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Siege of Jerusalem
Written in Middle English at the end of the 14th century, this graphically violent poem describes the siege and capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the Jewish Temple there by the Romans in 70AD. Marked by virulent anti-Semitism, the poem is notable, Livingston writes in his lengthy (40-page) introduction, as an artifact of the era, in particular for how it reflects attitudes engendered by the Crusades. The poem is annotated and a full bibliography is provided; there is no index. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Paperback
Published March 1, 2005
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About the author
Michael Livingston
55 books236 followersA native of Colorado, Michael Livingston holds degrees in History, Medieval Studies, and English. He lives today in Charleston, South Carolina, where he teaches at The Citadel.
In his author life, he is a winner of the prestigious international Writers of the Future Contest (in 2005), and his novel SHARDS OF HEAVEN, the first in a trilogy of historical fantasies, will be published by Tor Books in November 2015. He has also published in a variety of other genres and venues, from a historical retelling of BEOWULF to a brief story about quantum physics in the world-renowned journal of science, NATURE.
In his academic life, he has published more than a dozen articles on subjects as varied as early Christianity, BEOWULF, Chaucer, James Joyce, J.R.R. Tolkien, and digital and practical pedagogies (though never all of them at once!). He has investigated European maps of America that pre-date Columbus, found unrecorded Anasazi ruins and artifacts, and written about the handwriting of fourteenth-century scribes. He is the general editor of the Liverpool Historical Casebooks Series, for which he has edited casebooks on the Battle of Brunanburh (Exeter, 2011), the Welsh rebel hero Owain Glyndwr (co-edited with John Bollard; Liverpool, 2013), and, coming soon, the Battle of Crécy (co-edited with Kelly DeVries; 2015).
In his author life, he is a winner of the prestigious international Writers of the Future Contest (in 2005), and his novel SHARDS OF HEAVEN, the first in a trilogy of historical fantasies, will be published by Tor Books in November 2015. He has also published in a variety of other genres and venues, from a historical retelling of BEOWULF to a brief story about quantum physics in the world-renowned journal of science, NATURE.
In his academic life, he has published more than a dozen articles on subjects as varied as early Christianity, BEOWULF, Chaucer, James Joyce, J.R.R. Tolkien, and digital and practical pedagogies (though never all of them at once!). He has investigated European maps of America that pre-date Columbus, found unrecorded Anasazi ruins and artifacts, and written about the handwriting of fourteenth-century scribes. He is the general editor of the Liverpool Historical Casebooks Series, for which he has edited casebooks on the Battle of Brunanburh (Exeter, 2011), the Welsh rebel hero Owain Glyndwr (co-edited with John Bollard; Liverpool, 2013), and, coming soon, the Battle of Crécy (co-edited with Kelly DeVries; 2015).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 4, 2012
Siege of Jerusalem is an interesting mix of the romantic, the religious, and the historical. The main theme is the criteria of a just war—which necessitates the author’s choice to present Titus’s and Vespasian’s conversion to Christianity before they head off to fight the Jews. They then have both religion and the empire on their side. Once there, they must negotiate the brutal violence, deciding whether they should offer or accept peace treaties and how many people they can let walk from the city alive.
The war itself is depicted in full gory detail, such as one might have encountered in The Song of Roland. Bones break, brains fly, blood is everywhere, and a woman eats her own child because everyone in Jerusalem is starving. Not the usual descriptions one expects to find in a text so heavily focused on the religious, but very much with precedent and quite in the tradition of epic poems. Readers who are particularly queasy will probably not enjoy this book.
Another obvious concern for modern readers is the apparent anti-Semitism. According to the text, the Christians are right, and the Jews are wrong, and they willingly murdered God. The introduction notes the correlation between the violence of the crucifixion scene that begins the poem and the later violence enacted against Jerusalem in retribution. Obviously, a bit of historical perspective can help dampen any discomfort, as well as the knowledge that author probably had never met a Jew in England at the time. The Jews are in a way the unknown, faceless other, and another group could function just as well as the enemy. Also, both the author and the Romans offer the Jews a bit of mercy. Titus at one point calls them “fierce men and noble,” (871) and they are granted a lot of credit for inventing ingenious ways to defend their city. Does all this make the text fair? No. But its unfairness is part of what gives it historical value.
The war itself is depicted in full gory detail, such as one might have encountered in The Song of Roland. Bones break, brains fly, blood is everywhere, and a woman eats her own child because everyone in Jerusalem is starving. Not the usual descriptions one expects to find in a text so heavily focused on the religious, but very much with precedent and quite in the tradition of epic poems. Readers who are particularly queasy will probably not enjoy this book.
Another obvious concern for modern readers is the apparent anti-Semitism. According to the text, the Christians are right, and the Jews are wrong, and they willingly murdered God. The introduction notes the correlation between the violence of the crucifixion scene that begins the poem and the later violence enacted against Jerusalem in retribution. Obviously, a bit of historical perspective can help dampen any discomfort, as well as the knowledge that author probably had never met a Jew in England at the time. The Jews are in a way the unknown, faceless other, and another group could function just as well as the enemy. Also, both the author and the Romans offer the Jews a bit of mercy. Titus at one point calls them “fierce men and noble,” (871) and they are granted a lot of credit for inventing ingenious ways to defend their city. Does all this make the text fair? No. But its unfairness is part of what gives it historical value.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews