Dr Jason Roche

Who am I?

I was an engineer before travelling around the world for two years, falling out of a coconut tree and then retraining as an academic. With a wife and two small children, my life is now a little bit more sedentary and I now rarely stray off terra firma. Many years of wandering have thankfully and rather amazingly brought me back to my home town and the ability to see United at Old Trafford, socialise with old friends and return to coaching at my local amateur boxing club.

When I first considered becoming an historian, I did so for the high-minded notion that studying history was an end in of itself. What a wonderful thing it would be, I thought, to honour the great moments in history and monuments in culture by studying them for their own value. And I was right.

Since then, I’ve taught at universities in Scotland, Ireland, Turkey and now at MMU in England. As a result of this I have become increasingly appreciative of the practical and vocational utility of studying history. In my seminars, workshops and lectures, students are trained in a range of transferable skills that are increasingly sought after in today’s information-based economy.

Words of wisdom

Be prepared to have your assumptions challenged through the use of critical thinking. It is a key transferable skill you acquire and improve as a History student. If you’re open to new ideas and ready to have your preconceptions about history challenged, then your B.A. in History will be worth considerably more than just a degree in Higher Education.

How I’ll teach you

My approach to teaching has been described as passionate, enthusiastic and engaging.
I have the pleasure of giving ‘taster’ lectures on the university’s open days. I begin every lecture by reminding the audience that what we know of the past changes constantly. I want students to appreciate that history is dynamic, and that our understanding of the past shapes our interpretation of the present. I want students to question the world around them by challenging their prejudgments about the past.

Research expertise

My research interests lie in the history of the crusades and the ‘Crusader States’. I’m also interested in the topography of medieval Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire’s relationships with the Latin West.

Academic collaborations

The Second Crusade: Holy War on the Periphery of Latin Christendom, eds. Jason T. Roche & Janus Møller Jensen (Brepols, 2015)

Publications

• Featured Works

  J. Roche (2018). The Byzantine Conception of the Latin Barbarian and Distortion in the Greek Narratives of the Early Crusades. KV. Jensen, CS. Jensen, JM. Jensen. In: Fighting for the Faith – the Many Crusades. The society Runica et mediævalia, Stockholm University, pp.143-173.

  JT. Roche (2015). The Second Crusade: Holy War on the Periphery of Latin Christendom. JT. Roche. Brepols.

  JT. Roche (2015). King Conrad III in the Byzantine Empire: a Foil for Native Imperial Virtue. In: The Second Crusade: Holy War on the Periphery of Latin Christendom. Brepols, pp.183-216.

  JT. Roche (2015). The Second Crusade: Main Debates and New Horizons. In: The Second Crusade: Holy War on the Periphery of Latin Christendom. Brepols,

• Books (authored/edited/special issues)

  JT. Roche (2015). The Second Crusade: Holy War on the Periphery of Latin Christendom. JT. Roche. Brepols.

• Journal articles

  JT. Roche (2015). The Second Crusade: Lisbon, Damascus and the Wendish Campaigns. History Compass. 13(11), pp.599-609.

  JT. Roche (2010). Surveying the Aspect of the Medieval West Anatolian Town. Al-Masāq. 22(3), pp.249-257.

  JASONT. ROCHE (2009). In the Wake of Mantzikert: The First Crusade and the Alexian Reconquest of Western Anatolia. History. 94(314), pp.135-153.

  JT. Roche (2006). ‘Conrad III and the Second Crusade: Retreat from Dorylaion?’. Crusades. 5, pp.85-97.

• Chapters in books

  J. Roche (2018). The Byzantine Conception of the Latin Barbarian and Distortion in the Greek Narratives of the Early Crusades. KV. Jensen, CS. Jensen, JM. Jensen. In: Fighting for the Faith – the Many Crusades. The society Runica et mediævalia, Stockholm University, pp.143-173.

  JT. Roche (2015). King Conrad III in the Byzantine Empire: a Foil for Native Imperial Virtue. In: The Second Crusade: Holy War on the Periphery of Latin Christendom. Brepols, pp.183-216.

  JT. Roche (2015). The Second Crusade: Main Debates and New Horizons. In: The Second Crusade: Holy War on the Periphery of Latin Christendom. Brepols,

  JT. Roche (2015). Crusades in the Holy Land and Egypt (Consequences). In: The Crusades to the Holy Land: the Essential Reference Guide. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, pp.xxv-xxviii.

  JT. Roche (2015). Crusades in the Holy Land and Egypt (Causes). In: The Crusades to the Holy Land: the Essential Reference Guide. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, pp.xix-xxiv.

