The Crusades and Christianity

The Crusades

The Crusaders: The Struggle for the Holy Land
Regine Pernoud
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There is no shortage of stories about the crusades, or of biographies of those who played the leading roles in this, the greatest epic of the Middle ages. But there has been no book in which we could find, recreated, the way of life, the world view, the everyday social organization of those who tempted adventure. They were kings and paupers, barons, clerks, women, and merchants. Some were driven by their faith, others by the spirit of conquest, and some by a hunger for greatness and wealth. Regine Pernoud presents for us a living picture in which we can view, first hand, the awe of the Christians as they beheld the Muslim world, the myriad ordeals they sustained while traveling for years in unknown lands, and the remarkable way in which they managed to adapt, to colonize, to erect churches and fortresses, and to abide for centuries in the face of an adversary far greater in number. Here, an unrecognized page in our history finally reveals itself. A great historian and writer brings this colorful period alive.

Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World
Karen Armstrong
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In 1095, with the tomb of Jesus still in the hands of infidels and the Byzantine empire overrun by Muslim Turks, Pope Urban II summoned Christian warriors to take up the cross and their swords against the Turks and then recover the holy city of Jerusalem from Islam. It was to be the first of the Crusades, a holy war that would focus the power of the European kingdoms against a common enemy. The Crusades became the stuff of romantic legend, but in reality they were a series of rabidly savage battles carried out in the name of Christian piety to advance power of the Western Church. Their legacy of religious violence is felt today as the age-old conflict of Christians, Jews, and Muslims persists. Karen Armstrong enters the minds of kings and sultans, popes, saints, assassins, and simple pilgrims, skillfully presenting the Crusades from the perspective of all three traditions and with a view toward their profound and continuing influence.

The Crusades: A History, 2nd Edition
Jonathan Riley-Smith
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This lively, comprehensive history provides a wealth of fascinating detail about the Crusades and the politics and personalities behind them. This new edition includes revisions throughout as well as a new Preface and Afterword in which Jonathan Riley-Smith surveys recent developments in the field and examines responses to the Crusades in different periods, from the Romantics to the Islamic world today, making this the standard and authoritative account of the Crusades.

The Northern Crusades
Eric Christiansen
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Inspired by the Pope's call for a Holy War, Scandinavian rulers and German military monks conquered and settled Finland, Estonia and Prussia, before turning on the eastern empires of Orthodox Novgorod and pagan Lithuania. These 'Northern Crusades' are less celebrated than those in the Middle East, but they were also far more successful. Vast new territories became and remain Christian, while the central institutions of medieval Western Europe - churches, castles, manors, guilds, parliaments and feudal law codes - were introduced into a dark and inhospitable outer world. Now newly revised in the light of the recent developments in Baltic and Northern medieval research, this overview provides a balanced and compelling account of a tumultuous era.

The Later Crusades, 1274-1580: From Lyons to Alcazar
Norman Housley

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The expulsion of the Christians from the Holy Land in 1291 was far from being the end of the crusading movement. Crusades continued for three centuries over a vast area stretching form Morocco to Russia, and played an important role in the politics and society of late medieval Europe. Norman Housley's comprehensive survey is the first to focus in depth on the later crusades. He explores with clarity and insight developments in all the areas touched by crusading activity, and examines the evolution of the international Military Orders and the Christian "frontier states" associated with crusading, especially Greece and Cyprus. Dr. Housley illuminates the massive range and energy of the crusading movement in the alte middle ages. He reveals the formidable problems which, as the period progressed, increasingly doomed crusades to failure; and shows how practical cusading was in a condition of decay even before the Reformation destroyed the religious framework in which it has once flourished. This is a wide-ranging and lucid study, which will be invaluable to students of the crusades. It is supplemented by fourteen maps and a guide to further reading.

The Crusades
Hans Eberhard Mayer

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The second edition of The Crusades, for long standard work on the subject, has been extensively rewritten to take account of the latest research and new interpretations. Crusading was a central theme in the early medieval European history, and the book covers all the expeditoins which took place between the First Crusade in 1096 and the final retreat from Palestine in 1291. Certain aspects are examined in detail; the Crusading indulgence; the effect the Crusades had on the history of the participating states; the entanglement of the Crusades in European politics - for example in the conflicts between Pope and Emperor, and between the Kings of France and England; its role in moulding relations between Byzantium and Europe; and its misuse for an expansionist Italian and Catalan trade policy. In the line with recent research, particular emphasis has been placed on the internal history of the Crusader states. This comprehensive account will be of value to undergraduates and general readers alike; it is also an excellent introduction to the subject for those who intend to move on to more detailed studies.

Chronicles of the Crusades
Jean DeJoinville
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Few events in history have been more coloured by romantic imagination than the Crusades. The two famous Old French chronicles in this volume were composed by soldiers who took part in the Holy Wars. Villehardoin's Conquest of Constantinople is the first trustworthy and fully informed history of the Crusades. Distinguished by its simplicity and lucidity, it is an accound of the Fourth Crusade, which ironically ended as a war against hte Eastern Christians of the Orthodox Church. Joinville's Life of Saint Louis was inspired by the author's close attachment to the pious king and provides a vivid picture of his times and the ways of life in the East.

The Crusades Through Arab Eyes
Amin Maalouf
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European and Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. What the West remembers as an epic effort to reconquer the Holy Land is portrayed here as a brutal, destructive, unprovoked invasion by barbarian hordes. When, under Saladin, a powerful Muslim army - inspired by prophets and poets - defeated the Crusaders, it was the greatest victory ever won by a non-European society against the West. The Arab version of the Crusades is a heroic story of how the Muslims overcame their rivalries and united long enough to win a holy war. Amin Maalouf has combed the works of Arab chroniclers of the Crusades, many of them eyewitnesses and participants in the events they describe. Intriquing and entertaining, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes is a vivid portrait of a society nearly destroyed by internal conflict and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. Maalouf offers fascinating insights into the historical forces that even today shape Arab and Islamic consciousness. 295 pages, paperback from Shocken Books.

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