Northern Crusades

ERIC CHRISTIANSEN, a fellow of New College, Oxford, works mainly on Northern history in the Middle Ages. He has lectured in London, Copenhagen and Florida, and is the author of The Origins of Military Power in Spain. He lives in Oxford.

• List of MapsAcknowledgmentsChronological TableNorthern RulersSpelling of NamesIntroduction1. North-East Europe on the Eve of the CrusadesLand and SeaPeoplesInteractions2. The Wendish Crusade in Theory and Practice, 1147-1185The Crusade of 1147Supporters and ChroniclersThe Slav Wars of Henry the Lion and Valdemar the Great3. The Armed Monks: Ideology and EfficiencyVarieties of Monastic Knighthood, 1128-1237The Monastic War-Machine, 1225-13094. The Conquest of the East Baltic Lands, 1200-1292LivoniaPrussiaEstoniaFinland5. The Theocratic Experiment, 1200-1273Popes and LeaguesThe Battle for the ConvertThe War on the Schismatics6. The Lithuanian Crusade, 1283-1410The Roads to Collision, 1203-1309The Morality and Recruitment of the CrusadeWars and Politics, 1304-1409Strategy and Tactics7. The Crusade Against Novgorod, 1295-1378The Debatable LandsThe Making of a Russo-Swedish Frontier, 1295-1326The Crusades of King Magnus8. The Crusading States of North-East EuropeSystems of GovernmentConditions of MenCivilizations9. The Withering of the Crusade, 1409-1525Tannenberg and After, 1409-14Confrontations at Constance, 1414-18The Survival and Extinction of the Order in Prussia, 1418-1525Livonia and the Russians, 1400-1562ConclusionFurther ReadingReferences to SourcesIndex

"The verve and vigour of Eric Christiansen's study illuminates developments vital in the early history of Eastern Europe and brings to life a story that had epic dimensions"—Maurice Keen"For a one-volume history of the Northern Crusades, the reader has but one choice; this is it"—William Urban in the American Historical Review"A fine study of the Baltic conquest"—Hans Eberhard Meyer in the English Historical Reivew"Independent, erudite, lucid and witty … a narrative that never flags"—Christpher Tyerman"A fascinating and elegant book"—Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the London Review of Books