Welcome to lecture one of the series A Very Brief History of the Crusades, 1095-1291! 

This episode is taught by Dr. Andrew Latham and he carefully and thoroughly guides us through the background of the Crusades and how Holy War and Crusading was created in the Medieval World in "Western Christendom."

We begin with the Plague of Justinian and the stagnation of the Byzantine and Persian Empire which allowed the Arabian Armies of Islam to burst out and expand across the Middle East, into Africa and Europe.

We explore the creation and concept of Crusading and Holy War in "Latin Christendom," and the complexity and nature of these terms. We see the evolution of the idea of Crusading and Holy War as it changed and adapts to be used within Christendom itself when dealing with various heresies and heretical groups and we use the term heretic very much in a historical context rather than a modern view. We also see the concept expand to cover missionary expansion in the Baltic's but what is even more interesting is how we see how different these Crusades were by region and how they differed from each other whether it was in Northern / Eastern Europe, Iberia, the Middle East and Southern France. I loved this and I hope you all enjoy it as well. 

Support Dr. Latham and his work by checking out the links below and if possible support him with your patronage and purchase one or more of his books!

Academia : https://macalester.academia.edu/AndrewLatham

Website: https://andrewlatham.academia.edu/

His career: https://andrewlatham.academia.edu/cv

Get his books here! 

The Holy Lance: 

https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Latham-ebook/dp/B07DZ4TGR2

Theorizing Medieval Geopolitics: War and World Order in the Age of the Crusades (Routledge Research in Medieval Studies)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JL1RS2