description: A work staggering in the sheer quantity of material illumined: in the miraculous reconstruction of a time &amp; place dimmed by myth &amp; legend, often distorted by scholarly or religious bias. After a considerate introduction to the curious yet familiar ways of our Western medieval ancestors, Oldenbourg travels rapidly in the 1st Crusade's ranks. Pope Urban II, in order to relieve the position of the Byzantine Empire &amp; possibly drain off some futile feudal wars in the West, set forth a plan which suddenly reconciled the peculiar warlike mystique of the Germanic &amp; Scandinavian barbarians with Christianity's Heavenly Vision. Now their martial code of loyalties &amp; love of war had a religious focus. They would serve the Supreme Lord in ridding pagan defilement. Jerusalem was captured &amp; a remarkable reign by Frankish lords was continued for over 80 years, during which time jealousies, feuds, temperate &amp; intemperate alliances, even concluded with the Turks themselves under the brilliant Saladin, set up a unique climate in which East &amp; West met head on. As an alien virus, invading a civilized &amp; cultured East, the Crusader's tumultuous aggression gave rise to unexpected antibodies. Christian fought Christian, the Byzantine Empire weakened fatally &amp; Islam was united. Gradually the Western princes turned again to their own concerns &amp; the Four Crusades became again the vision. A brilliant book, stirring with a difficult, compassionate, generous humanity.--Kirkus (edited)
title: The Crusades
titlecomplete: The Crusades
characters: Richard I of England
genres: Religion, War, Medieval History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Medieval, Military History, Islam, Military Fiction, History
ratings_count: 283
publisher: Pantheon Books