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ChronofCrusades
Chronicles of the Crusades: Eye-Witness Accounts of the Wars Between Christianity and Islam
Editor(s)

Elizabeth Hallam

Pages

400

Dimensions

11.5 x 9 x 1.2 inches

Weight

3.8 pounds

Publisher

Bramley Books

Publish date

March, 1997

Type

Hardcover

ISBN

1858335892

Chronicles of the Crusades: Eye-Witness Accounts of the Wars Between Christianity and Islam is a massive reference books compiling a visually stunning chronicle of the Crusades of the Middle Ages.

Editions[]

Synopsis[]

In 1095, Pope Urban II released an avalance of princes, knights, and followers who, with shouts of "God wills it", descended on the Arab world, itself the heir to an ancient and sophisticated civilization.

Five hundred years of conflict were to follow; Chronicles of the Crusades recreates the glorious victories and gruesome defeats on both sides, through eye-witness accounts of the traumatic clashes between two opposing faiths.

The First Crusade, and the only really successful one, carved out a Western European style kingdom in the Holy Land, dotted with castles and cathedrals. The Third Crusade pitted the wits of the masterful Richard the Lionheart against the resourceful Saladin; the Fourth foundered on the shores of Dalmatia and in the streets of Constantinople as the Venetians ruthlessly exploited the warrior pilgrims for their own ends; the 13th century crusades saw the capture of Louis IX, half-dead from dysentery, on the banks of the River Nile; the crusades of the 16th century ended with the rich booty of Suleyman the Magnificent piled up in Ottoman palaces and mosques.

The story is brought to life through the words of those who were there – Stephen, count of Blois, son-in-law of William the Conqueror; the French knights Villehardouin and Joinville; Anna Comnena, the daughter of the Byzantine emperor, Alexius I; Saladin's secretary Imad ad-Din, and the political intriguer and go-between, Usama. There are excerpts from a chronicle, written originall in Armenian, on the FAll of Jerusalem, the Novgorod Chronicles from Russia, Italian writers telling of the assassination of Peter I of Cyprus and the sack of Famagusta, and many many more.

Linking text and essays are written by a team of leading authorities and, with lavish illustrations, provide insights into the social, political and artistic background of one of the most enthralling and extraordinary eras in world history.

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