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How to Plan a Crusade: Reason and Religious War in the Middle Ages
"A lively and compelling account of how the crusades really worked, and a revolutionary attempt to rethink how we understand the Middle Ages
The story of the wars and conquests initiated by the First Crusade and its successors is itself so compelling that most accounts move quickly from describing the Pope's calls to arms to the battlefield. In this highly original and enjoyable new book, Christopher Tyerman focuses on something obvious but overlooked: the massive, all-encompassing and hugely costly business of actually preparing a crusade. The efforts of many thousands of men and women, who left their lands and families in Western Europe, and marched off to a highly uncertain future in the Holy Land and elsewhere have never been sufficiently understood. Their actions raise a host of compelling questions about the nature of medieval society.
How to Plan a Crusade is fascinating on diplomacy, communications, propaganda, the use of mass media, medical care, equipment, voyages, money, weapons, credit, wills, ransoms, animals, and the power of prayer. It brings to life an extraordinary era in a novel and surprising way."
The story of the wars and conquests initiated by the First Crusade and its successors is itself so compelling that most accounts move quickly from describing the Pope's calls to arms to the battlefield. In this highly original and enjoyable new book, Christopher Tyerman focuses on something obvious but overlooked: the massive, all-encompassing and hugely costly business of actually preparing a crusade. The efforts of many thousands of men and women, who left their lands and families in Western Europe, and marched off to a highly uncertain future in the Holy Land and elsewhere have never been sufficiently understood. Their actions raise a host of compelling questions about the nature of medieval society.
How to Plan a Crusade is fascinating on diplomacy, communications, propaganda, the use of mass media, medical care, equipment, voyages, money, weapons, credit, wills, ransoms, animals, and the power of prayer. It brings to life an extraordinary era in a novel and surprising way."
400 pages, Hardcover
First published September 3, 2015
59 people are currently reading
1215 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Tyerman
30 books44 followersChristopher Tyerman is professor of the history of the crusades at Oxford University and a fellow of Hertford College. His books include God’s War, The Debate on the Crusades, and How to Plan a Crusade. He lives in Oxford.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 2, 2018
A must read for any Latin monarchs or Bishops of Rome with designs on the Levant.
April 6, 2016
This book came highly recommended and provides a wealth of valuable information for anyone interested in understanding the society that produced the crusades. Organized by topic rather than chronologically, it examines topics all too often ignored in more conventional histories from finance to health, safety and supply. Most important, it documents the immense amount of planning, coordination, organization and expense that went into mounting a massive military campaign across vast distances in the age of horse and sailing ships.
After reading this book, no one can be in any doubt about how sophisticated, literate and well-organized medieval society was during the centuries in which crusading was undertaken. The book systematically and meticulously debunks notions of “spontaneous” movements by wild-eyed religious fanatics. It also highlights that in many ways crusader organization puts modern planning, blessed with all the advantages of digital technology, to shame.
The weakness of the book is that it never fully transcends the academic milieu from which it originated. Tyerman meticulously documents his opinions, citing “chapter and verse” of what feels like each and every single example that supports his argument. The result is that what he is saying often gets lost in the supporting documentation. In short, the book bogs down in details and rapidly became a slog through facts rather than providing stimulating new insight. The book would have benefited from more rigorous editing that placed much of the supporting evidence in the foot- or end-notes and focused on the gist of the arguments.
After reading this book, no one can be in any doubt about how sophisticated, literate and well-organized medieval society was during the centuries in which crusading was undertaken. The book systematically and meticulously debunks notions of “spontaneous” movements by wild-eyed religious fanatics. It also highlights that in many ways crusader organization puts modern planning, blessed with all the advantages of digital technology, to shame.
The weakness of the book is that it never fully transcends the academic milieu from which it originated. Tyerman meticulously documents his opinions, citing “chapter and verse” of what feels like each and every single example that supports his argument. The result is that what he is saying often gets lost in the supporting documentation. In short, the book bogs down in details and rapidly became a slog through facts rather than providing stimulating new insight. The book would have benefited from more rigorous editing that placed much of the supporting evidence in the foot- or end-notes and focused on the gist of the arguments.
August 19, 2016
Plenty of interesting nuggets, for someone like me interested in medieval crusades, but the book reads - as I assume it is - like expanded notes from a university lecture course, and I found it extremely dry in places.
November 13, 2018
Christopher Tyerman’s How to Plan a Crusade is very much what the title tells you to expect. What was done before any of 300 years’ worth of Crusaders could get within sword’s point distance from any Sarasin, Lithuanian or whichever enemy was targeted. In general this is a readable analysis of the logistics, and recruiting of a crusading army. It is not for the general reader and there is a presumption that you have at least a basic background in the history of the various Crusades. Herein lies a few of the problems. There is no effort made to outline the history or geography of the many campaigns that were made or attempted in the period from the 11th to the 13th century. Absent some attention, a reader can miss that Crusades were called and more or less sanctioned against targets from Spain to The Baltic regions as well as the better known goal of seizing Jerusalem from the Muslims. This discussion and a few maps and tables would greatly benefit a reader.
