- Austin, Texas, United States
Paul Chevedden
The University of Texas at Austin, Department of History, Department Member
Praising the photographs of Francis Frith, the grocery wholesaler-turned-photographer who undertook three photographic expeditions to the Middle East between 1856 and 1860, an Athenaeum critic wrote: "Mr. Frith, who makes light of... more
Praising the photographs of Francis Frith, the grocery wholesaler-turned-photographer who undertook three photographic expeditions to the Middle East between 1856 and 1860, an Athenaeum critic wrote: "Mr. Frith, who makes light of everything, brings us the Sun's opinion of Egypt, which is better than Champollion's, Wilkinson's, Eothen's, or Titmarsh's." Viewed as re-creations of nature itself, unmeditated repro- ductions of the real world fashioned by the direct agency of the sun, pho- tographs were extolled as truthful and unbiased representations of reality. This conviction, which ignored the input of the human operator, imbued early photography with a passionate enthusiasm and mission: to repro- duce the world in its own image, to make light of everything. Photography emerged not as an art form, still less as the result of certain developments in painting as proposed recently by Peter Galassi, but as an accurate and highly efficient means of transmitting visual information.
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An array of pacts, truces, and alliances defined the relationships between A Muslim and Christian powers during the Middle Ages. These agreements constituted a special kind of encounter. Driven by need or greed, two startlingly different... more
An array of pacts, truces, and alliances defined the relationships between A Muslim and Christian powers during the Middle Ages. These agreements constituted a special kind of encounter. Driven by need or greed, two startlingly different sets of cultural and legal assumptions, rhetorical traditions, and belief systems confronted each other uncomfortably. Each treaty or truce that the parties contracted represented a unique local circumstance, a tangle of options, dangers, opportunities, personalities, and historical and geographical contexts. Each player in the seesaw struggle between Cross and Crescent was, in a sense, a negotiating culture, literally negotiating to keep or to surrender elements of their cultural identity.
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The Mamluks pioneered the use of gunpowder ordnance, but their principal piece of heavy artillery was "the crushing, demolishing trebuchet" (manjanīq hādim haddād). In their campaigns of conquest, the Mamluks used substantial batteries of... more
The Mamluks pioneered the use of gunpowder ordnance, but their principal piece of heavy artillery was "the crushing, demolishing trebuchet" (manjanīq hādim haddād). In their campaigns of conquest, the Mamluks used substantial batteries of trebuchets, and Mamluk military science produced the only major technical treatise on the construction and operation of this form of artillery. The trebuchet (Arabic manjanīq, pl. majāniq, manājīq, manājanīq, and majanīqāt) was the most powerful form of mechanical artillery ever devised. It consisted of a long tapering beam which pivoted near its butt-end around an axle mounted on top of a framework. At the end of the long arm of the beam, a sling was attached which held the missile. This was designed to open when the beam's motion and position reached the desired state for discharge. To launch a projectile, the beam—equipped with pulling-ropes at its short end—was set in a horizontal position. The operator of the machine readied the machine for launch by placing a projectile in the pouch of the sling. The sling had two ropes: one attached firmly to the end of the beam and the other looped over an iron prong extending from the tip of the beam. The alignment of the prong and the length of the sling were crucial to achieving maximum range. Human muscle force was applied to the pulling-ropes by a team of men—or, in some cases, women—while the operator guided the missile through the initial phase of the launch cycle.
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Review of Arabische Inschriften aus Syrien, by Heinz Gaube, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 45 (April 1986): 161-64.
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This new study of the “First” Crusade argues that “apocalyptic fervor” (p. 305) was the driving force of the expedition, as well as the Crusade movement. Previous studies, the author contends, have failed “to capture how precisely... more
This new study of the “First” Crusade argues that “apocalyptic fervor” (p. 305) was the driving force of the expedition, as well as the Crusade movement. Previous studies, the author contends, have failed “to capture how precisely apocalyptic the First Crusade was” (p. xii). The remedy Rubenstein offers is a relentless focus on apocalypticism that ignores any weaknesses inherent in this approach and overlooks alternative explanations.
