Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Crusades Primary Source Quest: Lesson Plan, Kitty Lam

History of Cultural Contact

In this lesson, students will assess the nature of Christian-Muslim interaction during the Crusades by examining multiple accounts by individuals who participated in or were observers of the Crusades. In this activity, students pretend that they are researchers who have discovered new primary sources related to the Crusades. These documents cover a range of topics from conflict to religion to everyday life. The purpose of this exercise is to have students explore the meaning of the Crusades beyond the concept of holy war. This exercise also mimics, to a certain extent, the process that historians go through when conducting archival …

Crusades Primary Source Quest: Student Handouts, Kitty Lam

History of Cultural Contact

The scenario:

About 30 years ago, a group of archeologists discovered excerpts of texts written by people who had witnessed the Crusades, buried inside the tomb of a scholar who died in the late 13^th century. The archaeologists hired Bernard, an archivist at the Museum of the Middle Ages, to analyze the texts and determine just exactly what these documents were and who wrote them. Unfortunately, before Bernard had finished his task, aliens had abducted Bernard and the team of archeologists who discovered the documents. No one heard from any of these people again, and the discovery was forgotten …

Silk Road Traveler Identity Quest: Text, Kitty Lam

History of Cultural Contact

Who wrote this text?

“In the country of ‘the lord of elephants’ the people are quick and enthusiastic, and entirely given to learning. They cultivate especially magical arts. They wear a robe thrown across them, with their right shoulder bare; their hair is done up in a ball on the top, and left undressed on the four sides. Their various tribes occupy different towns; their houses are built stage over stage.”

Silk Road Traveler Identity Quest: Lesson Plan, Kitty Lam

History of Cultural Contact

In this lesson, students will explore intercultural contact in the Silk Road trade networks by examining the writings of Xuan Zang, a 7^th century Chinese Buddhist monk who made a pilgrimage to India to collect Buddhist texts. The text used in this exercise is Xuan Zang’s Record of the Western Regions, which was a text commissioned by the Tang Chinese Emperor. This text includes rich details of the communities Xuan Zang visited.