Crusading As an Act of Vengeance, 1095-1216

Finding current scholarly understanding of the concept of vengeance as the ideological motivation for the Crusades to be both incomplete and inaccurate, particularly in regards to the prevalence of biblical themes of vengeance, Throop (history, Ursinus College) excavates themes of vengeance through the investigation of appearances of the root-words vindicta, ultio, and venjance in western European "crusading texts" (works of any genre associated with the crusading movement) written between 1095 and 1217. She seeks to demonstrate that the theme of vengeance was not an anomaly as some scholars would have it, but stood alongside such themes as love, penance, defense, liberation, and the desire to emulate Christ as ideological justification for the Crusades and further that vengeance was conceived not just as a secular value but as a value inherent in 12th century Christianity. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Susanna A. Throop received her Ph.D. in History in 2006 from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar from 2001 to 2005. She completed her dissertation "Vengeance and the Crusades, 1095a€“1216" under the supervision of Jonathan Riley-Smith, then Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Emmanuel College. Now Assistant Professor of History at Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA, USA, she is interested in interdisciplinary perspectives on religion, violence, ideology and emotion in the High Middle Ages, particularly in the context of the medieval crusading movement. In addition to a number of articles, her publications include a collection of essays co-edited with Paul R. Hyams: Vengeance in the Middle Ages: Emotion, Religion and Feud (Ashgate, 2010).