Christian Society and the Crusades, 1198-1229 - Sources in Translation,
including "The Capture of Damietta" by Oliver of Paderborn
Book description
During the thirteenth century, the widespread conviction that the
Christian lands in Syria and Palestine were of utmost importance to
Christendom, and that their loss was a sure sign of God's displeasure
with Christian society, pervaded nearly all levels of thought. Yet
this same society faced other crises: religious dissent and unorthodox
beliefs were proliferating in western Europe, and the powers
exercised, or claimed, by the kings of Europe were growing rapidly.
The sources presented here illustrate the rising criticism of
the changing Crusade idea. They reflect a sharpened awareness among
Europeans of themselves as a community of Christians and the slow
beginnings of the secular culture and political organization of Europe.
Edward Peters is Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at the
University of Pennsylvania. His publications include The Magician, the
Witch, and the Law, Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, The First
Crusade, and, with Alan C. Kors, Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: A
Documentary History, all available from the University of Pennsylvania
Press.
