The Sepulchre of Christ and the Medieval West

What was the impact of the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem on the history of western Europe? Colin Morris shows that the Holy Sepulchre had a vital influence on pilgrimage, the Crusades, the cult of the Cross, and art and architecture. The recovery of the Tomb was a central objective of the Crusades, and so Morris examines the emergence of hostility between Christendom and Islam. - ;The tomb of Christ at Jerusalem was a vital influence in the making of Western Europe. Pilgrimage there influenced the development of society and its structures. The desire to 'bring the Sepulchre to the West' in copies or memorials shaped art and religion, while the ambition to control Christ's tomb was a central objective of the crusades. Western Europe responded to the loss of Jerusalem by creating a new pilgrimage to the East, by making kingdoms 'holy lands' for their subjects,. and by creating new pilgrim centres at home. This book brings together social, political, and religious themes often considered in isolation. - ;It is difficult to do justice to the scope of the book, and the huge range of scholarship on which it is based, in several languages and in several disciplines...a study worthy of its troubled and complex history. - David Crouch, Book Reviews, Mortality, Vol 11, No.4;Colin Morris guides his reader through this complex history and draws on the full range of documentary, literary and visual evidence to illustrate his theme. This work makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the religious life and though of the medieval west. - Bernard Hamilton, History Journal;The merits of this magnificent book are so various that the reviewer's chief imperative must be to urge others to read it ... The breadth of reference is simply astonishing and what Morris writes seems so self-evidently true that one is tempted to forget that before him no scholar has stated it with such clarity. - Nicholas Vincent, Journal of Ecclesiastical History;...[a] rema