It gives me great pleasure to announce the publication of the Turkish translation of my book: "Mongol Storm". Published by Kronik Kitap @kronikkitap.bsky.social Translated by Metehan Demirci
Associate Professor in Middle Eastern and Global history (Medieval) Speaker • Writer • Reviewer • Editor ✝️ University webpage: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/arts-humanities/nicholas-morton
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It gives me great pleasure to announce the publication of the Turkish translation of my book: "Mongol Storm". Published by Kronik Kitap @kronikkitap.bsky.social Translated by Metehan Demirci
New arrival! It's "Assassins and Templars: A battle in myth and blood" By Steve Tibble
Yes, indeed
Nice! Thanks for sharing
... (2/2) and shipping don't discuss ships of this size before the early modern period. Even so both Western European and Islamic sources are very clear on this point. Legal documents show that these included ships belonging to the Templars and Hospitallers.
Crusader ships Ships carrying crusaders to the Holy Land grew in size very quickly during the 12th century with the largest transporting over 1000 passengers. This is a point maritime historians have been slow to recognise. Normally histories of ships ... (1/2)
Yes indeed, it makes an appearance
Yes indeed, it was later emperors, but there were several marriages between women from the imperial family and leading Mongols.
Admittedly it didn't work in the long run. A few years later the Byzantines seem to have come to terms with the Mongol, although it's not clear under what terms.
... (2/2) Consequently he took the envoys on the most circuitous route to his capital imaginable, posting troops at every junction, thereby giving the impression that his empire was massive and crammed with soldiers. The Byzantines were always good at diplomacy!
The Byzantines and the Mongols In 1257 the Mongols sent a deputation to demand the submission of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire was small at this time and Emperor Theodore II wished to strengthen his bargaining position. ... (1/2)
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... (2/2) According to one thirteenth century author, the best response is to plug your ears with wax and then shoot them down with crossbows. Not perhaps the most gallant response, but certainly practical!
What to do if your ship is attacked by Sirens Medieval mariners who travelled to the Holy Land told many stories about sea monsters. They also offered practical advice. If you are attacked by sirens then naturally you need to beware their alluring song. ... (1/2)
... (2/2) If a Templar had some spare time, then he was allowed to whittle wooden tent pegs. If you would like to find out more about the Templars and the military orders ⬇️
Templar leisure activities The below picture is misleading. In fact the Templars were not permitted to play chess or backgammon. They were allowed to wager, but only using candle stubs. Still, some allowance was made for fun in Templars' regulations.... (1/2
... (2/2) and, should you ever go back in time to the Crusader States and be offered a meal by the Knights Hospitaller, then you would probably eat from a service of Chinese porcelain. If you're interested in the history of the Knights Hospitaller and the military orders ⬇️
Silk Roads and Crusades The Crusader States' main ports, places like Acre, Tyre and Tripoli, lay at the western end of the Silk Roads. Lots of goods from China and Central Asia passed through their gates. These included porcelain ... (1/2)
A new area of #history for us, we’ve recorded an ep ‘Discussing the #TeutonicKnights’ with the excellent Dr @nicmorton.bsky.social So interesting how they were active from the Middle East to the Baltics in the 12th & 13th Centuries Coming soon in Nov/Dec Recorded via @podcastleai.bsky.social
... (2/2) the Mongols to the apocalyptic peoples of Gog and Magog, who in the last days will ride down from the north to visit ruination on the world. Others wondered if the Mongols were a punishment from God.
The Mongols and the Apocalypse As the Mongol invasions gathered pace in the Middle East during the thirteenth century, many observers thought they were living in the end times with Christian and Muslim writers responding in remarkably similar ways. Some connected ... (1/2)
... (2/2) the kingdom could afford such a large army was, in large part, due its ability to tax the local and international trade routes (including the Silk Roads) that passed through its ports. Large sugarcane plantations also provided major income streams through commerce.
