The Crusades: Recommended Resources
The last few decades have seen a resurgence of crusades studies. Here are several of the many fine works available.
James M. Powell
October 1, 1993
Overviews
• Sir Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1951–54) remains a striking historical narrative.
• Kenneth M. Setton, ed., The History of the Crusades, 6 vols. (Wisconsin, 1969–89) is a comprehensive work by dozens of specialists. Though some articles are out of date, it is still valuable.
• Hans Eberhard Mayer, The Crusades, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1988) stresses the relationship between the Crusades and contemporary religious movements.
• Jonathan Riley-Smith The Crusades: A Short History (Yale, 1987) differs from Mayer chiefly in the broad sweep of his coverage, which extends to the sixteenth-century struggles of Europeans against Ottoman expansion.
• Malcolm Billings, The Crusades (Sterling, 1988) is based on a BBC radio series. A high-quality popularization.
• Carl Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of Crusade (Princeton, 1977) sparked interest in the question of Christianity’s involvement in these wars.
• The Atlas of the Crusades edited by Jonathan Riley-Smith, (Facts-on-File, 1990) is useful for those interested in the geographical aspects of the Crusades.
Arabs and Jews
• Amin Maalouf, The Crusades through Arab Eyes (Schocken, 1985) is a popularized yet important work directed to an Arab audience.
• Peter M. Holt, The Age of the Crusades (Longman, 1986). This clearly written narrative provides a useful companion to Maalouf.
• Arab Historians of the Crusades, edited and translated by Francesco Gabrieli; translated from the Italian by E. J. Costello (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969; California, 1984) is a major collection of Arabic sources.
• Robert Chazan, European Jewry and the First Crusade (California, 1987) studies the Jewish persecutions that broke out.
• The Jews and the Crusaders: The Hebrew Chronicles of the First and Second Crusades, translated and edited by Shlomo Eidelberg (Wisconsin, 1977) makes these important sources readily accessible.
Specific Aspects
• Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading (Pennsylvania, 1986) analyzes the motives and participants in the First Crusade.
• Jean Richard, The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (North Holland, 1979) is an outstanding study of the kingdom established by the First Crusade.
• Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Knights of St. John in Jerusalem and Cyprus, ca. 1050–1310 (St. Martin’s, 1967) deals with the quasi-religious military orders.
• Charles Brand, Byzantium Confronts the West, 1180–1204 (Harvard, 1968) explores the background of the Fourth Crusade from a Byzantine view.
• William Chester Jordan, Louis IX and the Challenge of the Crusade (Princeton, 1979) discusses the involvement of King Louis IX.
Dr. James M. Powell is professor of medieval history at Syracuse University and author of Anatomy of a Crusade, 1213–1221 (Pennsylvania, 1986–1990).
Copyright © 1993 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine.
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