Articles by Jason T . Roche
International Journal of Military History and Historiography: Special Issue: The Appropriation and Weaponisation of the Crusades in the Modern Era, guest editor Jason T. Roche, 2021
Islamic State propaganda manipulated and combined a culturally embedded sense of Islamic history ... more Islamic State propaganda manipulated and combined a culturally embedded sense of Islamic history with a heady, potent mixture of classical and radical apocalyptic, and real and supposed Islamic authority, both sacred and profane. Tapping into a widespread belief in the approach of the Last Hour, the group attempted to change an established "crusader master narrative" by giving "crusaders" and their "crusade" integral roles in Islamic sacred history and an impending Islamic State apocalypse.
International Journal of Military History and Historiography. Special Issue: “The Appropriation and Weaponisation of the Crusades in the Modern Era”, guest editor, Jason T. Roche, Volume 41(2): 187-207, 2021
The introductory article proposes the hypothesis, which informed the decision making and editoria... more The introductory article proposes the hypothesis, which informed the decision making and editorial work in the Special Issue, that appropriations and weaponisations of the crusades in the modern era rely on culturally embedded master narratives of the past that are often thought to encompass public or cultural memories. Crucially, medievalism, communicated through metonyms, metaphors, symbols and motifs frequently acts as a placeholder instead of the master narratives themselves. The article addresses differences between medievalists' and modernists' conceptions of crusades, especially highlighting how the very meaning of words - such as crusade - differ in the respective fields. But the matter at hand goes beyond semantics, for the notion that the act of crusading is a live and potent issue is hard to ignore. There exists a complex and multifaceted crusading present. That people can appeal to master narratives of the crusades via mutable medievalism, which embodies zero-sum, Manichaean-type "clash of civilisations" scenarios, helps explain the continued appeal of the crusades to those who seek to weaponise them. It is hoped that the contributions to the special issue, introduced towards the end of the article, further a better understanding of the ways this has happened in the modern era.
in Fighting for the Faith – The Many Crusades, eds. Kurt Villens Jensen, Carsten Selch Jensen & Janus Møller Jensen, pp. 143-73, 2018
This article offers a unique comparison of the descriptions of the Latin barbarians found mainly ... more This article offers a unique comparison of the descriptions of the Latin barbarians found mainly in the Greek sources for the First and Second Crusades with those of the ancient barbarians described in the works of the Byzantines’ favourite tragedian, Euripides. The Greek narratives of Anna Komnene, John Kinnamos and Niketas Choniates, to which should now be added little-known Greek verse encomia composed by so-called ‘Manganeios Prodromos’, are crucial to our understanding of the history of the crusades. Yet, until now, the fundamental reason these key texts portray the crusaders in the manner they do has not been fully exposed.
Published in summer 2017.
So-called Islamic State (IS) continues to use its online propaganda mag... more Published in summer 2017.
So-called Islamic State (IS) continues to use its online propaganda magazine to appropriate the Crusades of the central middle ages. By blurring time periods and disparate historical phenomena, IS presents its readers with a narrative of continuous Western “crusader” aggression as a rallying cry for support and a justification for its actions. This “crusader” narrative has little basis in historical fact – but it does make for powerful propaganda.
The aim of this short article is modest: it means to fill a lacuna in scholarly output by offerin... more The aim of this short article is modest: it means to fill a lacuna in scholarly output by offering a concise and accessible survey of the physical structure of the typical west Anatolian town in the High Middle Ages. Attempts to locate such a study meet with disappointment. If one wishes to look through the eyes of medieval travellers in Anatolia, whether they be merchants, pilgrims or soldiers, and discover what type of construction they witnessed when approaching and entering a typical town, one is compelled to trawl through a great number of specialist articles and monographs dealing with specific archaeological sites or particular narrow periods of history. This laborious exercise will be made somewhat redundant by a brief synthesis of the appropriate evidence which historians and archaeologists have addressed and compiled since the late 1950s when attempting to reconstruct the development of the Byzantine city. The article traces the slow development of the typical Anatolian urban form and aspect from the late fourth century, through the mid-seventh to mid-eighth centuries, and then through to a period of urban recovery until the latter part of the twelfth century. The choice of periods separated by some 800 years is
not arbitrary: the physical character (and function) of the typical town began to change in the late fourth century, and the form it obtained during the seventh and eighth centuries continued to be the one retained (with inconsequential variations to the general pattern)
during the intermediate periods of Byzantine recovery.
