Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands

Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands by Dan Jones

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When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between Christianity and Islam in history. The fall of the holy city and the subsequent events have been seen both as an inspiring triumph of courage and piety and as a horrifying epic of violence and conquest. In this magnificent book, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human path through the crusading era.

Crusaders offers a tableau of characters beyond the usual roster of popes an dkings to introduce Byzantine princesses, Sunni scholars, Shi'ite viziers, Mamluk slave soldiers, Mongol chieftains, and barefoot friars. We meet individuals like Margaret of Beverley, an Englishwoman who defended Jerusalem during Saladin's siege armed with a cooking pot for a helmet; Saladin himself, the extraordinary Muslim leader who nearly destroyed the crusader states; and the poet Ibn Hamdis, who spent his life in exile wandering the Islamic Mediterranean, composing verses for the highest bidder, as well as countless others swept up on all sides in four centuries of war.

Crusading remains a rallying call to this day, but its role in the popular imagination ignores the cooperation and complicated diplomatic maneuvers that were just as much a feature of the period as warfare. The age-old relationships between faith, conquest, wealth, power, and trade meant that crusading was not only about fighting for the glory of God, but also, among other earthly reasons, about gold. In this richly dramatic narrative that gives voice to wources usually pushed to the margins, Dan Jones has written the defining account of the holy wars with global scope and human focus.

Viking Press, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing.