Reconfiguring the Fifteenth-Century Crusade

Norman Housley

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781137462800
• eBook ISBN: 9781137462817
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

This collection of essays by eight leading scholars is a landmark event in the study of crusading in the late middle ages. It is the outcome of an international network funded by the Leverhulme Trust whose members examined the persistence of crusading activity in the fifteenth century from three viewpoints, goals, agencies and resonances. The crusading fronts considered include the conflict with the Ottoman Turks in the Mediterranean and western Balkans, the Teutonic Order's activities in the Baltic region, and the Hussite crusades. The authors review criticism of crusading propaganda on behalf of the crusade, the influence on crusading of demands for Church reform, the impact of printing, expanding knowledge of the world beyond the Christian lands, and new sensibilities about the sufferings of non-combatants.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Notes on Contributors
• List of Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Toward a Global Crusade? The Papacy and the Non-Latin World in the Fifteenth Century
• Chapter 3: Crusade and Reform, 1414–1449: Allies or Rivals?
• Chapter 4: Crusading against Christians in the Fifteenth Century: Doubts and Debates
• Chapter 5: The Military Orders and Crusading in the Fifteenth Century: Perception and Influence
• Chapter 6: Venice and the Ottoman Threat, 1381–1453
• Chapter 7: Bessarion’s Orations against the Turks and Crusade Propaganda at the Große Christentag of Regensburg (1471)
• Chapter 8: Hunyadi’s Campaign of 1448 and the Second Battle of Kosovo Polje (October 17–20)
• Chapter 9: Reactions to the Fall of Constantinople and the Concept of Human Rights
• Chapter 10: Conclusion: The Future Study of Crusading in the Fifteenth Century
• Index