Inspirational scholar’s career celebrated

A special Crusader conference honouring scholarship inspired by a Cardiff University professor brings world experts to the Welsh capital.

Scholars from across the UK, Europe and the Middle East are meeting in Cardiff for The Archaeology of the Latin East conference to discuss the latest research in the history and archaeology of the Latin East at a specially-arranged two-day event in honour of Professor Denys Pringle.

Professor Pringle is recognized internationally as the foremost specialist on the archaeology of the Crusader period in the Near East. His four-volume The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge University Press, 1993-2009) forms the crowning achievement of a career studying the written sources and material remains relating to the areas that came under the control of the rulers from the West in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Marked with the presentation of Crusader Landscapes in the Medieval Levant: The Archaeology and History of the Latin East as a Festschrift – or collection of writings published in honour of a scholar – the conference takes place on the occasion of the distinguished academic’s 65th birthday.

The breadth of international scholarship inspired by the scholar is represented at the conference, featuring Late Medieval Properties and Castles in Britain, The Eastern and Western Mediterranean, Archaeology and Landscape, Warfare and Towers,  Churches and Pilgrims, Urban Centres Archaeology and Artefacts. The Festschrift presentation follows Benjamin Kedar’s keynote lecture Material culture of the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem.

In a dynamic career the Emeritus Professor served Historic Scotland as Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments and the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem as Assistant Director, before joining Cardiff University as Professor in 2001.

Admitted to the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem as Serving Brother in 1995, the Emeritus Professor continues to serve on national committees including the Kenyon Institute, Jerusalem.
The Archaeology of the Latin East conference takes place in the University’s Glamorgan Building on 17 and 18 September.

The new volume Crusader Landscapes in the Medieval Levant will be officially launched at a special event at the British Academy on 21 September and in Jerusalem in October.