Role
Dr Nicholas Morton's research focuses on the history of the Crusades and the Medieval Near East between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries.
He is also an editor for three Routledge book series: Rulers of the Latin East and The Military Religious Orders: History, Sources and Memory and Global Histories before Globalisation.
Dr Morton has recently completed a new book entitled: The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East (Basic Books). This work offers a panoramic account of the Mongol invasions into the Near East during the thirteenth century, examining these wars from the perspectives of the many different societies impacted by their conquests.
Career overview
Dr Morton joined Nottingham Trent University in 2009. Formerly he taught at Queen Mary University (UL), Royal Holloway (UL) and Swansea University.
Research areas
Dr Morton is a member of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Conflict.
Dr Morton’s research interests include the topics listed below.
(He is prepared to consider applications for doctoral study in any of these areas.)
Specific areas of interest:
- The history of the Crusades and the Military Orders (Templars, Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights etc.),
- The history of Near Eastern and Central Asian societies, such as: the Fatimid Empire, the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols,
- Cross-cultural and inter-faith relations in the Medieval Near East,
- Medieval theology and scriptural exegesis,
- Military History,
- Demography and economics in the Medieval Mediterranean and Near East,
- The history of technology.
Broader spheres of interest:
- Global History (6th-15th centuries)
- Medieval Christianity (5th-15th centuries), especially its influence upon social and economic development
- Medieval Warfare (7th-16th centuries)
- Religious conversion (any religion, any period).
For more information about postgraduate and doctoral research see: NTU Doctoral School.
Publications
Books
Religion and Conflict in Medieval and Early Modern Worlds: Identities, Communities and Authorities. Hodgson N, McCallum J, Fuller A, Morton N (eds), 2021, Routledge.
The Crusader States and their neighbours: a military history, 1099-1187. Morton N, 2002, Oxford University Press, 2020
The Military Orders VII: Piety, Pugnacity and Property. Morton N (ed.), 2019, Routledge.
The Field of Blood: The battle for Aleppo and the remaking of the medieval Middle East. Morton N, 2018, Basic Books.
The Uses of the Bible in Crusader sources. Morton N and Lapina E (eds), 2017, Brill.
Encountering Islam on the First Crusade. Morton N, 2016, Cambridge University Press.
Crusading and warfare in the Middle Ages: realities and representations: essays in honour of John France. Crusades - Subsidia. Morton N and John S (eds), 2014, Ashgate.
The Medieval Military Orders, 1120-1314 . Morton N, 2012, Routledge.
The Teutonic Knights in the Holy Land, 1190-1291. Morton N, 2009, Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer.
Articles (a selection):
‘The Crusades to the Eastern Mediterranean, 1095-1291’, Morton N in (eds) D Pratt and C Tieszen Christian-Muslim Relations: Volume 15, thematic essays, 2020, 281-306, Brill.
‘Risking battle: the Antiochene frontier, 1100-1164’. Morton N, Cahiers de Recherches médiévales et humanistes, 2019, 37, 189-210.
‘Representations of Muslim virtue in Christian ecclesiastical sources: c.1000-c.1350’. Morton N, Reading Medieval Studies, 2018, 145-172.
‘Walter the Chancellor on Ilghazi and Tughtakin: a prisoner’s perspective’. Morton N, Journal of Medieval History, 2018, 44:2, 170-186.
‘Walls of defence for the house of Israel: Ezekiel 13:5 and the crusading movement’. Morton N in (eds) E Lapina and N Morton, The Uses of the Bible in Crusader Sources, 2017, 403-420, Brill.
‘Templar and Hospitaller attitudes towards Islam in the Holy Land during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: some historiographical reflections’. Morton N, Levant, 2015, 316-327.
‘The Saljuq Turks’ conversion to Islam: the crusading sources’. Morton N, Al-Masāq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean, 2015, 1-10.
'In Subsidium: The declining contribution of Germany and Eastern Europe to the crusades to the Holy Land, 1187-1291', Morton N, German Historical Institute Bulletin, 2011, 33 (1), 33-66.
'The Defence of the Holy Land and the memory of the Maccabees'. Morton N, Journal of Medieval History, 2010, 36 (3), 275-293.
'Institutional dependency upon secular and ecclesiastical patrons and the foundations of the Trial of the Templars'. Morton N in (eds) H Nicholson, J Burgtorf and P Crawford, The Trial of the Templars: 1307-1314, 2010, 49-68, Ashgate.
Press expertise
Dr Morton can offer comment on:
- Medieval Mediterranean and Near East
- Crusading and Jihad during the medieval period
- Military orders (i.e. Knights Templar, Hospitaller and Teutonic Knights)
- Christian and Islamic relations during the Medieval Period
- Medieval Warfare
- Medieval technology
- The Seljuk Turks
- The Mongols
- The Byzantine Empire
- Conversion in the Medieval Period