Crusading and Pilgrimage in the Norman World

The reputation of the Normans is rooted in warfare faith and mobility. They were simultaneously famed as warriors noted for their religious devotion and celebrated as fearless travellers. In the Middle Ages few activities offered a better conduit to combine warfare religiosity and movement than crusading and pilgrimage. However while scholarship is abundant on many facets of the Norman world it is a surprise that the Norman relationship with crusading and pilgrimage so central in many ways to Norman identity has hitherto not received extensive treatment. The collection here seeks to fill this gap. It aims to identify what was unique or different about the Normans and their relationship with crusading and pilgrimage as well as how and why crusade and pilgrimage were important to the Normans. Particular focus is given to Norman participation in the First Crusade to Norman interaction in later crusading initiatives to the significance of pilgrimage in diverse parts of the Norman world and finally to the ways in which crusading and pilgrimage were recorded in Norman narrative. Ultimately this volume aims to assess in some cases to confirm and in others to revise the established paradigm of the Normans as crusaders par excellence and as opportunists who used religion to serve other agendas. Dr Kathryn Hurlock is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at Manchester Metropolitan University; Dr Paul Oldfield is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Manchester. Contributors: Andrew Abram William M. Aird Emily Albu Joanna Drell Leonie Hicks Natasha Hodgson Kathryn Hurlock Alan V. Murray Paul Oldfield David S. Spear Lucas Villegas-Aristizabal.