dr Bartłomiej Dźwigała

Section 17.: Between East and West. The Political Culture of Outremer, 1100-1204

The aim of this paper is to present the Genealogy of Jesus Christ as an important element of political culture of Outremer in the first years after the capture of Jerusalem by the First Crusade. The solemn ritual of reading this Gospel passage (Matthew 1:1-17) was an important part of the liturgical celebrations of Christmas and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christmas in 1099 and in 1100, as well as the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1101, were associated with important events in the history of the forming Kingdom of Jerusalem, which can be studied through a parallel reading of the chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres and the so-called “Bartolph of Nangis.” The interpretation of the symbolism and meanings associated with the Genealogy of Jesus brings important conclusions in the study of the memory and collective identity of the elite of the Jerusalem Kingdom.