Richard The Lionheart And The Third Crusade

After Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem in 1187, King Richard of England and King Philip of France lead a crusade in 1191 to drive the Muslims out of the Holy Land. Only partially successful because the kings quarreled, this crusade recaptured some coastal cities, but left Jerusalem in Muslim hands. Richard agreed to a truce with Saladin and returned home, only to be captured and imprisoned by the Duke of Austria. Though many crusades followed this one, none was successful.

Acclaimed author James Reston, Jr.'s Warriors of God is the rich and engaging account of the Third Crusade (1187-1192), a conflict that would shape world history for centuries and which can still be felt in the Middle East and throughout the world today. James Reston, Jr. offers a gripping narrative of the epic battle that left Jerusalem in Muslim hands until the twentieth century, bringing an objective perspective to the gallantry, greed, and religious fervor that fueled the bloody clash between Christians and Muslims. As he recounts this rousing story, Reston brings to life the two legendary figures who led their armies against each other. He offers compelling portraits of Saladin, the wise and highly cultured leader who created a united empire, and Richard the Lionheart, the romantic personification of chivalry who emerges here in his full complexity and contradictions. From its riveting scenes of blood-soaked battles to its pageant of fascinating, larger-than-life characters, Warriors of God is essential history, history that helps us understand today's world.

The clash between King Richard I 'The Lionheart' of England and Saladin has become legendary. Throughout the ages, military enthusiasts have been fascinated by the strategy of the resolute, heavily armed Anglo-Saxon army versus their more lightly armed opponents. Richard's inability to recapture Jerusalem was disappointing, but it proved to the crusaders that Saladin was not invincible. This book describes the struggle of the Crusades (1095-1291) that has evolved into a mythic campaign for the Holy City of Jerusalem, providing an in-depth look at the battle, the personalities involved and the tactics employed by each army.

The first comprehensive history of the most decisive military campaign of the Third Crusade and one of the longest wartime sieges of the Middle Ages The two-year-long siege of Acre (1189–1191) was the most significant military engagement of the Third Crusade, attracting armies from across Europe, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Maghreb. Drawing on a balanced selection of Christian and Muslim sources, historian John D. Hosler has written the first book-length account of this hard-won victory for the Crusaders, when England’s Richard the Lionheart and King Philip Augustus of France joined forces to defeat the Egyptian Sultan Saladin. Hosler’s lively and engrossing narrative integrates military, political, and religious themes and developments, offers new perspectives on the generals, and provides a full analysis of the tactical, strategic, organizational, and technological aspects on both sides of the conflict. It is the epic story of a monumental confrontation that was the centerpiece of a Holy War in which many thousands fought and died in the name of Christ or Allah.

Down the long corridors of history an echo reaches us, and, entering the collective imagination, conjures up images of chivalrous knights and a golden age akin to those surrounding that pillar of our mythic past, King Arthur. But if one travels back down the corridors to the source of this particular echo, one finds Richard the Lionheart, a historical figure with life and breath, not just a man of legend. From a time populated with mounted warriors and bejeweled monarchs, few names have survived the journey into the present with such force and conviction as that of Richard I of England (1189-1199). The Lionheart has aged gracefully, his memory perpetuated by the romance attached to his name. But the true flesh and blood of the original man has been obscured by the legend that has secured his passage. This thesis undertakes to demonstrate that Richard's heroic reputation was not the glorious product of his participation on the Third Crusade. Instead it was the result of a dynamic effort to shape and craft an image that would serve to bolster his precarious political position throughout his career and allow him to compete with his rival, the king of France. At the same time, the theme of Richard the Lionheart and the Third Crusade serves as a potent example of the need for caution when approaching the primary sources, and a reminder of the historian's complex role in interpreting and presenting the past.

In this parallel biography of two great Medieval figures, Geoffrey Regan views them as different sides of the same coin, and observes that to their respective faiths both leaders were heroes of the holy war and worthy of the title Lionheart.