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A Brief History of the Crusades
Why did the medieval Church bless William of Normandy's invasion of Christian England in 1066 and authorise cultural genocide in Provence? How could a Christian army sack Christian Constantinople in 1204? Why did thousands of ordinary men and women, led by knights and ladies, kings and queens, embark on campaigns of fanatical conquest in the world of Islam? The word 'Crusade' came later, but the concept of a 'war for the faith' is an ancient one.
Geoffrey Hindley instructively unravels the story of the Christian military expeditions that have perturbed European history, troubled Christian consciences and embittered Muslim attitudes towards the West. He offers a lively record of the Crusades, from the Middle East to the pagan Baltic, and fascinating portraits of the major personalities, from Godfrey of Bouillon, the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem, to Etienne, the visionary French peasant boy who inspired the tragic Children's Crusade. Addressing questions rarely considered, Hindley sheds new light on pressing issues surrounding religious division and shows how the Crusades have helped to shape the modern world and relations between Christian and Muslim countries to this day.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2003
72 people are currently reading
593 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Hindley
49 books19 followersGeoffrey Hindley (1935-2014), educated at Kingswood School, Bath and University College Oxford, was a lecturer and writer. He was three times an invited participant at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University; was visiting associate professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville; and lectured in Europe and America on European culture,
medieval social history and Magna Carta, and the history of music. From 1994 to 2000 he taught English civilization at the University of Le Havre. Right up until his death he was co-president of the Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science of Oxford and London.
medieval social history and Magna Carta, and the history of music. From 1994 to 2000 he taught English civilization at the University of Le Havre. Right up until his death he was co-president of the Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science of Oxford and London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
August 2, 2019
Geoffrey Hindley has written an easy to read short history that will be of great use to those that have little to no knowledge of the Crusades. I would also suggest it is a fantastic refresher for anyone looking to reread after a long absence from this fascinating subject. As usual with these “A Brief History” series we get things short, sharp but concise. The history is presented in chronological order and we also get some good maps, illustrations, a chronology of events, very useful appendices, competent footnotes and a very good bibliography.
This book was written in 2003 but there is very good comment in the final chapter discussing the various consequences on modern issues that are still relevant nearly 20 years later. I in fact asked myself would this chapter be relevant in decades time and I sadly suspect it will.
When concluding the final chapter proper on the subject the author writes that the crusades had, “…moments of true glory and gestures of hypocrisy, but above all (were) inspired by that confusion of motives and ideals which tends to be in the human condition”. Well said.
This is an excellent Brief History.
This book was written in 2003 but there is very good comment in the final chapter discussing the various consequences on modern issues that are still relevant nearly 20 years later. I in fact asked myself would this chapter be relevant in decades time and I sadly suspect it will.
When concluding the final chapter proper on the subject the author writes that the crusades had, “…moments of true glory and gestures of hypocrisy, but above all (were) inspired by that confusion of motives and ideals which tends to be in the human condition”. Well said.
This is an excellent Brief History.
March 28, 2015
A weirdly aimless, meandering book. It almost feels like a stream of consciousness piece rather than a serious attempt at outlining the history of the Crusades. The text is very dry and unfocused, and the author has a confusing tendency to repeat himself (for example, in the first chapter, he mentions "Constantinople, founded on the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, by Constantine, the first Christian emperor" with nearly the same wording twice, two pages apart). Sometimes he refers to the same people by different spellings of their names (for example, describing the caliph, he uses "Omar" and "'Umar" on the same page).
Further, he has a tendency to frequently veer off into tangential matters with little bearing on the topic at hand- for example, he spends a long paragraph, nearly filling a page, describing how Eleanor of Aquitaine supposedly retired to dress herself and her coterie as "amazons" after pledging to Bernard of Clairvaux join the Second Crusade, and then as an aside to THAT, mentions a fictional medieval description of a mythological Amazon queen. There's an entire chapter devoted to "Women and an Alternative Feudalism," concerning the role of women in the society of Outremer; while this is certainly an interesting subject, it's somewhat jarring to have it fill its own entire chapter in between a chapter about the rise of Nur ad-Din and Saladin, and a chapter about the fall of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade.
