Abstract:
In the last decades, research on the “Later Crusades” has increased significantly. As a result of this research a new consensus among researchers has been reached which considers that the crusading movement did not stop after the year 1400. Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe continued to be profoundly influenced by crusading desires across denominational boundaries and throughout all levels of society. The impact became certainly less “visible” as the centuries after 1400 no longer saw the dispatch of large international armies that had the specific goal of liberating Jerusalem. Yet, apart from the still manifold military activities, the crusading discourse retained a powerful influence and it profoundly shaped not only the European but also the Muslim societies that responded with their own (re-)conceptualization of a holy or just war.

This conference is intended to help in the preparation of a “Handbook on the Later Crusades”. This shall summarize the findings of the last three decades and serve especially for teaching at universities. We wish to prepare the Handbook with six larger chapters, which each containing 4-5 specific subchapters of 20-25 pages in English. The structure is as follows:

I. Spaces
II. Actors
III. Crusading plans
IV. Reception
V. The Muslim World
VI. Events

We invite experts on specific themes within this array to submit an application for a subchapter. A subchapter for the Handbook shall of course have its “individualistic” tones but mostly it shall be a presentation of the current state of research and thus be based on secondary literature. It shall give a reader without specialist knowledge an insight into the topic and an orientation.

Some preparations of the conference have already been made at this stage. It has therefore become apparent that we lack mostly contributions for the chapters III and IV – we therefore invite especially proposals in these fields. These can range from historiography over literature, works of art etc. Especially welcome are interdisciplinary contributions from the art or music history or literature studies or the history of ideas.

A two-day conference on the handbook is foreseen on July 13-14, 2021. The conference will take place in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The keynote lecture about ‘Defining and delimiting the Later Crusades’ will be given by Norman Housley on the evening of July 13.

Each participant will be asked to send a five-page working summary of their chapter that shall be enlarged after the conference to the final subchapter for the Handbook. These preliminary texts will then be sent to all participants and intensely debated at the conference. The objective is to finish these chapters until the end of 2021 and then publish the Handbook soon after. If the conference cannot take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be changed to an online-event and presumably spread over several days.

Deadline and details:
This call for papers is now open for those researchers who are interested to participate in the conference. They are invited to submit their proposals with a title, an abstract (no more than 500 words) and a brief bio (maximum of 15 lines) before September 30, 2020 to: Dr. Magnus RESSEL (ressel@em.uni-frankfurt.de) or Dr. Emir O. FILIPOVIC (emirofilipovic@gmail.com).

Due to budgetary reasons, the number of reimbursed participants will be limited. A call for papers will also be open for researchers not yet affiliated to the Action.