A major thesis behind How to Plan is what is supposed to be a uprising revelation. The planning of something as particular and complex as a war involves more in the way of bureaucracy, logic and practical solutions to real world problems than is automatically associated with the once called Dark Ages. Discrediting the prejudices previously attached to the period roughly from the fall of the Roman Civilization and the Renaissance has itself become a standard approach made by period historians for many years.
Armies cannot be magicked into existence, armed, fed or transported on the strength of prayer and superstition. In the period in question and for generations before political leadership required more than some degree of the record keeping, planning and finances that would be part of Crusade Planning. As is often the case in times of war, existing technologies, including those particular to logistics would undergo the kinds of upgrades that happen when money and motivation lend even esoteric topics increased priority.
In describing the specific approaches made to legitimize, the Crusades , tie that to raising the armies and the money, Tyerman regularly covers many different campaigns in any one paragraph. This can be disorienting until one realizes that his purpose is not to lay out a history of any one campaign. But to link together how a given problem was solved by any of the campaigns. The result can be a collection of very specific points, backed by very specific examples and a blurring of the total picture.
For example there are many pages given to how much money individuals raised and how many of what kinds of troops that money was expected to support, but very little about the total size of any Crusading Army. We are told that Richard I had an army of about 10,000. We do not know the total size of any force as assembled on the ground in Palestine. The siege at Acre (1189-1191) is referred to 6 times according to the Index. Nowhere are we told the size number of attackers or defenders. It is not made clear how the attackers sustained themselves once in the field. Much is made of the European’s superiority in ships and it effect on the delivery of troops and supplies but there is little about the relative problems on the Saracens internal supply lines and the Invaders exterior supply lines. Indeed there is little or nothing about any of those defending against the Crusaders.
Without spoilers it should be sufficient to add that at the end Tyerman revisits his initial assumptions and applies his own critical analysis.
A major thesis behind How to Plan is what is supposed to be a uprising revelation. The planning of something as particular and complex as a war involves more in the way of bureaucracy, logic and practical solutions to real world problems than is automatically associated with the once called Dark Ages. Discrediting the prejudices previously attached to the period roughly from the fall of the Roman Civilization and the Renaissance has itself become a standard approach made by period historians for many years.
Armies cannot be magicked into existence, armed, fed or transported on the strength of prayer and superstition. In the period in question and for generations before political leadership required more than some degree of the record keeping, planning and finances that would be part of Crusade Planning. As is often the case in times of war, existing technologies, including those particular to logistics would undergo the kinds of upgrades that happen when money and motivation lend even esoteric topics increased priority.
In describing the specific approaches made to legitimize, the Crusades , tie that to raising the armies and the money, Tyerman regularly covers many different campaigns in any one paragraph. This can be disorienting until one realizes that his purpose is not to lay out a history of any one campaign. But to link together how a given problem was solved by any of the campaigns. The result can be a collection of very specific points, backed by very specific examples and a blurring of the total picture.
For example there are many pages given to how much money individuals raised and how many of what kinds of troops that money was expected to support, but very little about the total size of any Crusading Army. We are told that Richard I had an army of about 10,000. We do not know the total size of any force as assembled on the ground in Palestine. The siege at Acre (1189-1191) is referred to 6 times according to the Index. Nowhere are we told the size number of attackers or defenders. It is not made clear how the attackers sustained themselves once in the field. Much is made of the European’s superiority in ships and it effect on the delivery of troops and supplies but there is little about the relative problems on the Saracens internal supply lines and the Invaders exterior supply lines. Indeed there is little or nothing about any of those defending against the Crusaders.
Without spoilers it should be sufficient to add that at the end Tyerman revisits his initial assumptions and applies his own critical analysis.
July 24, 2020
Christopher Tyerman è uno studioso delle Crociate e, leggendo questo saggio, si avverte pienamente.
Purtroppo però molte delle informazioni date al lettore sono di scarsa utilità se già non si conosce l'argomento e anche le note (un florilegio di note) possono essere utili solo ad un appassionato della materia.
Ma, se si ha una certa conoscenza dell'argomento e se nomi e date sono familiari, e non un ripetersi di anni/battaglie/nobili/predicatori senza senso, il tema della organizzazione delle varie crociate offre una visione molto meno mitica o romantica.
Ci viene spiegato, suddividendo le cose in vari settori (dall'arruolamento ai finanziamenti, dall'organizzazione dei viaggi alla sussistenza dei crociati, dalle cure alle comunicaziono), come le cose erano in realtà e in pratica, togliendo molto del lato spirituale più alto e mostrando quello più venale e concreto.
Ci sono ripetizioni, alcuna cose vengono ribadite più volte e, alla lunga, stancano... ma nel complesso si è rivelata una lettura interessante e una fotografia accurata del periodo.
Purtroppo però molte delle informazioni date al lettore sono di scarsa utilità se già non si conosce l'argomento e anche le note (un florilegio di note) possono essere utili solo ad un appassionato della materia.
Ma, se si ha una certa conoscenza dell'argomento e se nomi e date sono familiari, e non un ripetersi di anni/battaglie/nobili/predicatori senza senso, il tema della organizzazione delle varie crociate offre una visione molto meno mitica o romantica.
Ci viene spiegato, suddividendo le cose in vari settori (dall'arruolamento ai finanziamenti, dall'organizzazione dei viaggi alla sussistenza dei crociati, dalle cure alle comunicaziono), come le cose erano in realtà e in pratica, togliendo molto del lato spirituale più alto e mostrando quello più venale e concreto.
Ci sono ripetizioni, alcuna cose vengono ribadite più volte e, alla lunga, stancano... ma nel complesso si è rivelata una lettura interessante e una fotografia accurata del periodo.
February 27, 2019
Despite the title, this is not a how-to book on how to get your own Crusade going. It's actually a scholarly look at how the planning of the actual Crusades worked. Tyerman identifies broad subjects in planning and looks at each one in turn, discussing what it would have taken to get a crusade to happen at all, and pointing out where we can see those in action in the actual records.
As such, this is not a book for someone unfamiliar with the crusades as a whole. Tyerman discusses all the major Crusades, including the Baltic Crusades and the Albegensian Crusade simultaneously, and without some background in the subject you will be lost.
However, for someone who is familiar with this period, at least in outline, this book is a great supplement to that knowledge. He starts at the basic foundations, 'reason', and how the common popular notion of the Middle Ages as an age of unreason simply doesn't work, and points up that just because the premises and priorities may be different from what we're used to doesn't mean that people did not still reason things out.
He builds from here, looking at how the case for war in the Middle East was worked out, how it was promoted and recruited for. How it was all paid for, how plans were laid and coordinated. Supplies were gathered, and successful or not, plans were reviewed to see how it could go better next time.
There were some very interesting points around shipping during the book. Naturally, technology and technique did improve over this period, and one of the major advantages the Crusades for the Middle East had was that Europe was largely back to dominating the Mediterranean at this point. However, Crusades largely went by land until the development of ships that could carry horses, at which point we see Richard I (and others) proceeding to the Levant by ship.
He ends with a look at strategic planning, which ends up circling around to near the beginning of the book. With the end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem after the Third Crusade, some serious reexaminations were made, in which Egypt, and its wealth, are clearly recognized as the key to the entire enterprise (to be fair, this had been noticed even during the First Crusade), and you start seeing the goal for further crusades shift over there. But that brings into question the initial motives for going in the first place. The idea was to hold and control what was seen as the religious center of the world, but if that's so unimportant as to let Egypt take center stage in planning... it's part of why the Crusades become less and less popular after that time.
And that effectively wraps up a very interesting look at the process Europe went through, and the innovations that were brought by the stresses of attempting the enterprise. Recommended for anyone who's willing to give some thought to processes involved, but it does not present 'history' as you'd normally think of it.
As such, this is not a book for someone unfamiliar with the crusades as a whole. Tyerman discusses all the major Crusades, including the Baltic Crusades and the Albegensian Crusade simultaneously, and without some background in the subject you will be lost.
However, for someone who is familiar with this period, at least in outline, this book is a great supplement to that knowledge. He starts at the basic foundations, 'reason', and how the common popular notion of the Middle Ages as an age of unreason simply doesn't work, and points up that just because the premises and priorities may be different from what we're used to doesn't mean that people did not still reason things out.
He builds from here, looking at how the case for war in the Middle East was worked out, how it was promoted and recruited for. How it was all paid for, how plans were laid and coordinated. Supplies were gathered, and successful or not, plans were reviewed to see how it could go better next time.
There were some very interesting points around shipping during the book. Naturally, technology and technique did improve over this period, and one of the major advantages the Crusades for the Middle East had was that Europe was largely back to dominating the Mediterranean at this point. However, Crusades largely went by land until the development of ships that could carry horses, at which point we see Richard I (and others) proceeding to the Levant by ship.
He ends with a look at strategic planning, which ends up circling around to near the beginning of the book. With the end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem after the Third Crusade, some serious reexaminations were made, in which Egypt, and its wealth, are clearly recognized as the key to the entire enterprise (to be fair, this had been noticed even during the First Crusade), and you start seeing the goal for further crusades shift over there. But that brings into question the initial motives for going in the first place. The idea was to hold and control what was seen as the religious center of the world, but if that's so unimportant as to let Egypt take center stage in planning... it's part of why the Crusades become less and less popular after that time.
And that effectively wraps up a very interesting look at the process Europe went through, and the innovations that were brought by the stresses of attempting the enterprise. Recommended for anyone who's willing to give some thought to processes involved, but it does not present 'history' as you'd normally think of it.
