March 1

On Tuesday, March 1 Professor Cargill was out of town and Ryan Roberts took over to teach us about Crusader Jerusalem.  In the beginning of the class he took a minute to review what we talked about the previous class period: the five pillars and the Dome of the Rock.  He gave a couple of factors that lead up to the crusades.  There was a political emergence of the holy Roman Empire which lead to divisions in Christianity, and there were also religious reactions to the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem.  He talked about what a crusade is and indulgences, and the four crusader principalities which were Antioch, Odessa, Tripoli, and Jerusalem.

Crusader Jerusalem was divided up into different areas.  The patriarch's quarter is where all of the religious activity took place.  The knights were based in the templar's quarter on the temple mount, and the Syrian quarter is where the walls are first breeched.  There was also the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Armenian quarter.

Professor Roberts showed a video game that takes place in Jerusalem and he pointed out which parts of it where accurate and which parts were very incorrect.  In the game, the Dome of the Rock was plated with gold, but at the time of the video game he said it would not have been gold plated.  He commented that the dress of the character was pretty accurate according to what scholars know.