ABSTRACT
The Fifth Crusade and its context together represent a cardinal event in early thirteenth-century history, occurring during what was probably the most intensive period of crusading in both Europe and the Holy Land. The crusade itself marked the last time that a medieval pope would succeed in mounting a full-scale, genuinely international crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land. Despite this, though, the Fifth Crusade and its context have not received much attention in modern scholarship. The crusade itself was last examined in detail in 1986, in James M. Powell’s monograph Anatomy of a Crusade, which hitherto has been widely considered to be the seminal work on the Fifth Crusade. In an effort to revive academic interest in the Fifth Crusade and in preparation for the octocentennial commemorations of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and the departure of the Fifth Crusade (1217), the editors of this volume organized the international conference ‘Contextualising the Fifth Crusade’ at Canterbury on 13-14 April 2012. A selection of essays originating from papers presented at this conference, as well as contributions from scholars who were not present at the conference, have been brought together in this volume.
