The capture of Jerusalem by the First Crusade in 1099 signalled the beginning of an armed struggle in Palestine and throughout the Eastern Mediterranean which lasted until the fifteenth century. It was a war dominated by the building, securing and besieging of castles rather than by pitched battles. Kristian Molin covers the military history of the crusades on a wider geographical scale than previous historians, taking in Armenia, Cyprus and Greece as well as the Holy Land. He also shows the role of castles as administrative, judicial and social centres in times of peace as well as in war. Unknown Crusader Castles provides a fresh perspective on the history of the crusades.
Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000 - 1300
This authoritative and concise work surveys the range of warfare in the high Middle Ages while reflecting on the society that produced these military struggles. The book brings together for the first time a wealth of information on such topics as knighthood, military organization, weaponry and fortifications, and warfare in the East.
A History of the Crusades, Volume I - The First Hundred Years
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.
This is the first volume concerning the first hundred years.
The most famous medieval wars of European expansion, the Crusades, were originally military expeditions sponsored by the papacy for recovery of Christian sites in Palestine. The Crusades also provided land and opportunity for poor and restless knights. Castles were thus built by an alien aristocracy in a hostile environment to provide shelter and to maintain control over the surrounding countryside. After a sketch of the literature and of fortifications before the crusades, Kennedy (history, Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland) explores the evolution of castle styles, siege techniques, and defensive technologies, relying on the evidence of both Western and Muslim chroniclers and of archaeology.
For the last 150 years the historiography of the Crusades has been dominated by nationalist and colonialist discourses in Europe and the Levant. These modern histories have interpreted the Crusades in terms of dichotomous camps, Frankish and Muslim. In this revisionist study, Ronnie Ellenblum presents an interpretation of Crusader historiography that instead defines military and architectural relations between the Franks, local Christians, Muslims and Turks in terms of continuous dialogue and mutual influence.
