Historiography

Ambraseys and Melville (1988:185) provide a short summary of historical context and background

The political context of the earthquake is briefly outlined in Mayer (1972, 1984) and more fully in Callen (1940), Runciman (1971) and Setton (1969), where detailed reference is made to the narrative sources available. The Crusader states had been greatly reduced by Saladin's campaign of 1187 and only partially reconstituted by the Third Crusade. Regarding the non-Muslim accounts, it is unfortunate that the main political and military developments at this time were not taking place in the Levant at all, but lay in the preparations for the ill-fated Fourth Crusade. The focus is not therefore so clearly on events in the east, where the Crusader states were on the defensive and greatly reduced in their sphere of operations. Most of the relatively few places retained by the Christians are mentioned in European accounts, all in the truncated kingdom of Jerusalem and the county of Tripoli, on or near the coastal strip. No details are given in Christian sources of wider effects in the Syrian hinterland. Similarly, no details are given of the shock further north, in the principality of Antioch, beyond the indications that it was not so severe there.

Online Versions and Further Reading

References

Ducellier, A. (1980), ‘Les seismes en Mediterranee orientale du ´ XIeme au XIIIeme siecle’, ` Actes du XV Congres` International des Etudes Byzantins, vol. 4, Athens, pp. 103–113

Elisseeff N. 1967, Nur ad-Din. Un grand prince musulman de Syrie au temps des Croisades (511-569 h. 11118-1174), Damas.

Mayer, H. E. (1972), ‘Two unpublished letters on the Syrian earthquake of 1202’, in S. A. Hanna (ed.), Medieval and Middle Eastern Studies in honor of Aziz Suryal Atiya, Leiden, pp. 295–310

R., Meisner, H. (eds.) (1880), Deutsche Pilgerreisen nach dem Heiligen Lande, Berlin: Weidmann

Rohricht R. 1898, Geschichte des Konigreichs Jerusalems (1100-1291), Innsbruck (repr. Amsterdam 1966).