The Crusades: What Was Really Going On?
Show notes
In this Conflicted Conversation, Nicholas Morton discusses his new book The Crusader Storm: A Global History of the Wars for the Middle East.
Associate Professor in History at Nottingham Trent University, Nicholas reframes the Crusades as one part of a much larger transformation of the medieval Middle East, driven above all by Seljuk-Turkmen expansion, Byzantine contraction, Fatimid decline and the fragmentation of political power.
Nicholas explains:
- The Seljuk-Turkmen transformation of the medieval Middle East
- Why the Crusades were not the region’s main event
- Dandanqan, nomadic warfare and the rise of Seljuk power
- Abbasids, Fatimids and fragmented government before the First Crusade
- Manzikert, Byzantine civil war and the Turkish conquest of Anatolia
- Frankish-Turkish rivalry, alliances and shared warrior culture
- Crusader violence and Christianity’s uneasy relationship with holy war
- Nizari Ismailis, Seljuk civil wars and competing Muslim priorities
- Damascus and Byzantium as key powers in Crusader geopolitics
- The Middle East as a crossroads of trade, ideas and cultural exchange
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And his You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MedievalNearEast
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Conflicted is a Message Heard production.
Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren.
Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews.
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