It's a very confusing, unhelpful book, and only really useful for the lists in the back of the book of the kings of Jerusalem, the Ayyubid sultans, and the popes at the time of the Crusades. The maps in the front of the book aren't very useful; one is of the Iberian peninsula, and one is of the Baltic, each showing the sites of major Crusade/Reconquista-related battles in the area- although the book doesn't spend much time at all on either theater of war, and is focused primarily on the Levant, Syria, and Egypt. The single map of the eastern Mediterranean shows, confusingly, the locations of the Crusader states, the routes taken by various parties of First Crusaders, battle sites (chosen apparently at random- it shows Myriokephalon and Heraclea, but not Manzikert or Ramla), and, in addition to these, the approximate borders of the Byzantine successor states (both Latin and Greek) resulting from the Fourth Crusade. And all of these bits of information are overlaid onto the same map, resulting in a confusing mess.
There's a biblography that takes up several pages, but the citations in the main text are sparse, frequently refer back to the same book several times in a row (so that each chapter only refers to maybe two or three books), and almost all the books cited via the footnotes in the text are tertiary sources written for the popular market.
There's useful information in this book, but it desperately needs extensive editing to be readable: that it was released as it is is almost shameful.
Further, he has a tendency to frequently veer off into tangential matters with little bearing on the topic at hand- for example, he spends a long paragraph, nearly filling a page, describing how Eleanor of Aquitaine supposedly retired to dress herself and her coterie as "amazons" after pledging to Bernard of Clairvaux join the Second Crusade, and then as an aside to THAT, mentions a fictional medieval description of a mythological Amazon queen. There's an entire chapter devoted to "Women and an Alternative Feudalism," concerning the role of women in the society of Outremer; while this is certainly an interesting subject, it's somewhat jarring to have it fill its own entire chapter in between a chapter about the rise of Nur ad-Din and Saladin, and a chapter about the fall of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade.
It's a very confusing, unhelpful book, and only really useful for the lists in the back of the book of the kings of Jerusalem, the Ayyubid sultans, and the popes at the time of the Crusades. The maps in the front of the book aren't very useful; one is of the Iberian peninsula, and one is of the Baltic, each showing the sites of major Crusade/Reconquista-related battles in the area- although the book doesn't spend much time at all on either theater of war, and is focused primarily on the Levant, Syria, and Egypt. The single map of the eastern Mediterranean shows, confusingly, the locations of the Crusader states, the routes taken by various parties of First Crusaders, battle sites (chosen apparently at random- it shows Myriokephalon and Heraclea, but not Manzikert or Ramla), and, in addition to these, the approximate borders of the Byzantine successor states (both Latin and Greek) resulting from the Fourth Crusade. And all of these bits of information are overlaid onto the same map, resulting in a confusing mess.
There's a biblography that takes up several pages, but the citations in the main text are sparse, frequently refer back to the same book several times in a row (so that each chapter only refers to maybe two or three books), and almost all the books cited via the footnotes in the text are tertiary sources written for the popular market.
There's useful information in this book, but it desperately needs extensive editing to be readable: that it was released as it is is almost shameful.
March 25, 2015
Not a very good book for several reasons:
Despite the author's statement that its a "brief" history, he ventures into details wherever he likes without any cohesion. His general outline of chapters/topics is not coherent and is quite weak, leaving the reader confused as to what happened when and who went where and so on. A very confusing read indeed.
The author is clearly of a biased opinion, and he states it in several instances. His work is a history of the Crusades from a European point-of-view. He didn't venture into those "crusaded" nations of the European (the pagans and the other Christian sects) and the Islamic worlds as much as he ventured into the "crusaders" - with an 20/80 of focus respectively in my opinion. i.e. he downplays many atrocities of the crusaders (even omits a few) by barely giving them a sentence or two while amplifying any nearly-similar atrocity committed by the crusaded in full paragraphs and/or "clever" assertions and comments.
