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Source set · 8 sources ✓ Lesson ready

How did people on different sides experience the Crusades?

Latin Christian, Byzantine, Muslim, and Jewish writers describe the same wars from very different vantage points, from the call at Clermont to the fall of Acre.

Timeline of key events →

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✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Hot Seat: Witnesses to the Crusades. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

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1. Hook: a striking quote 3-5 min

All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins.
Pope Urban II at Clermont (1095), as recorded by Fulcher of Chartres

Ask: Urban II made this promise to people who would join the march to Jerusalem. Why might this promise have moved thousands of people to leave home?

2. Main activity: Hot Seat: Witnesses to the Crusades

Grouping: Eight volunteers take the hot seat in turn; the class asks questions in pairs

Setup: A student sits in the hot seat as a person connected to one source. The class asks questions; the student answers using only facts from the role card and source. If the answer is not in the evidence, the student says, “The source doesn’t tell us.”

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Hot seat role cards (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Evidence cards for all 8 sources
  • Question-writing sheet
  1. Prepare questions 5 min
    Pairs read the evidence cards and write two questions for each role, including one about how close the writer was to the events.
  2. Prepare the hot seat 5 min
    Volunteers study their role cards. The teacher models one answer.
  3. Hot seat 25 min
    About 3 minutes per role, in date order. The class notes one fact from each person and which side the person was on.
  4. Debrief and vote 8 min
    Ask: How did the same wars look different from Mainz, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Cairo? Use the four-corners slide.
  5. Exit ticket 5 min
    Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: Which perspective changes the story of the Crusades the most?

  • A. Latin Christian crusaders (Urban II, Fulcher, the Itinerarium)
  • B. Byzantine Christians (Anna Comnena)
  • C. Muslim rulers and historians (Al-Maqrizi, the 1187 surrender terms)
  • D. Jewish communities in Europe (Solomon bar Samson)

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: Urban II
  • 8 min Two hot seats only: Fulcher of Chartres (1099) and the Latin witness of 1187. Compare how each conquest of Jerusalem is described.
  • 4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: Urban II
  • 10 min Prepare questions and roles
  • 25 min Hot seat rotation
  • 6 min Debrief and four corners
  • 5 min Exit ticket

4. Exit ticket

  1. Pick two witnesses from different sides. What did each one notice that the other did not?
  2. Some of today’s writers lived long after the events. Which one, and how might that affect his account?

5. Differentiation

Support

  • This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
  • Give each pair only four roles to write questions for.
  • Provide a map showing Clermont, Mainz, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Acre, and Damietta.
  • Question starters: “What did you see?” “Who did you blame?” “Who were you writing for?”

Extension

  • Several chroniclers recorded different versions of Urban II’s speech. Compare two versions in the full source. What changes?
  • Compare how the 1099 and 1187 conquests of Jerusalem treated the people inside the city.

Suggested sequence

  1. Urban II's Call for the First Crusade
    Speech · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Five chroniclers' versions of Pope Urban II's 1095 speech at Clermont.
    Ask: Why do the versions of Urban's speech differ, and which can we trust?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  2. Soloman bar Samson: The Crusaders in Mainz, 1096
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Translated primary source: Soloman bar Samson: The Crusaders in Mainz, 1096, written in mid 12th century. The horrific attacks on Rhineland Jewry.
    Ask: How reliable is this source, and how could we check it?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. Anna Comnena: On A Rude Crusader
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    Translated primary source: Anna Comnena: On A Rude Crusader . (Geary includes more (copyrighted) material than this extract.).
    Ask: How reliable is this source, and how could we check it?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. Fulcher (Fulk) of Chartres: The Capture of Jerusalem, 1099
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Translated primary source: Fulcher (Fulk) of Chartres: The Capture of Jerusalem, 1099.
    Ask: What questions would you want to ask the author?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  5. De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae: The Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Translated primary source: De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae: The Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187.
    Ask: How reliable is this source, and how could we check it?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  6. Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi: Richard the Lionheart Makes Peace with Saladin
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 10 min
    Translated primary source: Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi: Richard the Lionheart Makes Peace with Saladin.
    Ask: What can this source tell us about life in its time and place?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  7. Al-Makrisi: Arab Account of the Crusade of St. Louis
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 30+ min
    Translated primary source: Al-Makrisi: Arab Account of the Crusade of St. Louis.
    Ask: What questions would you want to ask the author?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  8. Ludolph of Suchem: The Fall of Acre, 1291
    Document · Fordham University · World: Medieval (500-1500) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Translated primary source: Ludolph of Suchem: The Fall of Acre, 1291.
    Ask: How reliable is this source, and how could we check it?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “How did people on different sides experience the Crusades?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.