The kingdom of Jerusalem's army At full stretch the kingdom of Jerusalem - which one contemporary described as being the size of a barony - could raise an army of 20,000 troops. By contrast the vast German Empire could raise about 15,000 troops. The reason ... (1/2)
Yes indeed - lovely part of the world!
Sounds great - I'd like to visit Shropshire at some point, I'll have to look out for it!
New arrival! "Depicting the Holy War: Crusader Imagery in Medieval French and English murals" By Elizabeth Lapina Pennsylvania State University Press
(This is from memory so I might have inadvertently changed a few details but the gist is correct - hopefully!) (6/6)
mother said: "I've had enough of this! We'll take it in turns to ride the donkey and people can laugh if they want." The moral of the story is that whatever you do people will find a reason to criticise you, so you might as well do your own thing. (5/6)
... even get to the next village before people started hurling taunts at them because the donkey was clearly suffering. Then they tried tying the donkey to a pole and carrying it themselves, but the people just laughed even louder. Eventually the ... (4/6)
... people started shouting: "Look at them! That cruel woman is making her daughter walk while she rides in comfort! Shame on her!" This confused the pair. Eventually the mother said : "Right we're both going to ride the donkey" but they didn't ... (3/6)
... called "the young girl rides on the donkey making her elderly mother walk through the mud!" Hearing these taunts, the daughter climbed off the donkey, her mother climbed into the saddle and they went on. Matters did not improve. In the next village the local ... (2/6)
My favourite medieval fable A mother and her daughter were on their way to market with the daughter riding on a donkey. On the way, while passing through a village, the local people started laughing at them - "look at that ridiculous pair" they ... (1/6)
Yep
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...disagree on this point, but I've enjoyed our conversation and may I wish you the best is your research.
even when we learn very little about so many other things. Authors (often writing on behalf of political patrons) considered these matters important and worthy of record. I'm not sure how much further we can take our discussion given that we do seem to fundamentally ...
We may have to agree to disagree. Culture, identity, and politics were and have always been closely woven in my view, for the Mongols as for so many peoples. Shifts in religious identity are especially profound - that's why we hear so much about them in the sources, ...
What C.S Lewis wrote to J.R.R.Tolkien after reading Lord of the Rings ... #Tolkien #LordoftheRings
... (3/3) trained to ride/shoot from birth. Advanced handguns eventually swept nomadic armies from the battlefield but, in the Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries, this development lay many centuries in the future.
(2/3) knights and large numbers of infantry. Their opponents were generally Turkish lightly armoured cavalry archers from nomadic societies. The resulting encounters revealed the superiority of nomadic armies - faster moving, less demanding logistics, soldiers ...
Why the Crusader States did not endure (from a military perspective) On a military level, the reason the Crusader States did not endure derives from their basic warcraft. Theirs was an agricultural society capable of deploying contingents of heavily armoured ... (1/3)
I suspect we disagree on less than you think. This is a complex equation but, despite continuities, the successor states (especially outside of Mongolia and parts of Central Asia) saw strong reasons to assert what made them distinctive alongside any shared values/institutions.
Of course for the most part the emergence of distinctive cultural identities took place organically, rather than to achieve calculated political goals, but they also provided a way for Mongol elites to embed their local, still-fragile authority over what was still essentially conquered land.
networks. These in time became irreconcilable. You are right that in some cases political rupture came first, but an emerging sense of cultural distinctiveness provided tools for each successor states to embed and assert its identity against those of its rivals.
of the Mongol Empire - of course not - it was a factor (albeit an important one) amongst a mix of factors. Essentially, the fragmentation occurred because regional networks of imperial and noyan/aristocratic families saw a need to assert their collective identities against rival Mongol ...
The continuity of some ideas and institutions is not in doubt. To add another example, a deep reverence for the person and memory of Chinggis Khan is much in evidence across all successor states. Also, yes, cultural assimilation did not single-handedly cause the decline/fragmentation ...