Of all the ecclesiastical apparatus employed by the papacy to promote crusading, the Crusade indulgence was the most important. Like all institutional arrangements, the Crusade indulgence underwent a process of development. This... more
Of all the ecclesiastical apparatus employed by the papacy to promote crusading, the Crusade indulgence was the most important. Like all institutional arrangements, the Crusade indulgence underwent a process of development. This development has been distorted by a teleological view of
the facts that regards the Crusade indulgence as the direct expression of Pope Urban II’s Jerusalem Crusade (1095-1102) and the indulgence that was set forth in Canon 2 of the Council of Clermont (1095). This article explains that once crusading was initiated, the Church moved to create institutions that would assist it. The institutional components of crusading were not
created all at once but were adopted piecemeal, and this process began in the 1060s, shortly after the emergence of crusading itself.
the facts that regards the Crusade indulgence as the direct expression of Pope Urban II’s Jerusalem Crusade (1095-1102) and the indulgence that was set forth in Canon 2 of the Council of Clermont (1095). This article explains that once crusading was initiated, the Church moved to create institutions that would assist it. The institutional components of crusading were not
created all at once but were adopted piecemeal, and this process began in the 1060s, shortly after the emergence of crusading itself.
The most authoritative piece of direct evidence pertaining to the " First " Crusade is the second canon of the Council of Clermont (1095), a Latin decree that is barely two lines long. The purpose of this paper is to examine this brief... more
The most authoritative piece of direct evidence pertaining to the " First " Crusade is the second canon of the Council of Clermont (1095), a Latin decree that is barely two lines long. The purpose of this paper is to examine this brief text and to see how the goal of Pope Urban II's Jerusalem Crusade (1095-1102) is reflected in it. It is necessary at this point to note that according to a number of scholars any such endeavor is precarious at best, and probably fruitless, since, as they contend, the text by itself cannot yield such information since it is not sufficiently complete for significant analysis. What information can be derived from it must be supplemented by additional evidence in order to establish its meaning. The reason why the purpose of the " First " Crusade still remains in dispute is due to the poor quality of the evidence. More evidence, scholars argue, is therefore needed to determine the goal of this Crusade. Many attempts have been made to improve upon the quality of the evidence pertaining to the goal of the " First " Crusade. The hunt for additional evidence has widened the circle of historical materials that bear on this question, but the accumulation of additional evidence has been affected by individual preferences , preconceptions, and biases. Before attempting to improve upon the evidence, I think it is the duty of a historian to see what can be done with Canon 2. I shall assume at the start, as a working hypothesis, that the text of the decree contains all the information necessary for determining the original goal of Urban's Holy Land Crusade. If the attempt to discover this goal through the text of Canon 2 should fail, then we will be obliged * I owe special thanks to Dr. Theresa M. VANN, Joseph S. Micallef Curator of the Malta Study Center, Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, for urging me to write this article. Prof. Do-nald J. KAGAY of Albany State University kindly provided invaluable assistance with some of the Latin texts discussed herein, and Prof. Robert I. BURNS, S.J., of the University of Califor-nia at Los Angeles read the whole and offered helpful suggestions. My twin brother James N. CHEVEDDEN, S.J. († 2004), came to my aid on matters pertaining to relations between the Eastern Church and the Western Church, and it is to him that this article is dedicated.
In the creation myth of the Crusades, Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099) is the founding father and 1095 is the critical year. During the twentieth century, French, Spanish, and English scholars challenged this myth; yet this myth remains as... more
In the creation myth of the Crusades, Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099) is the founding father and 1095 is the critical year. During the twentieth century, French, Spanish, and English scholars challenged this myth; yet this myth remains as durable as ever. Because the origins of the crusading enterprise came to be associated with the so-called First Crusade (1095–1102), scholars have created a vision of crusading at odds with Pope
Urban’s vision, which views the ‘‘First’’ Crusade as the third part of a triptych: first, the Norman conquest of Sicily (1060–1091); then, the Castilian and Catalan advances in Iberia; and finally the 1095 Eastern Crusade. Today, the study of the Crusades is
hampered by a failure to concentrate on the direct evidence and to take into account what contemporaries understood by crusading. To get a sense of what contemporaries understood
by crusading, this paper examines the Norman Crusade in Sicily, drawing upon both Christian and Islamic sources.
