The Oxford Illustrated History of the CrusadesJonathan Riley-Smith Oxford University Press, 1995 - 436 pages Nine hundred years ago, at a church council in Clermont, Pope Urban II delivered an impassioned sermon, calling upon Frankish knights to vow to march to the East to free Christians from the yoke of Islamic rule and to liberate the tomb of Christ, the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, from Muslim control. Thus began the Crusades: the bloody and grueling battles pitched between European knights and the Islamic defenders over the course of two hundred years, movements that created the legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, military orders such as the Knights Templar, and an unusually rich tradition of art and architecture. In The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, the story of the Crusades is told as never before in an engrossing, authoritative, and comprehensive history that ranges from the preaching of the First Crusade in 1095 to the legacy of the crusading ideals and imagery that continues today. Here are the ideas of apologists, propagandists, and poets about the Crusades, as well as the perceptions and motives of the crusaders themselves and the means by which they joined the movement--crusaders were required to "take the cross" (which involved making a vow, often at an emotional public gatherings under the influence of preachers whose business it was to whip their audiences up into a frenzy) and were foresworn to wear a cross on their clothing until they returned from their mission in the East. The authors describe the elaborate social and civic systems that arose to support the Crusades--taxation, for example, was formalized by the Church and monarchs to raise enormous funds needed to wage war on this scale; nearly 1,000,000 livres tournois were raised from the French church (out of estimated total expenses of some 3,000,000 livres) for Louis IX's first crusade in 1248. And here are vivid descriptions of the battles themselves, frightening, disorienting, and dangerous affairs, with keen and insightful commentary on the reactions of the Muslims to a Christian holy war. Extensively illustrated with hundreds of illustrations, maps, chronologies, and a guide to further reading, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades even includes coverage of crusades outside the eastern Mediterranean region and post-medieval crusades. From descriptions of the battles and homefront conditions, to a throrough evaluation of the clash (and coalescence) of cultures, to the legacy of the crusading movement that continues into our conflict-torn twentieth-century, to the enduring artistic and social changes that the Crusades wrought, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades offers an unsurpassed panorama of one of the great movements in western history. This beautiful work will engage and inform anyone with an interest in the Crusades. |
Contents
1 The Crusading Movement and Historians | 1 |
2 Origins | 13 |
3 The Crusading Movement 10961274 | 34 |
4 The State of Mind of Crusaders to the East 10951300 | 66 |
5 Songs | 91 |
6 The Latin East 10981291 | 112 |
7 Art in the Latin East 10981291 | 141 |
8 Architecture in the Latin East 10981571 | 160 |
11 The Crusading Movement 12741700 | 260 |
12 The Latin East 12911669 | 294 |
13 The Military Orders 13121798 | 326 |
14 Images of the Crusades in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries | 365 |
15 Revival and Survival | 386 |
Chronology | 392 |
401 | |
Illustration Sources | 418 |
Other editions - View all
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
Achaea Acre al-Din Antioch Aragonese Armenian army battle became brethren Byzantine Calatrava campaign captured castle cathedral chapel Christ Christendom Christian church commanderies conquest Constantinople convent Crac des Chevaliers cross crusading movement Cyprus defend early eastern Egypt Emperor Europe example expedition Famagusta Fatimid Fifth Crusade fight forces fought fourteenth century Fourth Crusade France Frankish Franks French Genoese Granada Greek Holy Land Holy Sepulchre Hospital Hospitallers infidel Islam island Italian jihad king kingdom of Jerusalem knights later Latin East Livonia lord Louis Malta Mamluk master medieval Mediterranean military orders Muslim order-state Ottoman painting Palestine papal pilgrim political Pope port preaching princes principality of Achaea Prussia recruitment region religious Rhodes royal rulers sade Saladin Santiago Second Crusade secular Seljuk settlers siege Spain Spanish St John sultan surviving Syria Templars territory Teutonic Order Third Crusade thirteenth century took Tripoli Turkish Turks twelfth century Urban Venetian Venice West western