March 28, 2017
This book takes aim at the idea that the crusaders marched on faith alone. Tyerman argues instead that they were highly sophisticated enterprises that involved delicate financing, recruitment, and logistical efforts. He suggests that the crusaders need to be seen by their own points of reference but consistently uses ours. For example, he claims that the crusaders were not "idiots", and likens their planning and organization to modern war efforts. One wonders, though, if the image Tyerman invokes of modern generals standing around maps is really the same as kings and princes planning a crusade, given that the former is professional and bureaucratic and the latter is a cobbled-together coalition of leaders of disparate forces from across Latin Christendom. This does not lessen the achievement of the crusaders but introduces modern ideas of centralized war-planning without demonstrating the medieval people thought the way twentieth-century general staff or Pentagon white paper authors do. Modern concepts are needed to explain the medieval world, and some work here (logistics, strategy) while others (propaganda) have historical baggage of their own that need to be unpacked.
February 1, 2023
Tyerman’s detail-intensive study of the propaganda, politics, logistics, finance, and warfare of the crusades does a fine job backing his premise that the invasions of the Levant were rational, well-planned, and at times shockingly successful. Many were failures, but non were spontaneous spurts of zealous ideologues charging 3000 miles across Europe.
However the details were weighty, and it feels like Tyerman is writing for himself. He’s light on the aspects of the crusade that undermine the “pragmatism” he highlights, such as the Rhineland Massacres, the plundering of the Byzantine and Seljuk realms, and generally speaking the unwieldiness of the crusader armies. I got annoyed at how little he mentioned the Byzantines, though I’m inherently inclined to praise them and look down on the relatively poor, insular, fanatical Western Europeans of the high Middle Ages.
Still, I’ll give him credit, he researched the hell out of the planning of the crusades, right down to the weight of horseshit and piss produced on a single ship. Respect the dedication.
However the details were weighty, and it feels like Tyerman is writing for himself. He’s light on the aspects of the crusade that undermine the “pragmatism” he highlights, such as the Rhineland Massacres, the plundering of the Byzantine and Seljuk realms, and generally speaking the unwieldiness of the crusader armies. I got annoyed at how little he mentioned the Byzantines, though I’m inherently inclined to praise them and look down on the relatively poor, insular, fanatical Western Europeans of the high Middle Ages.
Still, I’ll give him credit, he researched the hell out of the planning of the crusades, right down to the weight of horseshit and piss produced on a single ship. Respect the dedication.
July 11, 2019
This book is incredibly detailed but can also be quite dry, so unless you have a mind for facts and figures it will be quite a slog! Despite that, it takes an interesting view to Crusading, looking more so at the logistics and planning behind it, which is enlightening. It does overly emphasis the blind zealotry so often associated with these wars but places them in a realistic and down to earth context. It does, however, well maintain the religious ideology that backed up the crusades without sliding into a cynical argument, which is good!
Ultimately, though a little boring at times, it explains a lot of the how behind the calls of "deus vult!" in a literature clogged with why's, and that's the tea!
Ultimately, though a little boring at times, it explains a lot of the how behind the calls of "deus vult!" in a literature clogged with why's, and that's the tea!
January 31, 2017
Full of interesting details, but it does assume that you 1) know about all of the crusades and their major players 2) have at least a passing knowledge of medieval European politics between the 11th and 15th century.
December 9, 2020
This is the sort of book that I have never seen before about the crusades, and the sort of book that very much is worth reading if medieval military history is an interest to you, dear reader. At its core, this is a book about logistics and the savvy of the logistical capabilities of medieval Christian crusaders, and their demonstration of sound principles of how to finance and supply war efforts despite the long logistical chains that connected the territories of the Outremer with the Western European starting locations of the crusades. But more than simply being about logistics, the author has done serious research and also some very serious thinking about the uneasy tie between the rational prosecution of war in the Middle Ages as well as the deeply religious aims of the Crusades. The author points out to the reader, and hopefully few readers will be ignorant enough to miss it, that the aims of the crusades were fundamentally theological and religious in nature but that the way that wars were waged, even religious wars, demonstrated rationality that would compare with the contemporary way of war, inviting the reader to understand that religiosity need not be in conflict with rationality in any endeavor, including the waging of religious warfare.
This book is about 300 pages long and it is divided into five sections and twelve chapters that demonstrates conclusively the seriousness of the planning and execution of Crusades in a wide variety of areas using a sound and wide reading of medieval sources. The author begins with an entertaining preface, a chronology, a list of illustrations, a list of maps, and an introduction that set the context for the work and its focus on the rationality of medieval war planning in the Crusades. After that the author looks at images of reason (1) and how it is that we do not often look at the people of the Middle Ages as sufficiently rational. This is followed by a look at justification (I) and how it is that the people of the Middle Ages established a case for the Crusades (2). After this comes a look at propaganda (II) and the nature of publicity (3) and persuading (4) people to fight on behalf of the cross. This is followed by a look at recruitment efforts (III) and how it is that people were recruited and rewarded for their service (5) as well as who it was that went on crusade (6). After this comes a discussion of crusading finance (IV), including the costs of a crusade (7) and how they were paid (8). Then comes the closing section of the book on crusading logistics (V), and how it is that crusades were coordinated (9), how it was that the health and safety of crusaders was maintained (10), as well as the supplying of crusader forces (11), and the strategy and even grand strategy of the crusades (12). The book has a short conclusion that expresses the author's reflections as well as notes, a bibliography, and an index.
