The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Crusades is a one volume history of the attempt by Western Christianity (or the “Latins”) to occupy the Holy Land, specifically Jerusalem, which had come under Muslim rule. There were a number of crusades, beginning with the First Crusade in the 1090s, which set up the four Crusader states, and eventually ending with the conquest of the last of the Crusader states at the siege of Acre in 1291.
It’s hard to say exactly how many crusades there were, but there are five with numbers plus several others. The crusading impulse began in western Europe, in particular France, in the late 11th century. Crusaders were promised redemption of their sins (indulgences) if they took the cross and traveled to the Holy Land to return it to Christian rule. So there were both spiritual and political aspects to the Crusades. As the crusades developed over time, the popes began to get more involved and this led to the kings of France and England and the German emperor also getting involved. On the Muslim side, there were sultanates in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but the Holy Land was kind of a border area. And there were also Eastern Christian states, including the Byzantine Empire, so the political environment was very complicated.
It’s a very interesting and very complex story and the author does a great job of untangling the complexities. Having some knowledge of the Crusades from a medieval European history course, I really appreciated learning about the Muslim side of the struggle. There are many remarkable people that we meet along the way: Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Friedrich Barbarossa, Saladin, Baybars, Pope Innocent III and Louis IX to name just a few.
I highly recommend this book. It’s very well written and footnoted. And the final section on the legacy of the Crusades is definitely worth reading several times.