The World of the Crusades
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- £18.99
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- £18.99
Publisher Description
A lively reimagining of how the distant medieval world of war functioned, drawing on the objects used and made by crusaders
Throughout the Middle Ages crusading was justified by religious ideology, but the resulting military campaigns were fueled by concrete objectives: land, resources, power, reputation. Crusaders amassed possessions of all sorts, from castles to reliquaries. Campaigns required material funds and equipment, while conquests produced bureaucracies, taxation, economic exploitation, and commercial regulation. Wealth sustained the Crusades while material objects, from weaponry and military technology to carpentry and shipping, conditioned them.
This lavishly illustrated volume considers the material trappings of crusading wars and the objects that memorialized them, in architecture, sculpture, jewelry, painting, and manuscripts. Christopher Tyerman’s incorporation of the physical and visual remains of crusading enriches our understanding of how the crusaders themselves articulated their mission, how they viewed their place in the world, and how they related to the cultures they derived from and preyed upon.
A note to readers: the grey-shaded pages throughout this volume look at the Crusades in detail, exploring individual themes such as food and drink, medicine, weapons and women’s role in the Crusades. These short essays are interspersed throughout the chapters and the main text will continue after each one. For instance, ‘Taking the Cross’ runs from pages 4 to 7, and the Introduction continues on p. 8.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This entertaining, informative volume from Tyerman (God's War), professor of the history of the Crusades at Oxford University, considers the Crusades from a human level. Tyerman places the events within a wider context of the material world: whether that be the physical crosses that crusaders possessed; changes in commerce and how campaigns were financed that came about due to the sudden influx of western Europeans in the Middle East; the castles crusaders built or occupied, lived in, and defended or lost control of; or the food they ate. Tyerman proceeds chronologically from the First Crusade in 1096 through later crusade-like wars in the Baltic region and an area that is in what would be present day southern France and Northern Spain, giving the reader a guided tour of the major military conflicts of the medieval period in Europe. Maps and pictures are also included, allowing readers to easily track the campaigns and get a sense of the historical artifacts Tyerman references. Interspersed throughout are brief standalone articles on particular items of interest, such as crusader medicine the Children's Crusade, and the lingering effects of the Crusades on the contemporary Middle East. Historians and lay readers interested in the history of European conquest in the Middle East will relish this investigation into the grist of the Crusaders' journey.
