Competing Voices from the Crusades

ANDREW HOLT is Adjunct Professor of History at the University of North Florida. He is a contributor of various articles to the forthcoming Handbook of Medieval Studies: Concepts, Methods, and Trends in Medieval Studies (Ed. Albrecht Classen. Berlin: de Gruyter).JAMES MULDOON is Professor Emeritus of Rutgers University-Camden. His many books include The Expansion of Europe: the First Phase (1977), Popes, Lawyers, and Infidels: The Church and the Non-Christian World 1250-1550 (l979) and Empire and Order: The Concept of Empire, 800-1800 (1999).

• CHAPTER 1: Introduction and Background to the Crusading MovementCHAPTER 2: Pope Urban II's Calling of the First Crusade- 1095CHAPTER 3: Attacks on the Jews During the First Crusade-1096-CHAPTER 4: Crusader Massacre of the Inhabitants of Jerusalem- 1099CHAPTER 5: The Siege of Damascus During the Second Crusade- 1148CHAPTER 6: Criticism of Crusading in the Wake of the Disastrous Second CrusadeCHAPTER 7: The Crusader's Loss at the Battle of Hattin-1187CHAPTER 8: Saladin's Conquest of Jerusalem-1187CHAPTER 9: The Sack of Constantinople- 1204CHAPTER 10: The Troubling Success of an Excommunicate: The Crusade of Frederick II- 1228-1229CHAPTER 11: The Troubling Failure of a Saint: The Crusade of Louis IX- 1248-1249CHAPTER 12: The Fall of Acre-1291CHAPTER 13: Daily Life in the Crusades

This book is an interesting and ambitious concept, aiming to present Latin Christian, Muslim and Byzantine voices from the Crusades and, to quote the editors, to allow readers to determine for themselves how such events were interpreted and understood by the participants. A number of these extracts have appeared elsewhere, but often in specifically Crusading or Muslim-centred collections; to bring them together is a sensible move. The excerpts of primary source text are introducted by brief scene-setting comments and the entire collection is prefaced by a thoughtful and tersely argued summary of modern views of the Crusades. It also includes something usually ignored in textbooks - an excellent outline of Christian-Muslim conflict before the Crusades.