  JT. Roche (2008). Niketas Choniates as a Source for the Second Crusade in Anatolia. E. Altan. In: Festschrift in Memory of Prof. Dr. Iþýn Demirkent. pp.379-388.

Invited papers

“The Türkmen and the Crusades in Anatolia”,  Northern Network for the Study of the Crusades Inaugural Symposium,  Manchester Metropolitan University, February 2017

“The Crusades in the Balkans: Dearth amidst Plenty”, International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds (IMC), July 2016

 “The Anatolian Turks and the Second Crusade”, Third Seljuk Culture and Civilisation Symposium: Seljuks and Crusaders, Seljuk University (Turkey),
April 2016

 “Tactics and the Second Crusade in Anatolia”, First International Conference on the Military History of the Mediterranean Sea, Fatih University
(Istanbul), June 2015

 “When the Staufer met the Komnenoi: Imperial Relations on the Second Crusade”, IMC, July 2014

“The Staufen-Comnenian Alliance, c. 1140-1152”, IMC, July 2013

“Komnenoi, Hohenstaufen, and the Geopolitics of the Medieval Mediterranean” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, U.S., May 2013

 ‘Roger II and the Second Crusade’, Crusading and Pilgrimage in the Norman World Symposium, Manchester Metropolitan University, September 2012

 ‘“War and victory eluded their grasp”: the supposed indiscipline of the Second Crusaders in Anatolia’, Study of the Crusades and the Latin East (SSCLE) Conference, Cáceres, Spain, June 2012

‘Poverty and disorder on the Second Crusade’, IMC, July 2011

‘Constantinople before  Çelebi’s Istanbul: the views of western travellers’, Symposium in honour of the 400th anniversary of the Evliya Çelebi, Fatih University  (Istanbul), March 2011

‘Crusading armies and  their violence across medieval frontiers’; Medieval Frontiers at War Conference at the University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain, November 2010

‘Medieval military demography: problems and potential solutions’; IMC, July 2010

De Profectione Ludovici  VII in Orientem and the conventional notion that “Alemanni praecedentes
omnia perturbant”: a calculated subplot of Odo of Deuil’s Second  Crusade narrative?’; SSCLE
Conference, Avignon, August 2008

‘The logistical predicaments of Conrad III during his advance towards Ikonion, 1147’; IMC, July 2008

‘Volatility in Western Anatolia: the geopolitical landscape between the Byzantines and Seljuks during the High Middle Ages’; invited lecture at the Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus, April 2008

‘Reconstructing the medieval Anatolian town: an interdisciplinary approach’; IMC, July 2007

‘The Byzantine notion of the Latin barbarian’; Medieval Images of the Other in Scandinavia, Western Europe and Byzantium Conference, University of Southern Denmark, April 2007

‘‘‘Manganeios Prodromos” as a source for the Second Crusade’; IMC, July 2006

‘Conrad III and the Second Crusade: Dorylaion reconsidered’; invited symposium paper at the Institute of Historical Research, London, December 2005

‘Conrad III and the Greek sources for the Second Crusade: errors, omissions and flawed assumptions’; IMC, July 2005

‘Conrad III and the Second Crusade: retreat from Dorylaion?’; SSCLE Conference, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Istanbul, August 2004

‘Anatolia and the Second Crusade: who clashed with Louis VII?’; IMC, July 2004

‘Louis VII and the Second Crusade: Anatolia reconsidered’; LAMPS Conference, University of Edinburgh, July 2003

Conference organisation

Co-organiser of eight sessions sponsored by the Northern Network for the Study of the Crusades at the Leeds Medieval Congress (IMC), July, 2017

Symposium  co-organiser at Manchester Metropolitan University, February, 2017: The Northern Network
for the Study of the Crusades Inaugural Symposium; sponsored by The Royal  Historical Society and the History Research Centre at Manchester Metropolitan
University

Round Table co-organiser and moderator at the IMC 2009-14: “Teaching Medieval History”; sponsored by the Higher Education Academy’s Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology and History Lab Plus, Institute of Historical Research, University of London

Strand  co-organiser and moderator at the IMC 2011: ‘Poverty,  Wealth, and the Crusade Movement’

Session  organiser at the IMC 2008: ‘Combating nature  during the early crusades’; sponsored by the Medieval Logistics Group

Strand co-organiser and moderator at the IMC 2006: ‘The Second Crusade in Perspective’, sponsored by the Haskins Society