The Second Crusade (1145-49) is thought to have encompassed near simultaneous Christian attacks o... more The Second Crusade (1145-49) is thought to have encompassed near simultaneous Christian attacks on Muslim towns and cities in Syria and Iberia and pagan Wend strongholds around the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. The motivations underpinning the attacks on Damascus, Lisbon and – taken collectively – the Wendish strongholds have come in for particular attention. The doomed decision to assault Damascus in 1148 rather than recover Edessa, the capital of the first so-called crusader state, was once thought to be ill-conceived. Historians now believe the city was attacked because Damascus posed a significant threat to the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem when the Second Crusaders arrived in the East. The assault on Lisbon and the Wendish strongholds fell into a long-established pattern of regional, worldly aggression and expansion; therefore, historians tend not to ascribe any spiritual impulses behind the native Christians' decisions to attack their enemies. Indeed, the siege of Lisbon by an allied force of international crusaders and those of the Portuguese ruler, Afonso Henriques, is perceived primarily as a politico-strategic episode in the ongoing Christian-Muslim conflict in Iberia – commonly referred to as the reconquista. The native warrior and commercial elite undoubtedly had various temporal reasons for engaging in warfare in Iberia and the Baltic region between 1147 and 1149, although the article concludes with some notes of caution before clinically construing motivation from behaviour in such instances.
The volume brings together 'articles written by more than 40 leading experts in the field.' This ... more The volume brings together 'articles written by more than 40 leading experts in the field.' This short essay discusses the consequences of the crusading movement on the multi-layered development of medieval western Europe and on inter-faith relations, and first appeared as ‘Crusades in the Holy Land and Egypt (Consequences)’ in 2011 on ABC-CLIO's online database: World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society.
The volume brings together 'concise, accessible articles written by more than 40 leading experts ... more The volume brings together 'concise, accessible articles written by more than 40 leading experts in the field'. This short essay offers an overview of the modern scholarly debates and popular explanations for the origins of the crusading movement, and first appeared as ‘Crusades in the Holy Land and Egypt (Causes)’ in 2011 on ABC-CLIO's online database: World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society.
This introductory article serves a number of purposes. It offers an abridged narrative of the sco... more This introductory article serves a number of purposes. It offers an abridged narrative of the scope of the Second Crusade and introduces the major debates associated with the venture. All the contributions to the present volume are introduced within this framework and, when applicable, their place in the current historiography is highlighted. While serving as a concise introduction to the multifaceted nature of the crusade and, for the first time, drawing attention to the main debates associated with it within a single article, the historiographical discussion of this remarkable mid-twelfth-century endeavour has necessarily proved to be a testing ground for a familiar although still unresolved debate: what do scholars mean when the employ the terms ‘crusading’, ‘crusade’ and ‘crusader’?
Niketas Choniates’s well-known narrative of the Second Crusade is frequently cited as evidence th... more Niketas Choniates’s well-known narrative of the Second Crusade is frequently cited as evidence that the Byzantines, and particularly the emperor, Manuel I Komnenos, were responsible for the destruction of the French and German crusades in Anatolia in 1147. This short article in honour of the late Prof. Iþýn Demirkent of Boğazici University (Istanbul) argues that his history of the crusade is problematic owing to a number of reasons. Most notably, Roche demonstrates that Choniates's necessary dependence on oral evidence gathered some 55 years after the events recalled, and the manner in which he interpreted the fall of Constantinople in 1204 as an act of divine retribution, produces a highly distorted history of the events in 1147.
History, 2009
The main aims of this article are threefold. It initially seeks to address two popular
misconcept... more The main aims of this article are threefold. It initially seeks to address two popular
misconceptions frequently found in crusade histories and general histories of the Byzantine empire concerning the Turkish invasion and settlement of western Anatolia after the battle of Mantzikert in 1071. The article maintains that blurring the distinctions between the Seljuk Turks of Rum and the tribes of pastoral nomads or rather transhumants who came to be known as Türkmens or Turcomans is incorrect. The oft-repeated assumption that the Seljuk Turks of Baghdad oversaw the Turkish conquest of Anatolia is addressed when tracing the unstructured nature of the Turkish migration and the subsequent lack of unity amongst the invaders. After providing the context of the Turkish settlement in western Anatolia, the article throws new light on the relative ease with which the armies of the First Crusade traversed the Anatolian plateau and Byzantine forces compelled the speedy capitulation of Turkish towns and territories along the western coastal plains and
river valleys of Anatolia in 1097 and 1098 respectively.