It is a common thing for people today, and for the last 200 to 250 years or so, to mock the people of the Middle Ages as being overly credulous and lacking in rationality in the way that they lived. To many in contemporary post-Christendom, it is automatically irrational to engage in religious warfare--which is perhaps one reason why the religious motivations of warfare to contemporary Muslims is so incomprehensible to many nonreligious folk. Yet over and over again in this book the author demonstrates that the Crusaders, from their own written records and from the accounts of their behavior, demonstrated a high degree of concern for practical matters even as they engaged in an idealistic struggle to defend Christianity from Muslim aggression in the Middle East. That the effort was unsuccessful, ultimately, does not mean that it was irrational, nor does it mean that efforts made on behalf of one's religious beliefs are irrational on the face of it. The author seems troubled by the implication that religiously motivated behavior for Christians (or anyone else) can be rational, but let us hope that the experience of demonstrating the rationality of Crusader strategy and logistics has a positive effect on his respect for religious people in general, especially Christians.
This book is about 300 pages long and it is divided into five sections and twelve chapters that demonstrates conclusively the seriousness of the planning and execution of Crusades in a wide variety of areas using a sound and wide reading of medieval sources. The author begins with an entertaining preface, a chronology, a list of illustrations, a list of maps, and an introduction that set the context for the work and its focus on the rationality of medieval war planning in the Crusades. After that the author looks at images of reason (1) and how it is that we do not often look at the people of the Middle Ages as sufficiently rational. This is followed by a look at justification (I) and how it is that the people of the Middle Ages established a case for the Crusades (2). After this comes a look at propaganda (II) and the nature of publicity (3) and persuading (4) people to fight on behalf of the cross. This is followed by a look at recruitment efforts (III) and how it is that people were recruited and rewarded for their service (5) as well as who it was that went on crusade (6). After this comes a discussion of crusading finance (IV), including the costs of a crusade (7) and how they were paid (8). Then comes the closing section of the book on crusading logistics (V), and how it is that crusades were coordinated (9), how it was that the health and safety of crusaders was maintained (10), as well as the supplying of crusader forces (11), and the strategy and even grand strategy of the crusades (12). The book has a short conclusion that expresses the author's reflections as well as notes, a bibliography, and an index.
It is a common thing for people today, and for the last 200 to 250 years or so, to mock the people of the Middle Ages as being overly credulous and lacking in rationality in the way that they lived. To many in contemporary post-Christendom, it is automatically irrational to engage in religious warfare--which is perhaps one reason why the religious motivations of warfare to contemporary Muslims is so incomprehensible to many nonreligious folk. Yet over and over again in this book the author demonstrates that the Crusaders, from their own written records and from the accounts of their behavior, demonstrated a high degree of concern for practical matters even as they engaged in an idealistic struggle to defend Christianity from Muslim aggression in the Middle East. That the effort was unsuccessful, ultimately, does not mean that it was irrational, nor does it mean that efforts made on behalf of one's religious beliefs are irrational on the face of it. The author seems troubled by the implication that religiously motivated behavior for Christians (or anyone else) can be rational, but let us hope that the experience of demonstrating the rationality of Crusader strategy and logistics has a positive effect on his respect for religious people in general, especially Christians.
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February 21, 2019Disappointing. It’s sweeping in scope but assumes too much knowledge to be a pop history and while there’s interesting details and arguments they’re buried under other, less interesting details and thanks to the repetitive topic structure you’ll be hearing many of them, interesting or not, over and over again.
January 8, 2025
I was a bit disappointed at how much space is given to persuasion aspect of crusade planning, and how little was given to the logistics. I wanted to learn more about shipping horses across the Mediterranean or siege engine craft in the Levant, which was relegated to just a single chapter at the end of the book. For shame.
March 27, 2024
There are any number of things to appreciate about this book but it's not quite the general study of the Crusades that the somewhat jaunty title and opening anecdote of the introduction (concerning a lecture given by the author back in the day that went hilariously wrong) might suggest. In particular, the reader will get the most out of this work if they're already somewhat familiar with the cultural & political history of the period. That said, if you have the necessary background, Tyerman will give you a good grounding in the organizational machinery that was needed to launch a crusade in terms of social agitation, finance, military organization, logistics and the like with the basic point being made that for all the forlorn romance of beggars' crusades these were imperial expeditions of the highest order and very much the sport of popes & kings. As for those who would make the argument that all this reasoned effort was in the pursuit of an irrational end Tyerman dryly notes that one could say the same of today's religious wars; it doesn't mean that they can't be militarily successful.
Originally written: March 12, 2018.
Originally written: March 12, 2018.
October 7, 2016
I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't that easy a read. For some reason, it seems to have been marketed as an accessible history of the crusades, possibly picking up on the theme of a clash of civilisations (something the conclusion hints at); but whilst it is about the latter (albeit from an entirely Western-centric position) it isn't really the former. It probably sits more comfortably on the academic shelves and feels like exactly the sort of book I'd have read when I studied history at university all those years ago. There are endless lists when one or two examples would have made the point and 88 pages of footnotes (that's a third of the length of the text). More insights such as the fact that priests evangelising outdoors would have windsocks so their audience knew where to stand to hear them would have helped make the book more readable, brought it alive. Alas, these are few and far between.
March 4, 2024
Ensayo sobre la organización de las cruzadas.
Particularmente se me ha hecho pesado; demasiado técnico con muchos detalles del orden de la cantidad de carne en salazón que llevaba la expedición o como cuántos navíos hacían falta para transportar las herraduras de los caballos. Muy bien documentado con imágenes, buena edición y bibliografía.
Lo recomendaría si estás interesado en escribir sobre las cruzadas o si necesitas realizar algún trabajo sobre el tema.
Particularmente se me ha hecho pesado; demasiado técnico con muchos detalles del orden de la cantidad de carne en salazón que llevaba la expedición o como cuántos navíos hacían falta para transportar las herraduras de los caballos. Muy bien documentado con imágenes, buena edición y bibliografía.
Lo recomendaría si estás interesado en escribir sobre las cruzadas o si necesitas realizar algún trabajo sobre el tema.
February 14, 2018
An excellent summary of the rational pursuit of the crusades. If like me, you are familiar with the history of the crusades, the major players and their successes and failures, this is a useful companion, providing much needed detail to complement traditional histories of battles and politics. But this is not for the beginning reader.
I especially enjoyed the flashes of (very) dry wit that occasionally surfaced.
I especially enjoyed the flashes of (very) dry wit that occasionally surfaced.
November 2, 2019
The most interesting things I learned from the book:
1. The crusaders named a fort (or a town, lost the page) as "Kill the locals" in what Tyesman describes as characteristic subtlety.
2. Anyone selling food to crusaders for their journey to the holy land was required to also board their ship. This provided good incentives to not cheat in the trade.
Other than that the book is like historical monographies are, not really readable or fun but good for learning about history.
1. The crusaders named a fort (or a town, lost the page) as "Kill the locals" in what Tyesman describes as characteristic subtlety.
2. Anyone selling food to crusaders for their journey to the holy land was required to also board their ship. This provided good incentives to not cheat in the trade.
Other than that the book is like historical monographies are, not really readable or fun but good for learning about history.
November 3, 2017
An excellent read detailing how the crusades were recruited for, equipped and carried out. Would recommend this to anyone looking for a level headed and always interesting account of what is often a very emotive subject.
September 19, 2019
I bought this book based on the first part of its title. I'd read a few introductory books on the Crusades, and was interested in the mechanics of how the crusaders, equipment, and supplies were gathered, transported, and utilized. In this expectation, I was greatly disappointed.
As an example of my disappointment, there were no maps showing the routes taken by the crusaders to get to the objective, nor return.
From "How to Plan a Crusade", I assumed that detailed logistics would be a major topic, but it was actually peripheral to the author's interests.
The author was more concerned with the historical difficulties of getting military folks convinced into becoming crusaders, and how the finances worked. Eventually he got around to some logistics, but either there's not a lot of source material to go back to (so he doesn't) or he's not that interested in it.
I had assumed that the author would extract some general principles useful for organizing a crusade, and perhaps then peripherally explain how actual crusades had followed or disregarded the principles. This did not happen.
The book is obviously written for a reader much more familiar with the crusades than I am. The author is very knowledgeable, but he assumes too much of a non-professional reader. He's much more interested in the historical crusades than in extracting general principles from them.
The book does get more logistically-oriented at the very end. For example:
Page 259: "It has been suggested that while it took the labor of nine workers to feed one horse for a year in eleventh-century Europe, two hundred years later it only demanded two or three." I thought this very interesting, and the author does provide a reference to the source, but that's the extent of his discussion of this interesting (to me) factoid. How did that affect subsequent crusades?
Page 271: ". . . the first recorded ship from the Mediterranean to reach northern waters via the Straits [of Gibraltar] only arrived in 1277" - because rowed galleys could not overcome the current and winds of the straits, which favored west-to-east traffic, and the shores were controlled by Moslems. That was the first I've heard of this, which seems incredible (if true), given the amount of nautical history I've read. So, crusaders couldn't go up against the coastal hindrances?
The mismatch between the title and content is my major gripe - that and the author's assumption that the reader knows a lot about the crusades before opening his book.
As an example of my disappointment, there were no maps showing the routes taken by the crusaders to get to the objective, nor return.
From "How to Plan a Crusade", I assumed that detailed logistics would be a major topic, but it was actually peripheral to the author's interests.
The author was more concerned with the historical difficulties of getting military folks convinced into becoming crusaders, and how the finances worked. Eventually he got around to some logistics, but either there's not a lot of source material to go back to (so he doesn't) or he's not that interested in it.
I had assumed that the author would extract some general principles useful for organizing a crusade, and perhaps then peripherally explain how actual crusades had followed or disregarded the principles. This did not happen.
The book is obviously written for a reader much more familiar with the crusades than I am. The author is very knowledgeable, but he assumes too much of a non-professional reader. He's much more interested in the historical crusades than in extracting general principles from them.