He has many inaccuracies, whether in terms of events and dates (I am speaking in crossing the book with other sources in relation to the events with the Muslims), or even in terms of the quoted words/names/events/cities in other languages (which a better research would have eliminated).
All in all, I do not recommend this book as a summary of the Crusades, nor even as an introductory. It is to be skimmed through at a quick pace for those who are already familiar with the history of the Crusades, and maybe its use would be one of academia, where the index might be employed to pin down characters and events in an easier manner and research them further using other sources.
Despite the author's statement that its a "brief" history, he ventures into details wherever he likes without any cohesion. His general outline of chapters/topics is not coherent and is quite weak, leaving the reader confused as to what happened when and who went where and so on. A very confusing read indeed.
The author is clearly of a biased opinion, and he states it in several instances. His work is a history of the Crusades from a European point-of-view. He didn't venture into those "crusaded" nations of the European (the pagans and the other Christian sects) and the Islamic worlds as much as he ventured into the "crusaders" - with an 20/80 of focus respectively in my opinion. i.e. he downplays many atrocities of the crusaders (even omits a few) by barely giving them a sentence or two while amplifying any nearly-similar atrocity committed by the crusaded in full paragraphs and/or "clever" assertions and comments.
He has many inaccuracies, whether in terms of events and dates (I am speaking in crossing the book with other sources in relation to the events with the Muslims), or even in terms of the quoted words/names/events/cities in other languages (which a better research would have eliminated).
All in all, I do not recommend this book as a summary of the Crusades, nor even as an introductory. It is to be skimmed through at a quick pace for those who are already familiar with the history of the Crusades, and maybe its use would be one of academia, where the index might be employed to pin down characters and events in an easier manner and research them further using other sources.
December 17, 2008
Oh, Orlando Bloom, how you inspire me! Saw The Kingdom late at night on some movie channel and realized that I knew very little about the Crusades, other than the report I did on the Children's Crusade in grade 11 history (spoiler: the children did not win back the Holy Land). So I decided to learn a little bit more and this book was recommended. This was a very good overview of the Crusades and the reasons behind the whole movement, without an in-depth look at any specific Crusade.
As I'm sitting here writing this review, though, very little of the facts of the books stick out in my head (I finished it over a month ago). I suppose that's the nature of the book which covers over 300 years and goes through all the various kings, queens, emperors, popes who were involved in the whole crusading movement...it's hard to keep track of them or remember a lot of specifics.
I do remember being very impressed with the historical writing of the book and how it kept it from being dull or repetitive. I can also remember being surprised at the huge hypocrisy of the Church (okay, not really 'surprised' exactly, but maybe surprised at the scale of it?), in orginally proclaiming the Crusades to reclaim the Holy Land, but in subsequent decades, declared Crusades to do everything from fight the French, fight German peasants, or even other popes. Kind of sad, really, to think of all the history that the Crusades destroyed via looting, destruction, etc.
The book helped me realize how little specifics I know about the Crusades, so I may study one or two of them in more detail in the future.
As I'm sitting here writing this review, though, very little of the facts of the books stick out in my head (I finished it over a month ago). I suppose that's the nature of the book which covers over 300 years and goes through all the various kings, queens, emperors, popes who were involved in the whole crusading movement...it's hard to keep track of them or remember a lot of specifics.
I do remember being very impressed with the historical writing of the book and how it kept it from being dull or repetitive. I can also remember being surprised at the huge hypocrisy of the Church (okay, not really 'surprised' exactly, but maybe surprised at the scale of it?), in orginally proclaiming the Crusades to reclaim the Holy Land, but in subsequent decades, declared Crusades to do everything from fight the French, fight German peasants, or even other popes. Kind of sad, really, to think of all the history that the Crusades destroyed via looting, destruction, etc.