Urban’s vision, which views the ‘‘First’’ Crusade as the third part of a triptych: first, the Norman conquest of Sicily (1060–1091); then, the Castilian and Catalan advances in Iberia; and finally the 1095 Eastern Crusade. Today, the study of the Crusades is
hampered by a failure to concentrate on the direct evidence and to take into account what contemporaries understood by crusading. To get a sense of what contemporaries understood
by crusading, this paper examines the Norman Crusade in Sicily, drawing upon both Christian and Islamic sources.
For an integral understanding of the Crusades, this study evaluates the Crusades both " from within " and " from without, " by examining the views of two contemporaries of the Crusades: Pope Urban II, the so-called founding father of... more
For an integral understanding of the Crusades, this study evaluates the Crusades both " from within " and " from without, " by examining the views of two contemporaries of the Crusades: Pope Urban II, the so-called founding father of crusading, and ʿAlī ibn Ṭ āhir al-Sulamī, a Mus-lim jurist from Damascus. The crusading pope and the Muslim faqīh guide us to a proper comprehension of the Crusades by refusing to judge the entire movement on the basis of the most recent expression of crusading activity, and they allow us to view the Crusades from Rome and Damascus during the formative period of their development.
Effective bombardment by a breaching battery of artillery changed the face of warfare. A heavy-caliber catapult was capable of damaging fortifications, but the true wall-breaker of the pre-modem era was the trebuchet.1 The word... more
Effective bombardment by a breaching battery of artillery changed the face of warfare. A heavy-caliber catapult was capable of damaging fortifications, but the true wall-breaker of the pre-modem era was the trebuchet.1 The word "trebuchet" designates a piece of artillery that drew its energy from a beam that pivoted around an axle. Supported upon a tall framework, the axle divided the beam into two unequal sections, or arms. The longer arm terminated in a sling for hurling the missile, and the shorter one ended in an attachment that held the apparatus required for driving the beam, such as pulling ropes, or a counterweight, or a combination of ropes and ballast. Human muscular force, gravitational energy, or the activation of both forces propelled the throwing arm upwar~ and hurled the missile from the sling. The trebuchet dominated warfare far longer than any other form of artillery, yet it remains the least understood piece of military ordnance. It holds the distinction of being the most powerful form of mechanical artillery ever devised. It displaced the torsion artillery of the classical world and maintained its dominance until well after the coming of the cannon. Along the way it developed previously unsuspected sophistication of mechanical operation and appears to have influenced such cognate areas as clock design and the study of theoretical mechanics. Despite more than a century and
Plates inserted between pages 74 and 75 of “The Invention of the Counterweight Trebuchet: A Study in Cultural Diffusion,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 54 (2000): 71-116.
... piece. This depiction 8) So in MS for the ruler of Seville. 9) The battle, which took place on 23 October 1086, is known to Muslim historians as al-Zallaqa, or YawmAruba/al-Aruba, and to Christian historians as Sagrajas. 10 ...
... design.44 These tombstones are among the earliest ex-tant Islamic tombstones from Iran. ... The main decorative features found on these tombstones-the mihrab-shaped design, the ... and foliated Kufic script were later used and further... more
... design.44 These tombstones are among the earliest ex-tant Islamic tombstones from Iran. ... The main decorative features found on these tombstones-the mihrab-shaped design, the ... and foliated Kufic script were later used and further developed on tomb-stones throughout both ...
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Page 1. The Invention of the Counterweight Trebuchet: A Study in Cultural Diffusion PAUL E. CHEVEDDEN he counterweight trebuchet represents the first significant mechanical utilization of gravitational energy. In the military ...
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