The book does get more logistically-oriented at the very end. For example:
Page 259: "It has been suggested that while it took the labor of nine workers to feed one horse for a year in eleventh-century Europe, two hundred years later it only demanded two or three." I thought this very interesting, and the author does provide a reference to the source, but that's the extent of his discussion of this interesting (to me) factoid. How did that affect subsequent crusades?
Page 271: ". . . the first recorded ship from the Mediterranean to reach northern waters via the Straits [of Gibraltar] only arrived in 1277" - because rowed galleys could not overcome the current and winds of the straits, which favored west-to-east traffic, and the shores were controlled by Moslems. That was the first I've heard of this, which seems incredible (if true), given the amount of nautical history I've read. So, crusaders couldn't go up against the coastal hindrances?
The mismatch between the title and content is my major gripe - that and the author's assumption that the reader knows a lot about the crusades before opening his book.
August 5, 2024
I made it about halfway through this book over a month of reading, and I have to confess that I don't have it in me to finish it.
The problem I had with it is not that it's bad- it isn't. It's that it's less a book and more a collection of related monographs. Monographs on the intellectual bases of the Crusades, on the way Crusades were preached, on who chose to go on Crusade, on how Crusades were financed, and so forth.
This is all good work, and indeed valuable work, but it makes for something more like a reference book than something you can reasonably read cover-to-cover. The problem with this as a book isn't that it's "dry" or too academic. The problem is that there's no narrative, and no line of argumentation linking the sections- just a series of detailed niche histories that tease out as much detail as possible from disparate sources to create as good a picture as can be had of, say, how Crusade preachers used props in their sermons.
It's puzzling that this was published as a mass-market book, when by rights it should have been a series of scholarly papers.
The problem I had with it is not that it's bad- it isn't. It's that it's less a book and more a collection of related monographs. Monographs on the intellectual bases of the Crusades, on the way Crusades were preached, on who chose to go on Crusade, on how Crusades were financed, and so forth.
This is all good work, and indeed valuable work, but it makes for something more like a reference book than something you can reasonably read cover-to-cover. The problem with this as a book isn't that it's "dry" or too academic. The problem is that there's no narrative, and no line of argumentation linking the sections- just a series of detailed niche histories that tease out as much detail as possible from disparate sources to create as good a picture as can be had of, say, how Crusade preachers used props in their sermons.
It's puzzling that this was published as a mass-market book, when by rights it should have been a series of scholarly papers.
May 19, 2025
Haçlı seferlerinin arkasındaki neden-sonuç ilişkisinin detaylı şekilde incelendiği, bu seferler için gerekli olan propaganda çalışmalarının, asker toplamanın, finansmanının ayarlanmasının ve lojistik süreçlerin anlatıldığı bir kaynak kitap elimizdeki.
Öncelikle söylemeliyim ki kitap çok detaylı.
Hangi vaizin nerelerde hangi konuları baz alarak konuşma yaptığından, yıllara bağlı olarak gemilerle savaşa taşınan atların taşıma birim maliyetlerinin karşılaştırılmasına kadar çok fazla detay var, bu da kitabı okumayı gerçekten güçleştiriyor.
Ayrıca kesinlikle haçlı seferleri için bir başlangıç kitabı değil, mutlaka öncesinde genel olarak bilgi birikimine sahip olmak gerekli.
Kitabı çok beğendim ama okurken de çok zorlandım, son derece öğreticiydi.
O dönemin finansal ve lojistik sorunlarının nasıl çözülmeye çalışıldığıyla ilgili kısımları özellikle beğendim.
10. yy’da onbinlerce askeri bir amaç peşinde binlerce kilometre ötede savaşa götürebilen bir organizasyonu öğrenmek için okunmalı bence.
Öncelikle söylemeliyim ki kitap çok detaylı.
Hangi vaizin nerelerde hangi konuları baz alarak konuşma yaptığından, yıllara bağlı olarak gemilerle savaşa taşınan atların taşıma birim maliyetlerinin karşılaştırılmasına kadar çok fazla detay var, bu da kitabı okumayı gerçekten güçleştiriyor.
Ayrıca kesinlikle haçlı seferleri için bir başlangıç kitabı değil, mutlaka öncesinde genel olarak bilgi birikimine sahip olmak gerekli.
Kitabı çok beğendim ama okurken de çok zorlandım, son derece öğreticiydi.
O dönemin finansal ve lojistik sorunlarının nasıl çözülmeye çalışıldığıyla ilgili kısımları özellikle beğendim.
10. yy’da onbinlerce askeri bir amaç peşinde binlerce kilometre ötede savaşa götürebilen bir organizasyonu öğrenmek için okunmalı bence.
November 23, 2019
We look down on the Middle Ages, thinking that civilization has progressed so far past it. Tyerman argues that some of this is exaggeration, that the Middle Ages was organized and advanced in ways that we don't give them credit for. Like credit, modern banking, military strategy and trading.
