Crusades

[Ibn Rushd]

Books to get you started



By Christopher Tyerman

Arguably the best small book on the Crusades. He has a chapter on how they've been interpreted in the post-Romantic age, and how they were revived in Islamic countries (they didn't even know they happened until Kaiser Wilhelm I made a pilgrimage to Saladin's grave). Currently on sale on the Amazon.ca site for $5.50, but sells normally around $10.



Also by Tyerman.

This is a hefty companion to the VSI at over 1000 pages. You couldn't ask for a better book, offers pictures and maps. This is usually sold in bookshops instead of only online.



Edited book of primary documents and woodcut drawings. 2nd edition. Most translations predate 1950. Part of a series of historical texts published by the University of Toronto. If you can find the 1st edition, there is almost no difference to the 2nd ed. aside from the final chapter.

Must read for any crusading historian.



By Rodney Stark.

Very interesting take on the Crusades, and he gives detailed information on the state of technology in European and Christian lands and Islamic lands. I was shocked to read that the Europeans were the most advanced in the realm of metallurgy, farming (crop rotation), horsemanship, and sword fighting. This is against the current faith that Christian=backward boob and Islam=god-like.



By Thomas Asbridge.

General account, seems to be a best seller, I haven't read it yet, but the reviews say it's a good intro.



By Jonathan Riley-Smith. 3rd edition.

I have read part of the 1st ed. and it is a good read.



By Thomas F. Madden.

I think this is more of a school book (1st yr uni.) as it offers a "sweeping" history.

[Ibn Rushd]

First Crusade documents edited by Tyerman. This is a good, cheap, 1 vol. resource. You will not be let down.



2 chronicles of the Fourth Crusade, one of which is contained in the Life of Saint Louis. Standard works, and translated over 50 yrs ago.



One of the only Islamic histories of the Crusades. This is the famous writer who noticed the freedom of the Frankish women. Well worth checking out as this is the complete text translated.



Just found this, but one of his other works is a history of the Crusaders in the 1090s travelling through Germany, and the massacre of Jews in Blois ("Blwah").



Translated collection by Francesco Gabrieli. Made a similar journey as Greek "science" did, as it is 2 steps removed from the original: Arabic -> Italian, then Italian -> English. Standard work, very detailed, very enjoyable. No whitewashing of terms, such as calling the Christian kings and queens pigs, boars and sows (Qur'anic "apes and pigs"). The Muslims at that time knew exactly what they were talking about. This book covers all the Crusades, but you will surprised to learn that the first mention of the First Crusade is during the Third Crusade, as no one really cared about it, or thought that anything momentous was happening.

[Ibn Rushd]

By Robert Chazan. 20 yr old classic. An in-depth study of the First Crusade and massacre in 1096.



Translated texts by Shlomo Eidelberg. The Jewish texts of the two crusades, which unfortunately were plagued by massacres on the way to their target.



By Susan Einbinder.

A study about martyrdom and hagiographical motifs. Christian female martyrs have been portrayed as virgins, staying ever pure and celibate, while Jewish female martyrs are portrayed as married, and 8 months 27 days pregnant.