In my experience the problems are generally... - a lack of contemporary context - a lack of engagement with contemporary mentalities - a lack of engagement with existing scholarly research outside their own field or - a determination to preference themes aligned with their own discipline
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One area I've been looking into recently via the architectural evidence, which does add a bit more nuance, is the exchange of non-Mongolian cultures within the Mongol empire. So for example the presence of Chinese designs in areas of the Middle East.
when the ruling family declines, the cadre directly below it rises up. This can be seen in many contexts. It's also important not to underplay the tensions created by the diverging Mongol ruling elites' shifting cultural identity - the hostility towards the Yuan dynasty being an obvious example.
True there are areas of continuity, but also vast areas of assimilation (whether whole or partial) with local cultures. Shifts in religion are especially significant (again despite some continuity). The rise of the aristocracy owes more to basic human sociology than specific Mongol institutions -
... (2/2) branches slowly diverged from one another, having less and less in common. This only exacerbated the existing tensions between the branches of the main imperial dynasty ruling in different areas. If you'd like to find out more about the rise of the Mongol Empire ...
The slow-burn reason for the disintegration of the Mongol Empire... Given time, Mongol rulers tended to adopt the cultures and religions local to the areas under their direct control. Ultimately this became a major reason for the empire's collapse as its different ... (1/2)
New podcast alert! "Crusaders and Castles: The Siege of Acre" with "Echoes of History" (an Ubisoft podcast by History Hit) hosted by Matthew Lewis podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...
... (2/2) stalls, due to the movement of the ship, but had to be supported with slings. They needed regular stops for exercise or their muscles would atrophy. On one occasion a knight charged out of a horse transport only for his horse to collapse for this reason.
The Crusader States needed a lot of big warhorses (Templars had four each). Some they bought or reared locally, but they imported a lot from stud farms in Italy and N Spain. Transporting horses by sea was difficult because the horses couldn't stand in their ... (1/2)
Perhaps a paper for the upcoming SSCLE conference?
I'm looking forward to reading your article - it looks really interesting!
Behold! It's the next thrilling edition of the "Crusades" journal. It includes reviews by me covering: Harris and Chatzelis' "Byzantine Sources for the Crusades" and Kane and Brewer's "The Latin Continuation of William of Tyre"
Sounds interesting- I'll have to add it to my "places to visit" list!
Yes there were crocodiles near the coastal town of Caesarea. Thanks for telling me about the crocodile at Saint-Bertrand de Comminge's church - I hadn't heard that one!
Here's an article I wrote on it (which includes discussion on the source) www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-...
... (2/2) where his facility for languages enabled him to make a fresh start. He later rose to become a translator to a group of Mongol generals and returned to Western Christendom as part of the Mongol invasion of Hungary. Above photo: Acre
The curious tale of the exiled Englishman During the Mongol invasions, an exiled Englishman travelled to the Crusader States where he gambled away all his money in the port of Acre. Without even a shirt on his back, he fled to Mongol territory... (1/2)
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New podcast alert! I've recently recorded a new podcast entitled: "Dealing With Criticism in Academia" with @rozierhistorian.bsky.social for the Early Career Researcher Podcast (link below). open.spotify.com/episode/5P7o...
...(2/2) a poisoned knife. According to one myth (almost certainly untrue) his wife Eleanor of Castile sucked the poison from the wound and saved his life. Above is a nineteenth century reimagining of the event by Gustave Doré.
The Assassins and Edward I One of the Assassins' favourite tactics was to enter the service of their target, win his confidence, then strike. They tried this with Prince Edward of England (future King Edward I) while he was on crusade and almost killed him with ... (1/2)
There's signed copies of Mongol Storm available in the Oxford Blackwells!
How interesting thank you!
... (2/2) timber. Turkish and Ayyubid (Saladin's dynasty) armies by contrast tended to use undermining which generally proved faster and more consistently successful.
