Bringing the Holy Land Home. The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

Summary A carefully-integrated group of studies begins with the so-called ?Chertsey? ceramic tiles, depicting combat between King Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. Found at Chertsey Abbey not far outside London and admired since the nineteenth century, we present here a new reconstruction of both the tiles and their previously-undeciphered Latin texts. The reconstruction demonstrates not only that the theme of the entire mosaic is the Crusades, but also that the overall appearance of the tiles, when laid as a floor, draws from the composition and iconography of imported Islamic and Byzantine silks. Essays illuminate specific material contexts that similarly witness western Europe's, and particularly England's, engagement with the material culture of the eastern Mediterranean, including ceramics, textiles, relics and reliquaries, metalwork, coins, sculpture, and ivories. TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTRIBUTORS FOREWORD by Michael Wood DIRECTOR'S FOREWORD by Meredith Fluke PREFACE by Amanda Luyster We who were Occidentals have now become Orientals CATALOGUE ESSAYS Amanda Luyster The Chertsey Tiles: Reassembling Fragments of Meaning Suleiman A. Mourad A Clash of Civilizations? Diverse Motivations, Multiple Actors, and the Hidden Richness of Muslim Historical Sources David Nicolle The Crusades: A Short History Euan Roger So Much National Magnificence and National History: The Foundation, Structure, and Fall of Chertsey Abbey Richard A. Leson Epic Sensibilities in French Art of the Crusader Period Cynthia Hahn Re-creating the Holy Land at Home: Relics from the East in England Elizabeth Dosp?l Williams The Mobility of Fabric: Textiles in and around Medieval Eurasia Eva R. HoFFman Crusaders in Jerusalem: Frankish Encounters with Idols, Holy Monuments, and Portable Objects Sarah M. Gu rin Oliphants and Elephants: African Ivory in England Scott Redford A Cupbearer Crosses Cultures: Figural Ceramic Traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean Paroma Chatterjee Citizens and Invaders: Encounters with Sculpture in Constantinople during the Fourth Crusaded OBJECTS IN FOCUS Andrea Myers Achi Black Fighters on a Late Antique Textile Sean Gilsdorf St. Menas Pilgrim Flask Nina Masin-Moyer Brooch/Amulet with Inscribed Arabic Seal Nina Masin-Moyer Enkolpion Reliquary Cross Nina Masin-Moyer Chess Piece with King or Vizier Alicia Walker So-called Crusader's Bowl A. L. McClanan Architectural Fragment with Griffin Nina Masin-Moyer Amphora with Confronted Hybrid Figures Meredith Fluke Section of a Cassone Panel with Beasts in Roundels Grace P. Morrissey Lusterware Bowl with Figure Eurydice S. Georganteli Gold Penny of Henry III Nina Masin-Moyer Gemellion with the Arms of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem Students From Boston College The Morgan Picture Bible WORKS CITED INDEX