
Adresse mail : Bogdan.Smarandache@uliege.be

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online