Siege tactics The crusaders tended to use siege towers as their weapon of choice when attacking towns, but they often proved ineffective; many were burned down with Greek Fire. They were also slow to build and it was frequently difficult to find enough ... (1/2)
... (2/2) repeatedly to conquer these cities but failed each time, due in part to the size of their urban populations. These unsuccessful sieges marked the high-water mark or 'culmination point' of the Crusader States' invasions. For more information see my book (cover below)
The expansion of the Crusader States After the First Crusade (1095-99), the states they founded expanded rapidly along the Eastern Med.'s coastlands. Then they advanced inland where they faced the major cities of Damascus (pictured below) and Aleppo. They tried ... (1/2)
Crusader castles often had dry moats protecting them on their most vulnerable side. Look at the size of this moat at Saone (now known as Saladin's castle) in the principality of Antioch (modern day Syria)
... (2/2) William tells us that he looked for these monsters, but couldn't find them. His experience is common to many travellers in their era from different cultures, heading into unknown places and comparing myth against reality.
Before Friar William of Rubruck traveled to visit the Mongols, he consulted many books about Central Asia. These were all ancient classical texts and they reported that he would encounter communities of monsters on his journey. In his account of his travels, ... (1/2)
I think you can find it on Wikimedia commons - it's an image I sometimes use for teaching
Not the siege of Shaizar I'm afraid just an image of a medieval siege
... (2/2) not single-handedly enabled their escape. A few days later this same knight arrived at Shaizar's gates and asked to train with the town's warriors. Usama's family welcomed him and for a few days he enjoyed their hospitality before returning to Europe.
The siege of Shaizar (Syria) 1111 In his memoirs the nobleman Usama Ibn Munqidh recalled an occasion when a Frankish (Crusader) army attacked his town of Shaizar. His family repelled the besiegers and they might have routed the Frankish army, had a single knight... (1/2)
I cant think of any other examples in other contexts where any society used this kind of weapon so I can only conclude that the inspiration came from Prester John.
I wonder where he got his inspiration from
Fascinating- perhaps the idea came from Carpini's account of smoke blowing statues
... (2/2) an epic song concerning a pair of knights, one crusader and one Turkish, who kill a dragon on "Mount Tigris".
Dragons in the Medieval Middle East One of the things that always strikes me about medieval Middle Eastern sources is the sheer number of cultures that mention dragons, either as mythical beasts, or in some cases as actual living creatures. My favourite story is... (1/2)
Did you know that the Knights Templars kept a defanged pet crocodile in their headquarters in Acre which they employed to haul building stone? (Yes this is a medieval picture of a crocodile)
...(2/2) Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, and Georgian recipes, among others. There's even a Frankish (Western European) roast. Good food crosses cultural borders very easily!
A lot of ideas, stories, technologies, fashions and architectural styles changed hands in the medieval Middle East. One cookbook belonging to an Ayyubid (Saladin's family) ruler includes ... (1/2)
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I've been giving it some thought and I've devised a format for a new tv show. Lots of medieval historians make sandcastle copies of real castles, then a panel of judges has to identify them - Netflix take note!
🤣 Well with a sandcastle, if you want it destroyed, then all you've got to do is walk away for two minutes and someone will inevitably stomp on it!
Medieval historians aren't necessarily faster, stronger or wealthier than everyone else (definitely not wealthier!) but we build pretty good castles.
New online course alert! "The Knights Templar: 1120-1314" Starting in November I will be running a six session online course on the history of the Knights Templar in co-operation with @medievalists.bsky.social For more information see below: medievalstudies.thinkific.com/courses/temp...
... (2/2) simple - either submit (in which case you will be treated fairly leniently) or suffer invasion and takeover (in which you won't). Generally speaking, the earlier the submission the easier the terms of Mongol dominion.
The Mongols in the thirteenth century believed with absolute confidence that they had a right to rule the entire planet and for many decades it seemed quite likely that they would achieve this goal. In their early diplomacy, the Mongols' position was ... (1/2)
Yes indeed it's right next to a cedar forest
.... (2/2) The castle itself clung to this cliff-face, making it exceptionally hard to access; there's only one narrow path. All that remains now are lines of holes in the cliff for the main structural beams and some, caves and cisterns.