About the lecture
Crusading was a totally new phenomenon that began in 1095, led to the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, and immediately spread to all areas of Latin Europe and became conducted for the rest of the Middle Ages. But for more than a hundred years, there was no specific word for the crusades.
Most often, they were simply called peregrinatio, the same designation as was used for the pilgrimages that had been known since the beginning of Christianity. Nevertheless, crusades were distinct by their use of military violence. What did they actually have in common with pilgrimage?
About the speaker
Kurt Villads Jensen is a professor of medieval history at Stockholm University and director of Centre of Medieval Studies (Centrum för medeltidsstudier).
His dissertation from 1992 treated Christian understanding of Islam in the Middle Ages. In 2011 he presented a thesis for the grade Dr. Philos in which he compared Denmark and Portugal as two nations of crusades in the period c. 1000–1250.
The thesis was published as Korstog ved verdens yderste rand. Danmark og Portugal ca. 1000 til ca. 1250 (2011). Kurt Villads Jensen has published a number of books on the crusades and their role in European history, as for example For de tørster nemlig uophørligt efter de kristnes blod (2013) and Cultural Encounters during the Crusades (2013).