Crusading and Ideas of the Holy Land in Medieval Britain

Crusading and western interaction with the Holy Land is often a contentious topic, not least because modern popular perception of medieval east-west interaction is that it was defined by violence, conquest, and religious persecution. Building on recent scholarship, this collection takes an interdisciplinary approach to the role of crusading and contact with the Holy Land in medieval Britain, in order to investigate the myriad ways in which these contacts influenced artistic, literary, visual and social culture in medieval Britain. By looking at new material and focussing on the domestic response to crusading and the Holy Land, it will show the contribution contact made to the medieval British world view, ideals about masculinity and kingship, geographical perception and the ideal behaviour for the medieval British elite.