Monday, 16th June 2008
Prof. Denys Pringle (University of Cardiff)
ACRE AT THE TIME OF THE CRUSADER KINGDOM
From the time of its capture by the Franks in May 1103 until it fell to Saladin in July 1187, Acre was the second city of the kingdom of Jerusalem in terms of its size and economic importance (though its bishop remained a suffragan of the archbishop of Tyre). After its recapture by the Crusaders in 1191, however, Acre effectively replaced Jerusalem as the kingdom's capital, even during the brief period from 1229 to 1244 when Jerusalem itself was in Christian hands. It was the seat of the king and government, and in 1262 the patriarch of Jerusalem, already resident there, combined his office with that of bishop of Acre. The city finally fell to the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Khalil in May 1291 after a lengthy siege and was utterly destroyed to prevent its future use by any planned Crusading expedition. This lecture charts the development of the city during those two centuries, making use of documentary, cartographic and archaeological evidence.
Prof. Denys Pringle is Research Professor in Archaeology at the University of Cardiff and a specialist in the archaeology of the Crusader settlements in Syria and the Holy Land. His interests also include the archaeology of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages in the Mediterranean world, and medieval fortification and pottery.
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