Lapina, Elizabeth (Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Warfare and the Miraculous in the Chronicles of the First Crusade Lapina, Elizabeth (Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Analyzes how chroniclers of the First Crusade attempted to represent the enterprise as a holy war. Focuses on accounts of miracles, especially the intervention of saints in the battle of Antioch;explores how the chroniclers related the crusade to biblical events--Provided by publisher. Review Quotes: "Taking as a leitmotif a celebrated moment from the narratives of the First Crusade--the appearance of an army of saints during the siege of Antioch--Elizabeth Lapina gradually builds an original and convincing interpretation of crusader psychology and historiography. Her contribution to our understanding of the part played by the Normans in the development of crusade ideology is especially groundbreaking. This is an important and innovative work that is also, from start to finish, a delight to read."--Jay Rubenstein, University of TennesseeReview Quotes: Taking as a leitmotif a celebrated moment from the narratives of the First Crusade the appearance of an army of saints during the siege of Antioch Elizabeth Lapina gradually builds an original and convincing interpretation of crusader psychology and historiography. Her contribution to our understanding of the part played by the Normans in the development of crusade ideology is especially groundbreaking. This is an important and innovative work that is also, from start to finish, a delight to read. Jay Rubenstein, University of Tennessee"Publisher Marketing: In Warfare and the Miraculous in the Chronicles of the First Crusade, Elizabeth Lapina examines a variety of chronicles of the First Crusade, written both by participants and by those who stayed behind. The goal is to understand the enterprise from the perspective of its contemporaries and near contemporaries. To do this, she analyzes the diversity of ways in which the chroniclers tried to justify the First Crusade as a holy war, where physical violence could be not just sinless, but salvific. The book focuses on accounts of miracles reported to have happened in the course of the enterprise, especially the miracle of the intervention of saints in the Battle of Antioch. Lapina shows why and how chroniclers used these miracles to provide historical precedent and to reconcile the messiness of history with the conviction that history was ordered by divine will. In doing so, she provides an important glimpse into the intellectual efforts of the chronicles and their authors, illuminating their perspectives toward the concepts of history, salvation, and the East. Warfare and the Miraculous in the Chronicles of the First Crusade demonstrates how these narratives sought to position the crusade as an event in the time line of sacred history and offers original insights into the effects of the Crusade on the Western imaginary as well as how medieval authors thought about and represented history."

Contributor Bio:  Lapina, Elizabeth Elizabeth Lapina is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin Madison.