The book helped me realize how little specifics I know about the Crusades, so I may study one or two of them in more detail in the future.
April 1, 2022
An excellent account of the Crusades unapologetically written mainly from the Western Christian point of view and covering, albeit in differing levels of detail, all 'crusades' and not just the few short era in the middle east which most people tend to concentrate on as "The Crusades".
Absolutely full of fascinating detail - such as there is no such word as 'crusade' in English until 1767! At times Hindley can get a little bogged down in detail and it takes a rereading to catch up with some of the persona, but I cannot see how this can be avoided.
Hindley is not 'going to make any friends' with his statements such as that while the Pope has apologised, "although exactly why is not clear", for the crusades we are still awaiting a similar apology for "the aggressive jihad wars which conquered the Christian lands" in the first place. It is a valid point, but one that won't be welcomed by many for whom 'The West' must be always the guilty party.
The biggest problem with the book is it needed a good editor - or perhaps an editor in the first place. Hindley can repeat himself sometimes, often within a page or two, and he has a habit of using obscure words or obsolete when there are quite acceptable modern usage terms - he uses 'dembark' for example when I think everyone else would say 'disembark' and there are numerous similar examples which serve to do little more than annoy the reader.
That last, fairly petty, criticism apart this is an excellent book and I would thoroughly recommend it to any reader who wants to understand the Middle Ages and the ongoing effect that the Crusades, and there were more in Europe than in the Middle East, have on today's world.
Absolutely full of fascinating detail - such as there is no such word as 'crusade' in English until 1767! At times Hindley can get a little bogged down in detail and it takes a rereading to catch up with some of the persona, but I cannot see how this can be avoided.
Hindley is not 'going to make any friends' with his statements such as that while the Pope has apologised, "although exactly why is not clear", for the crusades we are still awaiting a similar apology for "the aggressive jihad wars which conquered the Christian lands" in the first place. It is a valid point, but one that won't be welcomed by many for whom 'The West' must be always the guilty party.
The biggest problem with the book is it needed a good editor - or perhaps an editor in the first place. Hindley can repeat himself sometimes, often within a page or two, and he has a habit of using obscure words or obsolete when there are quite acceptable modern usage terms - he uses 'dembark' for example when I think everyone else would say 'disembark' and there are numerous similar examples which serve to do little more than annoy the reader.
That last, fairly petty, criticism apart this is an excellent book and I would thoroughly recommend it to any reader who wants to understand the Middle Ages and the ongoing effect that the Crusades, and there were more in Europe than in the Middle East, have on today's world.
April 28, 2019
This book is not really meant as an introduction to The Crusades. The book is interesting, but the reader needs some basic knowledge of the Crusades before beginning. It can get very academic at times, and the author has a habit of going off on tangents and off being "wordy"- a previous reviewer stated it best with the following - "he spends a long paragraph, nearly filling a page, describing how Eleanor of Aquitaine supposedly retired to dress herself and her coterie as "amazons" after pledging to Bernard of Clairvaux join the Second Crusade, and then as an aside to THAT, mentions a fictional medieval description of a mythological Amazon queen."
Overall, given the many centuries and power politics involved in the Crusades, the author did a good job of dealing with the history of this subject. Four out of five stars
Overall, given the many centuries and power politics involved in the Crusades, the author did a good job of dealing with the history of this subject. Four out of five stars
August 21, 2025
Not quite the book I expected it to be. Or maybe my expectations were a tad high, having already read John Man's excellent book on Saladin. This one crams too much information in one book. Perhaps because I just read a book on The Plantagenets, the chapter on the Third Crusade, with Richard I the Lionheart, was riveting. As was the chapter on Jacques de Molay: for burning him at the stake for heresy, Knights Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay put a curse on France's handsome King Philip IV (Philip le Bel) of the Capet dynasty and his descendants. Philip would die just months after. By 1328, fourteen years after de Molay's curse on the royal house, the Capets' foothold on the French monarchy, unbroken since 987, would end with Philip IV's son, Charles IV.
