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The first major study of the principality of Antioch, reasserting its significance and challenging the dominance of Jerusalem in modern crusading historiography.
Crusading fervor gripped Europe for more than 200 years, creating one of the most extraordinary episodes in world history. But were the Crusades the first steps in European colonialism, an attempt at ethnic cleansing, a manifestation of religious zeal--or all three? Bringing together issues of colonialism, cultural exchange, and economic exploitation, scholar Christopher Tyerman challenges our assumptions about the Crusades and encourages us to re-evaluate the relationship between past and present.
‘A rip-roaring new life of Marshal … [a] splendid account of a great medieval life' Dan Jones, author of Crusaders ‘A thoroughly entertaining account of England’s most colourful and courageous medieval knight’ Sunday Times Drawing upon an array of contemporary evidence, renowned historian Thomas Asbridge’s authoritative and dramatic account brings to life the often overlooked figure of William Marshal, a man who not only served at the right hand of five English monarchs but also helped negotiate the terms of Magna Carta. Charting the unparalleled rise to prominence of a man bound to a code of honour, yet driven by unquenchable ambition, this knight's tale lays bare the brutish re...
'A nuanced and sophisticated analysis... Exhilarating' Sunday Telegraph Nine hundred years ago, one of the most controversial episodes in Christian history was initiated. The Pope stated that, in spite of the apparently pacifist message of the New Testament, God actually wanted European knights to wage a fierce and bloody war against Islam and recapture Jerusalem. Thus was the First Crusade born. Focusing on the characters that drove this extraordinary campaign, this fascinating period of history is recreated through awe-inspiring and often barbaric tales of bold adventure while at the same time providing significant insights into early medieval society, morality and mentality. The First Crusade marked a watershed in relations between Islam and the West, a conflict that set these two world religions on a course towards deep-seated animosity and enduring enmity. The chilling reverberations of this earth-shattering clash still echo in the world today. '[Asbridge] balances persuasive analysis with a flair for conveying with dramatic power the crusaders' plight' Financial Times
On the last Tuesday of November 1095, Pope Urban II delivered an electrifying speech that launched the First Crusade. Now, in The First Crusade, Thomas Asbridge offers a gripping account of a titanic three-year adventure filled with miraculous victories, greedy princes and barbarity on a vast scale.
A collection of essays focusing on the history and politics of the Latin East.
In the 11th Century, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the pope, rammpaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterrannean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the 200 years that followed, Islam & the West fought for domination over the Holy Land, clashing in a series of brutal wars.
An investigation into how Antioch maintained itself as an independent principality during a period of considerable challenges.
Walter the Chancellor's vivid first-hand account of the wars between the Muslims and the principality of Antioch in the early 12th century describes a less well-known period in the history of the Crusades, and provides a useful counterpart to the usual focus on Jerusalem. It is here presented for the first time in English, along with a selection of comparative sources and an important introduction assessing the work's place in the historiography of the Crusader states, and analysing the military campaigns it details. As a highly-placed Antiochene official, Walter was able to write the most authoritative account of the principality's fortunes and internal workings, and his book also sheds light on the relationship between Latin settlement in the Levant and contemporary Western perceptions of Islam and Eastern Christianity.
'Wonderfully written and characteristically brilliant' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads 'Elegant, readable ... an impressive synthesis ... Not many historians could have done it' - Jonathan Sumption, Spectator 'Tyerman's book is fascinating not just for what it has to tell us about the Crusades, but for the mirror it holds up to today's religious extremism' - Tom Holland, Spectator Thousands left their homelands in the Middle Ages to fight wars abroad. But how did the Crusades actually happen? From recruitment propaganda to raising money, ships to siege engines, medicine to the power of prayer, this vivid, surprising history shows holy war - and medieval society - in a new light.