During the course of the Second Crusade in 1147, an army nominally led by King Conrad III of Germ... more During the course of the Second Crusade in 1147, an army nominally led by King Conrad III of Germany advanced through the Balkan provinces of the Byzantine Empire en route to Constantinople. It has long been held that the German march through Byzantine territory and the crusaders’ stay outside the Byzantine capital posed significant threats to Constantinople’s security, were characterised by gratuitous plunder and destruction, and that they gave rise to mutual hostility between Conrad III and the Byzantine emperor, Manuel I Komnenos. These conventional notions stem from the work of Bernard Kugler, Ferdinand Chalandon and Steven Runciman, and they are heavily dependent upon literal readings of the Latin text of Odo of Deuil and the Greek narratives of Niketas Choniates and John Kinnamos in particular. This article will highlight a number of obvious concerns with the well-known Greek sources including the lack of supporting data for the testimonies they provide and the ways in which rhetorical conventions and the authors’ agenda influence their evidence. Through the exposition of two Greek verse encomia composed by the so-called ‘Manganeios Prodromos’, the article takes particular issue with John Kinnamos’s testimony. As will be seen, an appreciation of the eulogistic aims and rhetorical methods of the verse encomiasts, and an understanding of the ways in which the encomiastic rhetorical tradition is evident throughout the Greek narratives are essential to an interpretation of the Germans’ advance in the Byzantine empire.
Books by Jason T . Roche
Brepols Publishers, 2021
This book represents the first work of history dedicated to the crusade of King Conrad III of Ger... more This book represents the first work of history dedicated to the crusade of King Conrad III of Germany (1146-1148), emperor-elect of the Western Roman Empire and the most powerful man yet to assume the Cross. Scrutinising and expounding the original source evidence to an unparalleled degree, and employing a range of innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches, this work challenges the traditional and more recent historiography at every turn leading to a significantly clearer and appreciably different understanding of the expedition’s complex and much-maligned history.
A seminal article published by Giles Constable in 1953 focused on the genesis and expansion in th... more A seminal article published by Giles Constable in 1953 focused on the genesis and expansion in the scope of the Second Crusade, with particular attention to what has become known as the Syrian campaign. His central thesis maintained that by the spring of 1147 the Church ‘viewed and planned’ the Second Crusade as a general Christian offensive against the Muslims of Syria and the Iberian Peninsula and the pagan Wends of the southern Baltic lands. Constable’s work remains extremely influential and provides the framework for the recent major works published on this extraordinary twelfth-century phenomenon. This volume aims to readdress scholarly predilections for concentrating on the venture in the Near East and for narrowly focusing on the accepted targets of the crusade. It aims instead to place established, contentious, and new events and concepts associated with the enterprise in a wider ideological, chronological, geopolitical, and geographical context.
Book Reviews by Jason T . Roche
British Journal for Military History , 2021
Authoritative and incisive, and spanning centuries and vast geographical distances, this beautifu... more Authoritative and incisive, and spanning centuries and vast geographical distances, this beautifully illustrated book brings to life the incredible variety and richness of the crusaders’ material worlds. It sets the new standard for entry-level books on the crusades.
Al-Masāq 33,1: 85-86, 2021
Remembering the Crusades in Medieval Texts and Songs is a slender volume published under the ausp... more Remembering the Crusades in Medieval Texts and Songs is a slender volume published under the auspices of The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture. The seven short articles reflect the interests of a generation of scholars and friends trained at UK universities who seek here to contribute to a very recent trend in crusade scholarship and wider interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary areas of research that pursue a greater understanding of the interrelationship between culture and memory.
Al-Masāq, 27:3, 304-307, 2015
This is a volume of essays that utilise a variety of source material and a range of approaches an... more This is a volume of essays that utilise a variety of source material and a range of approaches and methodologies, some that seek to advance debate in core areas, and others that might well open new vistas for future research. Much like Professor France’s own work, the fifteen essays address a wide variety of topics that span an impressive chronological and thematic range, although, perhaps rather fittingly, there is a concentration of essays that in one way or another address the military history of the First Crusade, to which so much is owed to John France. Dr John and Dr Morton are to be congratulated on producing a fine celebration of Professor France’s sustained contribution to the history of crusading and warfare in the middle ages.
Al-Masāq, 30:2, 234-235 , 2018
In the popular imagination, the First Crusaders are often considered religious fanatics bent on k... more In the popular imagination, the First Crusaders are often considered religious fanatics bent on killing Muslims and destroying Islam; the First Crusade (1095–1099), in other words, is popularly conceived as a “head-to-head confrontation between the forces of Christianity and Islam” as the sleeve to Encountering Islam on the First Crusade notes. Nicholas Morton sets out to debunk this binary notion of the First Crusade by examining what Latin Christians actually knew – and did not know – about the Islamic and partly Islamised peoples encountered by the First Crusaders.
Al-Masāq, 29:2, 199-200, 2017
This volume provides clear challenges to the paradigm of the decline and destruction of Byzantine... more This volume provides clear challenges to the paradigm of the decline and destruction of Byzantine Christianity in Asia Minor at the hands of marauding Turkish raiders that was firmly established by Speros Vryonis in his The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century (Berkeley, CA, 1971). The volume is therefore a substantial contribution to our understanding of Muslim–Christian interaction on the Anatolian peninsula during the medieval period. The process of the Islamisation of Anatolia remains enigmatic, but the scholarly strength of the types of micro-histories contained in a multi-disciplinary volume such as this can overturn grand theoretical edifices such as that created by Vryonis. The editors are to be applauded for demonstrating the potential of multidimensional approaches to studying the complex historical transformation that is the Islamisation of Anatolia.
