France and the Holy Land: Frankish Culture at the End of the Crusades (review)

Until recently, it would have been fair to say that interest in cultural life in the crusader East was relatively rare. Crusade historians frequently drew their generalizations about the social and intellectual life of the East, from rather unreliable comments in letters and chronicles. The impression gained was of a military society that went native, much to the chagrin of sturdy crusaders newly arrived from the West. The notion of a soft-living East, fostered by individuals like Bishop James of Vitry and by western anti-Byzantine propaganda, created the impression that Eastern Christians and Muslims were inferior and even corrupt. The present collection of essays, chiefly by art historians, demonstrates that a lively cultural life flourished at various levels and that interchange of styles and ideas characterized the region. The thirteen chapters contained in this volume, all but one of which were presented at a conference on "Frankish Culture at the End of the Crusades: France and the Holy Land," held at the Johns Hopkins University in March, 2000, are fruits of the research of an active and able group of scholars. The major emphasis is on the period after Louis IX's crusade and extending to the early fifteenth century. Obviously, it is impossible to do complete justice to the work in this review. I can only highlight points that I believe will interest readers of this journal.

The main theme of these essays is the interrelationship between the West, especially Francia, and the East, including Crusaders, Byzantines, and Muslims. The very first chapter, by Daniel Weiss, supports this theme by connecting the Morgan Picture Bible with a crusader culture in France. In some respects, Stephen Nichols has a more direct task in linking lyrical poetry to historical events. He suggests that this poetry shows a decline in enthusiasm for the crusades. Jonathan Riley Smith, on the other hand, traces the continuing commitment of the French monarchy, after the return home of Louis IX, to the military defense of the Holy Land. Gustav Kuhnel shows the influence of the image of the Emperor Heracles on crusade ideology in the West. Robert Ousterhout probes the use of French Gothic in the East and reaches a surprising conclusion that groined vaulting did not have a structural role there. David Jacoby surveys the place of Acre in the social, economic, and cultural life of the region. In an essay that deals with the earlier period, Jaroslav Folda examines the presence of German artists and patrons in Acre. Bianca Kühnel focuses on two manuscripts of the Histoire Universelle made in Acre. Her essay is followed by that of Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona, who compare treatment of the Amazons in Eastern and Western manuscripts of the Histoire. Rebecca Corrie continues her work on the Histoire ancienne, showing its transmission to the West. Anthony Cutler shows how Muslim features permeated Christian art in the region. Scott Redford's essay deals with circulation of Port of St. Symeon ware throughout the Mediterranean. In the final essay, Annemarie Weyl Carr takes us to Cyprus to explore the way in which Greek icons from local monasteries, especially the madonna of the Kykkos monastery, were objects of veneration by members of the Lusignan royal house.

Space does not permit extensive comment, but I would like to mention that Ibn Wasil's account of Louis IX's rebuke of a priest who sought to enter the al-Aqsa mosque with a Gospel book, is closely related to Sibt ibn al-Jauzi's story how Frederick II struck a priest who violated the treaty with al-Kamil at the Dome of the Rock. These stories served the propaganda needs of Muslim rulers. This book is especially valuable to both art historians and crusade historians, since it provides much that they would...