Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	1508
Title	Crusading, Identity, and Otherness, I: Women, Children, and the Old
Date/Time	Thursday 6 July 2017: 09.00-10.30
Sponsor	Northern Network for the Study of the Crusades
Organiser	Kathryn Hurlock, Department of History, Politics & Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University
	Sini Kangas, History, Philosophy & Literary Studies Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University
	Jason T. Roche, Department of History, Politics & Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University
Moderator/Chair	Jason T. Roche, Department of History, Politics & Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University
Paper 1508-a	The Young and The Old - Feeble Crusaders?: Age in the 12th- and 13th-Century Sources of the Crusades (Language: English) Sini Kangas, History, Philosophy & Literary Studies Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University Index Terms: Crusades; Pagan Religions
Paper 1508-b	Women and Children as Victims of the Baltic Crusades: A Case of 'Ritual Violence'? (Language: English) Torben Kjersgaard Nielsen, Institut for Kultur og Globale Studier, Aalborg Universitet Index Terms: Crusades; Pagan Religions
Paper 1508-c	The Damascene Frontier, 1099-1128: Frankish / Turkish Conflict and Peacemaking during the Post-First Crusade Era (Language: English) Nicholas E. Morton, Department of History, Languages & Global Cultures, Nottingham Trent University Index Terms: Crusades; Military History
Abstract	In the first of a series of linked sessions on the interrelated themes of crusading, identity, and otherness, Sini Kangas explores the understanding of youth and old age in the 12th- and 13th-century chronicles and chansons of the Crusades, showing how age is employed to shed light on specific contexts, offer additional information, and emphasise small but important details. Tørben Nielsen discusses the Christian expansion in pagan Livonia and Estonia between the years 1184 and 1227 as reported in the Chronicon Livoniae, and seeks to understand why women and children appear repeatedly in the text as the numberless and nameless victims of the crusading warfare. Nic Morton considers the Damascene frontier during the first three decades of the 12th century, and explains why the city's ruler, Tughtakin, was reluctant to risk a direct confrontation with the newly established Frankish settlers.