Al-Masāq, 28:3, 318-319, 2016
Aimed at undergraduates and their teachers, Jarbel Rodriguez’s Muslim and Christian Contact in th... more Aimed at undergraduates and their teachers, Jarbel Rodriguez’s Muslim and Christian Contact in the Middle Ages: A Reader has brought together translations of over 90 documents and excerpts of texts originally composed by Muslim, Latin, Byzantine and Jewish authors. The collection shines brilliant lights on the multifarious interfaith contacts of the Mediterranean world from the rise of Islam through to the end of the Middle Ages.
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Articles by Jason T . Roche
So-called Islamic State (IS) continues to use its online propaganda magazine to appropriate the Crusades of the central middle ages. By blurring time periods and disparate historical phenomena, IS presents its readers with a narrative of continuous Western “crusader” aggression as a rallying cry for support and a justification for its actions. This “crusader” narrative has little basis in historical fact – but it does make for powerful propaganda.
not arbitrary: the physical character (and function) of the typical town began to change in the late fourth century, and the form it obtained during the seventh and eighth centuries continued to be the one retained (with inconsequential variations to the general pattern)
during the intermediate periods of Byzantine recovery.
misconceptions frequently found in crusade histories and general histories of the Byzantine empire concerning the Turkish invasion and settlement of western Anatolia after the battle of Mantzikert in 1071. The article maintains that blurring the distinctions between the Seljuk Turks of Rum and the tribes of pastoral nomads or rather transhumants who came to be known as Türkmens or Turcomans is incorrect. The oft-repeated assumption that the Seljuk Turks of Baghdad oversaw the Turkish conquest of Anatolia is addressed when tracing the unstructured nature of the Turkish migration and the subsequent lack of unity amongst the invaders. After providing the context of the Turkish settlement in western Anatolia, the article throws new light on the relative ease with which the armies of the First Crusade traversed the Anatolian plateau and Byzantine forces compelled the speedy capitulation of Turkish towns and territories along the western coastal plains and
river valleys of Anatolia in 1097 and 1098 respectively.
Books by Jason T . Roche
Book Reviews by Jason T . Roche
So-called Islamic State (IS) continues to use its online propaganda magazine to appropriate the Crusades of the central middle ages. By blurring time periods and disparate historical phenomena, IS presents its readers with a narrative of continuous Western “crusader” aggression as a rallying cry for support and a justification for its actions. This “crusader” narrative has little basis in historical fact – but it does make for powerful propaganda.
not arbitrary: the physical character (and function) of the typical town began to change in the late fourth century, and the form it obtained during the seventh and eighth centuries continued to be the one retained (with inconsequential variations to the general pattern)
during the intermediate periods of Byzantine recovery.
misconceptions frequently found in crusade histories and general histories of the Byzantine empire concerning the Turkish invasion and settlement of western Anatolia after the battle of Mantzikert in 1071. The article maintains that blurring the distinctions between the Seljuk Turks of Rum and the tribes of pastoral nomads or rather transhumants who came to be known as Türkmens or Turcomans is incorrect. The oft-repeated assumption that the Seljuk Turks of Baghdad oversaw the Turkish conquest of Anatolia is addressed when tracing the unstructured nature of the Turkish migration and the subsequent lack of unity amongst the invaders. After providing the context of the Turkish settlement in western Anatolia, the article throws new light on the relative ease with which the armies of the First Crusade traversed the Anatolian plateau and Byzantine forces compelled the speedy capitulation of Turkish towns and territories along the western coastal plains and
river valleys of Anatolia in 1097 and 1098 respectively.
papers for a strand on ‘Borders’ at the Leeds International
Medieval Congress, 2022. Researchers at all stages of the
careers and institutional affiliations are encouraged to send
proposals, as are medievalists of all fields interested in the
theory and practice of borders in all of their variety as they
relate to the history of the crusades and associated fields of
enquiry.
We invite proposals for 20-minute papers from
postgraduate, ECR and established scholars from the
fields of history, literature, art history, archaeology,
music or any other relevant discipline. The NNSC
links together scholars working on all aspects of the
Crusades in the Midlands and the North of England
but proposals are welcomed from anyone currently
working on a related topic. Papers may consider any
aspect or area of crusading activity, with a special
emphasis on those which explore the theory and
practice of Borders, Margins, and Interfaces in all of
their variety as they relate to the history of the
crusades and associated fields of enquiry.