Dear Friends, With great sadness, we have to share the news that Peter Lock passed away on September 6, 2026. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He will be greatly missed.
Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East
@latineast.bsky.social
The SSCLE is a non profit international organization aimed to support the scholarly investigation of all aspects of the Crusades and the Latin East
Happy #ManuscriptMonday with this 14th-century of the Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar (1299), between the Mongols and the Mamluks. [Paris. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, NAF 886, fol. 31]
Last week in London, scholars from fourteen institutions gathered for Rethinking Innocent IV and the Crusades: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry (24 and 25 September), convened by Collette Firestone and Alessandro Scalone with the support of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East.
Good morning and happy #ManuscriptMonday! Today, we will look at the Catalan Atlas, one of the finest examples of medieval mapmaking from late 14th-century Catalunya. Jerusalem is located prominently at the center of the world. (BnF, Département des Manuscrits, Espagnol 30)
Happy #ManuscriptMonday! A striking image of the Turkish siege of Rhodes from Guillaume Caoursin's Gestorum Rhodie obsidionis commentarii. 📍 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 6067, fol. 50v #MedievalManuscripts #Crusades #MilitaryOrders #Hospitallers
Happy #ManuscriptMonday! This delightful historiated initial S depicts the Tomb of Christ within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, complete with its hanging lamp on folio 102v of a copy of William of Tyre's Chronicle [BnF, MS Français 9082]
The Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East mourns the loss of Dr Jean Mesqui, who passed away on 24 July 2026. www.sscle.org/post/in-memo...
📢 Conference Announcement Registration is now open for Rethinking Innocent IV and the Crusades: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry, an international hybrid conference taking place in London on 24–25 September 2026.
Happy #ManuscriptMonday! Today we will take a look at Élie de Saint-Gilles and Aiol et Mirabel, two chansons de geste from the early 13th century. They recount the adventures of Élie and his son Aiol. Much of the plot is set in a fictionalized Muslim Spain. (BnF, Français 25516, fol. 82r & 133v)
🇲🇹⚔️📖 - Conference Announcement The IX International Military Orders Conference, "Documents and Monuments", will take place in Malta from 9 to 12 September 2026, organised by Emanuel Buttigieg and Valeria Vanesio. www.um.edu.mt/events/milit...
Happy #ManuscriptMonday! A striking image of the Turkish fleet arriving at the siege of Rhodes in 1480, from Guillaume Caoursin's Gestorum Rhodie obsidionis commentarii. 📍 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 6067, fol. 18r #MedievalManuscripts
Happy #ManuscriptMonday with this wonderful view of Jerusalem from Konrad Grünenberg, Beschreibung der Reise von Konstanz nach Jerusalem (ca. 1487). Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek Cod. St. Peter, pap. 32, fol 35v-36r.
For this #MonumentsMonday, we have some more pictures from the trip to the Templar Castle in Tomar, notably from the parts of the citadel built in the modern period when the site came into the hands of the Order of Christ. #crusade #crusades #academia #scholarship #sscle
📢 Conference Announcement Registration is now open for Rethinking Innocent IV and the Crusades: A Multidisciplinary Inquiry, an international hybrid conference taking place in London on 24–25 September 2026.
Happy #MonumentMonday! Next up from our conference trip to Tomar is the remarkable Charola in the Templar castle. #crusade #crusades #academia #scholarship
Happy #Monumentmonday! We will start sharing some impressions from the conference trip to Tomar in the coming weeks. First up is Santa Maria do Olival. #sscle2026
🎊 Congratulations to Glauber Wisniewski, winner of the SSCLE Best Paper Prize 2026, presented at the 2026 SSCLE Conference in Porto. The prize was awarded to his "Jewish Participation in the Templar Occupation of Lleida: Economy and Society on the Aragonese Frontier (12th Century)".
🎊 Congratulations to Ann E. Zimo, winner of the SSCLE Best First Book Prize 2026. The prize was awarded for her In Plain Sight: Muslims of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024). www.sscle.org/post/sscle-a...
🎊 Congratulations to Benjamin Z. Kedar and Thomas W. Smith, joint winners of the SSCLE Best Book Prize 2026, presented at the 2026 SSCLE Conference in Porto. Read the committee's remarks here: www.sscle.org/post/sscle-a...
In this episode, I talk to Dr Ahmed Sheir, Postdoctoral Researcher @lmu.de in Munich, about his book on Prester John, a mighty a legendary Christian priest-king whose kingdom lay somewhere in the East… @latineast.bsky.social @socmedimedit.bsky.social youtu.be/KEqhh09x690?...
The Legend that Moved Armies
YouTube video by Crusading History
youtu.be
📚 #newrelease – Writing in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: Inscription and Graffiti in a Multilingual and Multigraphic Perspective, edited by Estelle Ingrand-Varenne & Clément Dussart (Brepols, 2026) www.brepols.net/products/IS-...
📚 #newrelease – Thomas Smith, The Fifth Crusade: A History of the Epic Campaign to Conquer Egypt (Yale University Press, 2026) yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
📚 #newrelease – Gaëlle Audéon, La Septième croisade et le vrai Louis IX (Éditions Harmattan, 2026) www.editions-harmattan.fr/catalogue/li...
Immeasurable thanks to the SSCLE @latineast.bsky.social and the University of Porto for a brilliant and highly memorable conference!
Kate Arnold@dulcimerkate.bsky.social · 3mo agoA few final pics from the Convento de Cristo, Tomar, Portugal last week. Serene and peaceful cloisters after the sensory overload of the church ...
Here beginneth pics from my two-week medieval conference-a-thon! First up, from SSCLE Porto @latineast.bsky.social, this huge wooden pipe in the round church of the Convento de Cristo, Tomar, Portugal. According to our guide, it's 12th-14th C and created a low drone to accompany the monks' chanting.
📚 #newrelease – Encounters: The Crusades in 50 Objects, edited by Cathleen A. Fleck, Elizabeth Lapina, Richard A. Leson & Vardit Ruth Shotten (Routledge, June 2026) www.routledge.com/Encounters-T...
Medieval warriors are often portrayed as brave, brutal and impulsive, but not strategic. In this blog Steve Tibble shows otherwise. Although few written plans survive, their actions reveal a clear and consistent vision for survival yalebooks.co.uk/the-hidden-s... #MedievalSky @latineast.bsky.social
The Hidden Strategy of the Crusader States
Medieval warriors are often portrayed as brave, brutal and impulsive, but not especially strategic. In this blogpost, Steve Tibble, author of The Crusader
yalebooks.co.uk
Our publishing manager Chris Vanden Borre is attending the @latineast.bsky.social 11th quadrennial Conference in Porto this week. Make sure to drop by, discover our newest titles and learn more about publishing with us! www.brepols.net/authors #Crusades #MedievalSky #Crusading #sslce2026
🥳 Congrats to Thomas Smith who won the Best Book Award for Rewriting the First Crusade awarded every 4 years by the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East! Now available in paperback too! 👉 buff.ly/YJ7Ls6y @latineast.bsky.social #IMC2026 #MedievalSky @imc-leeds.bsky.social
