Fighting for the Cross

In a series of massive military undertakings that stretched from 1095 to 1291, Christendom's armies won, defended, and lost the sacred sites of the Holy Land. Many books have been written about the Crusades, but until now none has described in detail what is was like to take part in medieval Europe's most ambitious wars. This vividly written book draws on extensive research and on a wealth of surviving contemporary accounts to recreate the full experience of crusading, from the elation of taking up the cross to the difficult adjustments at home when the war was over.Distinguished historian Norman Housley explores the staggering logistical challenges of raising, equipping, and transporting thousands of Christian combatants from Europe to the East, as well as the complications that noncombatant pilgrims presented. He describes the ordinary crusader's prolonged years of difficult military tasks, risk of starvation and disease, trial of religious faith, death of friends, and the spectre of heavy debt or stolen land upon arriving home. Creating an unprecedented sense of immediacy, Housley brings to light the extent of crusaders' sacrifices and the religious commitment that enabled them to endure.

ISBN 0300118880   Pages 356 ISBN13 9780300118889 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Yale University Press   Weight (grammes) 789 Imprint Yale University Press   Published in New Haven Format Hardback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 26 Aug 2008   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress 2008026775   Spine width (mm) 34 DEWEY 940.18   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

1		Crusading in the East, 1095-1291		1
2		The call to crusade		22
3		Signed with the cross		54
4		Eastward bound		81
5		Crusading warfare		111
6		The needs of the flesh		148
7		Storming Heaven		178
8		Saracens		208
9		Brave new world		238
10		Remembrance of things past		262
		Abbreviations		290
		Notes		293
		Bibliography		328
		Important dates		338
		Index		341

"Housley demonstrates an effortless familiarity with a wide variety of primary sources, iconography, and secondary literature. . . . It essentially represents the state of crusade studies in the twenty-first century. . . . "Fighting for the Cross" will both inform and entertain students and the general public. At the same time the work is deeply grounded in the source material and current secondary literature about crusading. The fact that it covers so many topics concisely, but well, is what makes the book particularly valuable."--;i>Canadian Journal of History"--Laurence W. Marvin "Canadian Journal of History "

Blackwell review:
The Crusades as they really were for the fighting men. Contemporary accounts are used liberally to give a better sense of the range of pure emotions that the Crusaders experienced from elation to boredom, fear to disillusionment.



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