Why I started this book: I've recently read/listened to several books about comparative religion, which lead to books about the Qu'ran and the Crusades. Not something that I knew a lot about but fascinating. I love it when you find new subjects to explore.
Why I finished it: This was a good book. I'm giving it three stars because it suffered in comparison to How the Crusades Changed History, a Great Courses lecture, that I listened to earlier this month.
Why I started this book: I've recently read/listened to several books about comparative religion, which lead to books about the Qu'ran and the Crusades. Not something that I knew a lot about but fascinating. I love it when you find new subjects to explore.
Why I finished it: This was a good book. I'm giving it three stars because it suffered in comparison to How the Crusades Changed History, a Great Courses lecture, that I listened to earlier this month.
April 12, 2021
True to the title, Tyerman explores the logistical complexity of planning and executing a Crusade. Along the way the reader is introduced to legal and philosophical rationales, and the finer details related to recruitment and finance. The image which emerges is that of a crusader army as a moving community in which the support systems and infrastructure were as important, perhaps even more so, than the soldiers themselves.
We might want to think of the whole Crusading process as very spontaneous, but Tyerman demonstrates that it was not. His comment "those who planned crusades knew what they wished to achieve and devised pragmatic ways to achieve it" captures the essence of this book.
We might want to think of the whole Crusading process as very spontaneous, but Tyerman demonstrates that it was not. His comment "those who planned crusades knew what they wished to achieve and devised pragmatic ways to achieve it" captures the essence of this book.
August 2, 2023
--- "If the desire was simply to fight Muslims, Spain was a far closer frontier, but it scarcely took precedence over Jerusalem even when crusading rituals and privileges were extended to Iberia from the early twelfth century." (Tyerman: 33)
--- "The quartermaster stood behind events, one of the great missing presences in crusade narratives." (Tyerman: 264)
--- "Naming these grandees provided a suitably resonant noble setting for subsequent events" (Tyerman: 154)
--- "Some preachers allegadly even employed large painted canvas cartoons of Saladin's horse fouling the Holy Sculpture to whip up feeling." (Tyerman: 52)
This book describes how medieval crusades were planned, including their funding or recruiting strategies across different crusades. The book shows how irrelevant chronicles can be sometimes when trying to understand how crusades were unfolded.
I read some reviews complaining about the huge amount of names and dates the book has. In my opinion those don't prevent you from enjoying the book, as they are part of the examples. Even if you have no clue to who these names refer to, the book is still very readable.
The book is 290 pages long but it feels longer due to the small font size. The book considers women but very briefly. It also discusses artworks but not that much in my opinion. All in all I enjoyed the book despite my limited knowledge of the Middle Ages.
--- "The quartermaster stood behind events, one of the great missing presences in crusade narratives." (Tyerman: 264)
--- "Naming these grandees provided a suitably resonant noble setting for subsequent events" (Tyerman: 154)
--- "Some preachers allegadly even employed large painted canvas cartoons of Saladin's horse fouling the Holy Sculpture to whip up feeling." (Tyerman: 52)
This book describes how medieval crusades were planned, including their funding or recruiting strategies across different crusades. The book shows how irrelevant chronicles can be sometimes when trying to understand how crusades were unfolded.
I read some reviews complaining about the huge amount of names and dates the book has. In my opinion those don't prevent you from enjoying the book, as they are part of the examples. Even if you have no clue to who these names refer to, the book is still very readable.
The book is 290 pages long but it feels longer due to the small font size. The book considers women but very briefly. It also discusses artworks but not that much in my opinion. All in all I enjoyed the book despite my limited knowledge of the Middle Ages.
July 5, 2020
More of 2.5 out of 5 but I’ll round up to 3 stars. His basic hypothesis is that preparing for the Crusades was more akin to planning for the Normandy landings during WWII than the contemporary blundering stereotype of Crusading a-la Don Quixote style. The historical evidence is there, but this book is as mind-numbingly a slog through data as walking from Claremont to Jerusalem ever was. Don’t look for a sequential narrative and expect lots and lots of dense medieval material from accounting ledgers, legal documents, and theological discourses.
January 4, 2018
I struggled a bit with this book. Probably because I know almost nothing about the crusades. That being said, this might be a good book to start with, but I can't say that with certainty since I'm not familiar with what else is available. This book does provide a good overview of how crusades worked, particularly focusing on the logistics. In this respect, the book is well researched and also very interesting.
March 10, 2019
Decently informational, but the organization was poor; desperate topics were grouped together in odd places, and the introduction and conclusion seemed only vaguely related with what was discussed in the pages between them. Though the prose is good and clear, lacking any of the technical opacity that plagues most academic writing, this book is probably best avoided by the lay reader, as it assumes a rather in depth knowledge base of crusading history.
October 8, 2017
A scholarly work, well written and researched, and a 5 from that point of view. But it's best for researchers, not general readers, as the fundamental points--not many--are accompanied by an abundance of supporting evidence that's not always captivating to read.
January 20, 2018
I wanted to dig into the First Crusade and it was hard to pick out the few parts specific to that effort from the overall discussion of the other Crusades. And I found it dry and not too interesting.
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