History of the Crusades

Below are links to articles and research publications about the Crusades from the University of Wisconsin, Fordhan University, St. Louis University, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

This is an on-going personal project designed to provides links to many different resources to study of the Crusades so more links will be added over time.

We have to ask ourselves do historical facts show that Islamic leaders were imperialistic and aggressive?  Does some of that aggression and drive for Islamic hegemony come from the Quran itself where there are chapters on war and verses that state Islam is to rein supreme over all other religions?

First, to get a better understanding, we need to study the history of the Islamic caliphates.  A very basic starting point comes from a list of caliphs from Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is not generally a good source, in and of itself, but it does provides us a list of the caliphs and resources to study further.  So each source cited has to be evaluated individually.

CALIPHATES:

Abu Bakr- First Rashidun (Four Righteously Guided Caliphs) of the Sunnis. Subdued rebel tribes in the Ridda wars.

Umar(Umar ibn al-Khattab) - Second Rashidun. During his reign, the Islamic empire expanded to include Egypt, Jerusalem, and Persia.

Uthman Ibn Affan- Third Rashidun. The Qur'an was compiled under his direction. Killed by rebels.

Ali(Ali ibn Abu Talib) - Fourth and last Rashidun, and considered the first imam by Shi'a Muslims. His reign was fraught with internal conflict.

Hasan ibn Ali- Fifth Caliph (considered as "rightly guided" by many Sunnis as well as Shias). He ruled for six months only and handed the powers to Muawiyah I in order to unite the Muslims again.

Muawiyah I- First caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. Muawiyah instituted dynastic rule by appointing his son Yazid I as his successor, a trend that would continue through subsequent caliphates.

Umar ibn AbdulAziz- Umayyad caliph considered by some (mainly Sunnis) to be a sixth true and legitimate caliph under Islamic Laws of electing Caliph.

Harun al-Rashid- An Abbasid caliph during whose reign Baghdad became the world's prominent centre of trade, learning, and culture. Harun is the subject of many stories in the famous work One Thousand and One Nights.

Suleiman the Magnificent - Early Ottoman Sultan during whose reign the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith.

Abdul Hamid II - The last Ottoman Sultan to rule with absolute power.

Abdülmecid II- The last Caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty, the 101st Caliph in line from Caliph Abu Bakr and nominally the 37th Head of the Ottoman Imperial House.

Caliphates:  University of Wisconsin

History of Islam:  A Brief History of Islam. The Rightly guided Caliphs; The Caliphate; Umayyad; Abbasids; North Africa And Spain; After the Mangol Invasion; Ottoman Empire ...

Caliphate (Islamic history) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia   -

Britannica online encyclopedia article on Caliphate (Islamic history), the political-religious state comprising the Muslim community and the lands and ...

 

Islam, A World Civilization  

Already during the early Muslim caliphates, first the Arabs, then the Persians and later the Turks ... A Brief History of Islam, The Rightly Guided Caliphs ...Not only did the Islamic conquests continue during this period through North Africa to Spain and France in the West and to Sind, Central Asia and Transoxiana in the East, but the basic social and legal institutions of the newly founded Islamic world were established.

CRUSADES:

A History of the Crusades published by the University of Wisconsin Press

Published over a twenty year period beginning in 1969, was intended to serve as a collaborative and comprehensive treatment of the topic, ranging in time from the first 100 years of the Crusades to their ultimate impact on the histories of the Near East and Europe. The work is comprised of six volumes, each of which is included here in its entirety.

 Each section is searchable: 

The first hundred years (1969)

The later Crusades, 1189-1311 (1969)

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (1975)

The art and architecture of the crusader states (1977)

The impact of the Crusades on the Near East (1985)

The impact of the Crusades on Europe (1989)

Links in this database that came up with the word "Islamic"

The first hundred years (1969)

III: The Caliphate and the Arab States, pp. [80]-98

Page 88  (1 match)
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IV: The Ismailites and the Assassins, pp. 99-[133]

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V: The Turkish Invasion: The Selchukids, pp. [134]-176

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XVIII: The Rise of Saladin, 1169-1189, pp. 562-589

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Index, pp. 667-707

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The Crusades:  Fordham University

The Real History of the Crusades  by Dr. Thomas Madden who is chair of the department of history at Saint Louis University

"...So what is the truth about the Crusades? Scholars are still working some of that out. But much can already be said with certainty. For starters, the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression—an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands...

Thomas F. Madden is associate professor and chair of the Department of History at Saint Louis University. He is the author of numerous works, including The New Concise History of the Crusades, and co-author, with Donald Queller, of The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople. This special version for the ARMA was reprinted by permission of Crisis Magazine,www.crisismagazine.com.

The First Crusade  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In November 1095, Pope Urban II preached a sermon at Clermont-Ferrand in France to launch the First Crusade. The aim was to aid the Christians of the East and return to Christian control the Holy Sepulcher, the church in Jerusalem said to contain the tomb of Christ. Absolution from sin and eternal glory were promised to the Crusaders..."

Second and Third Crusade
In 1147–49, the Second Crusade, championed by the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, attempted to take Damascus in Syria. The campaign was a dismal failure because the Muslims had regrouped...

According to Islamicity, the Crusades were a minor irritant.

Jordan - History - The Islamic Periods and the Crusades   King Hussein.gov

A comprehensive review of the history of Jordan from Ancient times (500 000 BCE) to date. Jordan has been home to some of the oldest and greatest :

The Muslims wasted no time in taking Damascus, and in 661 CE proclaimed it the capital of the Umayyad Empire.

The impetus for the Crusades came from a plea for help from the Emperor of Constantinople, Alexius, who in 1095 reported to his Christian European brothers that his city, the last bastion of Byzantine Christendom, was under imminent threat of attack by the Muslim Turks. The prospect of such a severe defeat prompted Pope Urban II to muster support for Constantinople as well as for the retaking of Jerusalem...

 

Additional reference:

 

History of Jerusalem - Arab Caliphates Christian Crusaders and ...  

A selection of articles related to History of Jerusalem - Arab CaliphatesChristian Crusaders and early Ottoman rule 638-1800s. 

Crusade Propaganda by Thomas F. Madden on National Review Online  

November 2, 2001 8:34 AM Crusade Propaganda The abuse of Christianity's holy wars. By Thomas F. Madden. Since September 11 the crusades are news. ...

Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East 2009 Conference May 7-9, 2009

1924 NYT:  WHY THE TURKS GOT RID OF CALIPHATE; Had Become Centre of Domestic Plots and …