The Crusades and the Chertsey Combat Tiles: A Medieval Masterpiece Reconstructed

FAIN: GI-285316-22

College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA 01610-2395)
Amanda Luyster (Project Director: August 2021 to present)

Implementation for a temporary, single-site exhibition in 2023 exploring the history of the thirteenth-century Chertsey Abbey floor tiles in the context of war and cultural exchange of the Crusades.

DRAFT

Associated Products

Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece. (Catalog)
Title: Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece.
Author: Amanda Luyster
Abstract: This volume reveals the impact that art objects manufactured in the Islamic and Byzantine Mediterranean had on the medieval visual culture of England. It also addresses the complex phenomenon of the Crusades, in which both violence and dynamic cultural interaction coexisted. 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. Catalogue of invited essays to accompany exhibition at the Cantor Gallery of Art, College of the Holy Cross, Jan-April 2023. Contributors include Michael Wood (OBE), Andrea Achi, Paroma Chatterjee, Meredith Fluke, Eurydice Georganteli, Sean Gilsdorf, Sarah Guerin, Cynthia Hahn, Eva R. Hoffman, Richard A. Leson, A. L. McClanan, Nina Masin-Moyer ’22, Grace P. Morrissey ’22, Suleiman Mourad, David Nicolle, Scott Redford, Euan Roger, Alicia Walker, Elizabeth Dospel Williams.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9781912554942-1
Primary URL Description: book on publishers' website
Secondary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/1344292219
Secondary URL Description: Worldcat
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: Harvey Miller

Bringing the Holy Land Home (Web Resource)
Title: Bringing the Holy Land Home
Author: Amanda Luyster
Abstract: This website was built to accompany the exhibition of the same name, mounted in Spring 2023 at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://chertseytiles.holycross.edu

Bringing the Holy Land Home (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Bringing the Holy Land Home
Abstract: This symposium accompanied the exhibition. March 25, 2023, at the College of the Holy Cross. Held as the New England Medieval Colloquium annual conference, and supported by the McFarland Center and the Kress Foundation. This conference invited speakers from across the country, Canada, and the United Kingdom, to consider the cross-cultural relations of the Crusading world and its implications and connections to today. Speaker list included curators from the British Museum, the National Archives at Kew, as well as well-known US institutions. Download Speaker list included curators from the British Museum, the National Archives at Kew, as well as well-known US institutions. We registered our maximum number of possible attendees, among whom were represented individuals from Yale, Harvard, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Attendees described the symposium as “thoughtful, substantive, and field-enriching” (Jackie Jung, Yale) and “a triumph… one of the most memorable conferences I have attended” (Sonja Drimmer, UMass Amherst). Lectures available at https://chertseytiles.holycross.edu/events/
Date Range: March 25, 2023
Location: Worcester, MA
Primary URL: https://chertseytiles.holycross.edu/events/
Primary URL Description: Website housing recordings of presentations that were part of the symposium.

Bringing the Holy Land Home (Exhibition)
Title: Bringing the Holy Land Home
Curator: Amanda Luyster
Abstract: We held an exhibition at the College of the Holy Cross from Jan 26-April 6 2023.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://chertseytiles.holycross.edu

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