Project Title: Knightly Piety and Crusade Recruitment in Scotland, 1095 – 1270
HEIs: University of Aberdeen and University of Glasgow
School: School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History
Supervisors and HEIs:
Dr Alastair J. Macdonald, University of Aberdeen.
Dr Marie-Luise Ehrenschwendtner, University of Aberdeen.
Dr Joanna Tucker, University of Glasgow.
About Arpad’s Research
This cross-institutional, interdisciplinary project will examine the recruitment of Scottish arms-bearers to the Holy Land crusades (1095-1270). This topic has been marginalised, with no specialist monograph written for decades, and Scotland being largely ignored by mainstream crusade histories. The study will seek to understand the mechanics of crusade recruitment, influenced by religious structures, lay piety and aristocratic culture. Methods applied to other Western European regions by leading scholars, such as analysis of charter evidence and genealogical tables, will be utilised. The project aims to locate Scotland in new ways within the wider world of Christendom, identifying local particularities and international resonances. One intended outcome of the project is public engagement with heritage sites across Scotland, related to the crusades, such as the Hospitaller Preceptory at Torphichen and Templar houses in Balantrodoch (Midlothian) and Maryculter.
CONNECT WITH ARPAD
E-mail: r01ak22@abdn.ac.uk