Crusaders, Cathars and the Holy Places (Variorum Collected Studies Series, Cs 656)

These essays deal with the impact on Western Church and society of other faiths and civilizations during the 12th and 13th centuries. The first set examines the kind of society which developed in the Crusader States (one in which women played an important part), and the attitude of western settlers to the Byzantine Empire, eastern Christian churches and the Islamic world. Further essays deal with the impact on Western Europe of Christian dualist heresy, which had its roots in the Balkans and Armenia, and perhaps ultimately in Persia. The final group centres around the Holy Places, whose liberation was the raison d'etre of the crusade movement. They examine how the Western Church administered these shrines, the way in which they shaped western piety during the time of crusader rule, and how the cult of the Holy Places developed in the Western Church after they had been recaptured by Islam.