The Crusades

"Pulls off the enviable feat of summing up seven centuries of religious warfare in a crisp 309 pages of text."--Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World In this authoritative work, Jonathan Riley-Smith provides the definitive account of the Crusades: an account of the theology of violence behind the Crusades, the major Crusades, the experience of crusading, and the crusaders themselves. With a wealth of fascinating detail, Riley-Smith brings to life these stirring expeditions to the Holy Land 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. From reviews of the first edition: "Everything is here: the crusades to the Holy Land, and against the Albigensians, the Moors, the pagans in Eastern Europe, the Turks, and the enemies of the popes. Riley-Smith writes a beautiful, lucid prose, . . . [and his book] is packed with facts and action."--Choice "A concise, clearly written synthesis . . . by one of the leading historians of the crusading movement. "--Robert S. Gottfried, Historian "A lively and flowing narrative [with] an enormous cast of characters that is not a mere catalog but a history. . . . A remarkable achievement."--Thomas E. Morrissey, Church History "Superb."--Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Speculum "A first-rate one-volume survey of the Crusading movement from 1074 . . . to 1798."--Southwest Catholic

The six volumes of A History of the Crusades will stand as the definitive history of the Crusades, spanning five centuries, encompassing Jewish, Moslem, and Christian perspectives, and containing a wealth of information and analysis of the history, politics, economics, and culture of the medieval world.

A concise history of the crusades - whose chief goal was the liberation and preservation of the 'holy places' of the middle east - from the first calls to arms in the later twelfth century to the fall of the last crusader strongholds in Syria and Palestine in 1291. This is the ideal introductory textbook for all students of the crusades. Professor Richard considers the consequences of the crusades, such as the establishment of the Latin east, and its organisation into a group of feudal states, as well as crusading contacts with the Muslim world, eastern Christians, Byzantines, and Mongols. Also considered are the organisation of expeditions, the financing of such expeditionary forces, and the organisation of operations and supply. Jean Richard is one of the world's great crusader historians and this work, the distillation of over forty years' research and contemplation, is the only one of its kind in English.

This German-to-English translation of a highly successful book is a clear, approachable, student-friendly introduction to the history of the Crusades. With a long chronological span, from the eleventh to the late fifteenth century, and with a wide geographical coverage of the whole of Europe and some of the Middle East, The Crusades is clear, concise and more wide-ranging than most single-volume works. Taking recent scholarship into account, and using boxes, case studies, marginal directions and chronologies, the book is well laid out and easy to follow, providing a comprehensive overview of the crusade movement for students at all university levels.

Religion and politics were intertwined with each other in many European empires in the years leading to the Crusades. The Christian Church was going through a power struggle which eventually led to a permanent division which exists till this day. It was known as the East-West Schism. Also called as the Schism of 1054, it marked the division of the church into Roman Catholic churches and Eastern Orthodox churches. This break in the churches occurred because of a difference in viewpoints related to various rituals and rules among Christians, one of the most popular ones being the use of leavened or unleavened bread for the Eucharist. This Schism of 1054 reduced the power and authority of the church among its followers. In an attempt to increase and reinforce the importance of the church, Pope Gregory VII started a reformation which would transform the church from a decentralized religious institution to a centralized one where the Pope held more power and authority.

A lively reimagining of how the distant medieval world of war functioned, drawing on the objects used and made by crusaders Throughout the Middle Ages crusading was justified by religious ideology, but the resulting military campaigns were fueled by concrete objectives: land, resources, power, reputation. Crusaders amassed possessions of all sorts, from castles to reliquaries. Campaigns required material funds and equipment, while conquests produced bureaucracies, taxation, economic exploitation, and commercial regulation. Wealth sustained the Crusades while material objects, from weaponry and military technology to carpentry and shipping, conditioned them. This lavishly illustrated volume considers the material trappings of crusading wars and the objects that memorialized them, in architecture, sculpture, jewelry, painting, and manuscripts. Christopher Tyerman’s incorporation of the physical and visual remains of crusading enriches our understanding of how the crusaders themselves articulated their mission, how they viewed their place in the world, and how they related to the cultures they derived from and preyed upon.

This volume presents 13 essays which examine womens roles in the Crusades and medieval reactions to them, including active participation, female involvement in debates surrounding the Crusade, women in the latin east, papal policy, and literary representations.