Ronnie Ellenblum (born June 21, 1952,

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropoli ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

; died January 7, 2021,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Israel) was an Israeli professor at the department of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a member of the

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on r ...

, specializing in Medieval geographies, the history of the

Levant The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, and the history of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. His latest studies deal also with

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

and climatic history, the

history of Jerusalem During its long history, Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times, and destroyed twice.. According to Eric H. Cline's tally in Jerusalem Besieged. The oldest part of the city was settled in the ...

, and the development of historic cities in general. Ellenblum headed the Vadum Iacob Research Project and was involved in the creation of several databases dealing with the history of Jerusalem (together with

al-Quds University Al-Quds University ( ar, جامعة القدس) is a Palestinian university with campuses in Jerusalem, Abu Dis, al-Bireh, and Hebron. Overview The idea of establishing an institution of higher learning in the outskirts of Jerusalem w ...

); with the maps of Jerusalem and with English translations of documents and charters of the Crusader Period. Ellenblum has developed a comprehensive theoretical approach to 'Fragility,' claiming that a decade or two of climatic disturbance (droughts, untimely rains and severely cold winters) could lead to severe societal effects, and that the amelioration and even stabilization of climatic conditions for several decades can lead to a period of affluence. His theory of Fragility is based on a thorough reading of a wealth of well-dated textual and archaeological evidence, pointing to periods of collapse (in the eastern Mediterranean and northern China during the

Medieval Climate Anomaly The Medieval Warm Period (MWP), also known as the Medieval Climate Optimum or the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region that lasted from to . Climate proxy records show peak warmth occurred at differ ...

), and affluence in the entire

Mediterranean Basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and w ...

during the Roman Optimum, and describing these processes yearly, monthly and even daily.

Book publications

* ''Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem'',

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Press, 1998 * ''Crusader castles and modern histories Cambridge'', Cambridge University Press, 2007 * ''Frankish Castles, Muslim Castles, and the Medieval Citadel of Jerusalem''. In ''In laudem Hierosolymitani: Studies in Crusades and Medieval Culture in Honor of Benjamin Z. Kedar'', edited by Iris Shagrir, Ronnie Ellenblum and Jonathan Riley-Smith. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007''In laudem Hierosolymitani...''
book excerpts
at Amazon.com. Accessed 26 January 2021. * ''The Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean: Climate Change and the Decline of the East, 950–1072'', Cambridge University Press, 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellenblum, Ronnie Place of birth missing Israeli geographers Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty 21st-century geographers 1952 births 2021 deaths