Near Eastern Studies Lecture Series

This talk is an exploration into the inception and development of the tradition of lamentations devoted to fallen cities, while at the same time a reflection into the ways in which the contested nature of the city of Jerusalem in the crusader period resurfaces through a recursive form of the literary genre of city lamentations. Examining representations of Jerusalem in the medieval narratives of the English, French, Latin, Arabic, and Armenian literary traditions, this talk exposes the intersections between Western Europe and a number of ethno-religious cultures of the “east,” arguing for shared modes of representing the loss of the city of Jerusalem in their narratives, and exposing the extensive cross-cultural exchange and acculturation of various cultures in the medieval Mediterranean world.