Denmark
and the crusading movement in the Middle Ages
- a course in history, spring 1998
Kurt Villads Jensen
Department of History
Odense Universitet, Campusvej 55
DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark
Time of class: Friday 10-12, room U62.
Language: English or Danish according to the participants' wish..
Summary: A summary in English of each class will be published on the Internet no later than the following monday afternoon in the hope that scholars and students outside Odense will read through it and comment upon it. Such comments will be discussed in class on the following friday.
If you want to have the summaries mailed directly to you, please send me an e-mail. The summaries can be found via the syllabus.
Aim of course: Danish involvement in the crusading movement, and conversely the impact of European crusading upon medieval Denmark, has not been studied by historians since the early nineteenth century. The lack of such studies is increasingly felt as an impediment to a better understanding of medieval history, not least because of the present, rapidly growing interest internationally in crusading history. These studies have expanded the concept "crusading" itself to include a wide variety of military actions throughout the whole middle ages, and they have also taken up an interest in new geographical areas and new source material, and they have posed new questions to old sources and institutions.
The aim of the course is to attempt to understand Danish medieval history in a crusading context. The course is roughly divided into three parts. The first will discuss the Danish historical tradition in this century in which crusading has simply been neglected. It will be suggested that the reason for this has been a markedly nationalistic approach among historians, focussing on people and land, not on faith or chivalry. The second part will be based on a detailed reading of medieval Danish sources to see how far they can be interpreted on the background of internationally debated issues such as motivations of crusaders, financing, and organization. The third part will discuss the relation between Denmark and Europe from two aspects: What was the role of Denmark in a European crusading policy; and how shall we then understand the functioning of the medieval country or kingdom of Denmark in contrast to the modern nation state.
Requirements: Participants are expected to give an oral presentation (10-15 min.) and write one short essay (3-5 pages) on a topic of their own choice or one from the topic-list.
Examens: The course can be a preparation for oral or written examens on level område 4 or higher. Hjemmeopgaver is highly recommended as the most difficult and academically challenging.