December 14, 2021
Pros: excellent overview, covers all the crusades, good supplementary material
Cons: superficial coverage can leave gaps in knowledge
This is a short but comprehensive record of the crusades, from what led up to the calling of the first crusade, to how modern nations have looked back on them. In addition to dealing with each crusade and what happened between them, the book also has an excellent chronology, a few maps, and appendices of the various popes and secular rulers of some of the principle nations involved. There are 14 chapters, with an additional introduction explaining what the crusades were and an epilogue. While there are scant details of each crusade, the author is careful to note the various horrors each side perpetuated and how each side was impacted by the crusades (so you get some idea of how Jews, heretics, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, etc. reacted. The one group that got very little input were the Eastern European pagans, who are mentioned in later chapters but there isn’t much information about how they reacted to the crusades beyond what battles they were involved in).
There isn’t much detail for each crusade, the length of the book necessarily forcing the author to cover each one briefly, but the author does an excellent job of covering the basics and more. In some cases it’s easy to skip over some of the more horrible aspects, as they could get a single line - like the fact that some crusaders resorted to cannibalism to survive the first crusade. Having said that, I was impressed by how much information was crammed in. The book provides an excellent overview of the crusades as a whole after which you can easily pick up a book on a specific crusade/period to get more in depth information, knowing the broad strokes of the movement.
If you’re interested in the crusades and want a book that covers it all, this is a good one.
Cons: superficial coverage can leave gaps in knowledge
This is a short but comprehensive record of the crusades, from what led up to the calling of the first crusade, to how modern nations have looked back on them. In addition to dealing with each crusade and what happened between them, the book also has an excellent chronology, a few maps, and appendices of the various popes and secular rulers of some of the principle nations involved. There are 14 chapters, with an additional introduction explaining what the crusades were and an epilogue. While there are scant details of each crusade, the author is careful to note the various horrors each side perpetuated and how each side was impacted by the crusades (so you get some idea of how Jews, heretics, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, etc. reacted. The one group that got very little input were the Eastern European pagans, who are mentioned in later chapters but there isn’t much information about how they reacted to the crusades beyond what battles they were involved in).
There isn’t much detail for each crusade, the length of the book necessarily forcing the author to cover each one briefly, but the author does an excellent job of covering the basics and more. In some cases it’s easy to skip over some of the more horrible aspects, as they could get a single line - like the fact that some crusaders resorted to cannibalism to survive the first crusade. Having said that, I was impressed by how much information was crammed in. The book provides an excellent overview of the crusades as a whole after which you can easily pick up a book on a specific crusade/period to get more in depth information, knowing the broad strokes of the movement.
If you’re interested in the crusades and want a book that covers it all, this is a good one.
September 28, 2020
1.6 starz
November 5, 2025
I truly believe some of the negative reviews on here are unfair. This is a brief history. Its intention is to introduce to Crusades, and outline the important events. Some detailed sections are relevant to the flow of the book and to make sense of what is happening as well as give it a bit of excitement. I think Geoffrey Hindley did a great job of what he intended to do with this book, and if you’re looking to find a gateway into the topic of the crusades and its relevance today- this is the book for you
August 4, 2015
Difícil de agarrarle el ritmo pero, una vez que lo logras, está bastante ameno, sobre todo porque no te describe las batallas minuto a minuto, sino más bien se mete a las motivaciones de quienes empezaron el llamado a las cruzadas y el resultado de las mismas (los cristianos salen perdiendo como 1 de cada 5 veces).
Da un panorama comprensivo y global de las aspiraciones políticas, religiosas, económicas y mundanas de quienes fueron líderes y seguidores, por lo que cuenta de manera objetiva los por qué de estos peregrinajes.
Me quedo con la última frase que ofrece Hindley al final de este libro: "una historia que tuvo momentos de gloria y gestos de hipocresía pero que, por encima de todo, se movió entre una confusión de motivos e ideales inherente a la condición humana".
