Belmont to host lecture on “Armenia and the Crusades”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Dr. Ara Dostourian will give a lecture on Thursday, Oct 16, entitled, “Armenia and the Crusades: The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa,” at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center in Belmont, CA.

The lecture is co-sponsored by NAASR and the Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies at Harvard University; Dr. James R. Russell, the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, will offer introductory remarks, the Armenian Weekly reported.

The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa has long been recognized as an invaluable source of information concerning the dramatic events taking place in the Near East between the years 952 and 1162 A.D. Byzantine emperors, Crusader knights, Arab potentates, and Turkish invaders march across the pages of this eye-witness account.

Dostourian translated this crucial primary source into English for the first time for his doctoral work at Rutgers University. It was published in 1993 as Armenia and the Crusades: The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa by NAASR and the University Press of America; NAASR’s Armenian Heritage Press has just issued the second, revised edition in paperback, incorporating corrections by the translator as well as additions to the notes and bibliography.

Dostourian is professor emeritus of history at the University of West Georgia and a former research fellow in Armenian Studies at Harvard University. He has a bachelor’s degree in history and language from the City University of New York, a master of arts in medieval history from Fordham University, and a master of divinity degree from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., as well as a doctorate in Byzantine history from Rutgers University.