Da un panorama comprensivo y global de las aspiraciones políticas, religiosas, económicas y mundanas de quienes fueron líderes y seguidores, por lo que cuenta de manera objetiva los por qué de estos peregrinajes.
Me quedo con la última frase que ofrece Hindley al final de este libro: "una historia que tuvo momentos de gloria y gestos de hipocresía pero que, por encima de todo, se movió entre una confusión de motivos e ideales inherente a la condición humana".
September 10, 2021
It took me a long time to read this one, and I admit that I skimmed through a few parts. It is a comprehensive account of the Crusades, but I found it a bit boring and dull at times.
Keep it in your house if you want to look up something Crusade-related, but I don't really recommend reading this book in one go.
Keep it in your house if you want to look up something Crusade-related, but I don't really recommend reading this book in one go.
October 24, 2012
A nice overview of the Crusades, but not the best available
May 20, 2021
Written by Geoffrey Hindley, a former lecturer and writer on early medieval Europe who died in 2014, in 2003, the Crusades is a detailed, engaging and insightful account the infamous Crusades of the Middle Ages where Christian Europe fought the Islamic Middle East for the conquest and domination of the Holy Land over the course of several bloody, brutal and relentless centuries of warfare, politics and economics. Beginning with the wildly successful First Crusade of 1095-1100, which saw the start of the Crusader States along with the founding of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and ending in the swift, inescapable fall of Acre in 1291 to Muslim forces, the Crusades as an era were historically, religiously and politically ruthless, violent and pragmatic for both the Christians and Muslims who fought and bled to death for the control and subjugation of the Holy Land and its prized possessions. Indeed, this is a complicated and intense historical subject, one that still has echoes to this day.
At the first glance, the Crusades can be boiled down to this; medieval Christendom, reeling from rampant poverty, aristocratic warfare and a power-hungry Catholic Church, sought to conquer and rule the Holy Land for reasons both religious and political. Religiously, it was the sworn duty of every true Christian to see land of Christ’s birth returned to the custody of Christian rule and politically, the need for soldiers to march upon the Holy Land would reduce the men available for the nobility to wage war, would send the desperate and destitute to seek their fortunes outside of Europe and would help bolster and strengthen the political, moral and religious authority of the Catholic Church throughout Western Europe. All of this complexity, the challenges in describing and analysing the complicated and morally grey nature of the Crusades and the who fought within them and the legacies they left in their blood-stained wake are to be found within Mr Hindley’s excellent and evocative account of the Crusades.
While this is a clear and concise retelling of the Crusades, it does go into intense, fascinating detail and critiquing of the varied origins, events and legacies that shaped and influenced the Crusades from their birth and to their long, meandering afterlife. Hindley also describes the main players and shakers in the Crusader era on both the Christian and Muslim sides, who they were, what were their religious and political beliefs and the impacts they had upon the Crusades themselves; it absolutely makes for an interesting, diverse read. Another key focus of the Crusades is when Hindley expertly analyses and ponders the various social, political, economic and religious factors in the Muslim and Christian world that were behind the Crusades along with their successes and failures throughout their long, tumultuous existence. He likewise dissects the reasons for the myriad of reasons for how and why the Crusades ultimately failed in maintaining the Christian dominance over the Holy Land and the eventual success of the Islamic world in recapturing it.
Hindley does not just focus on the Crusades in the Holy Land; he explores several other intriguing subjects connected to the Crusades. He describes the lives of European women during the Christian rule over the Holy Land which saw several Queens of Jerusalem. He also narrates the Teutonic Crusades of the 14th and 15th centuries in which the Catholic Church sought to stamp out the pagan faiths of North and Eastern Europe and towards the end Hindley documents the long, complex and shifting legacies of the Crusades as they are now perceived in the modern day in the Western world and Middle East.
All in all, this is a well-written, appealing and astute book on the history of the Crusades from several intense and shrewd perspectives. Non-biased, objective and clearly academic, this suits both the general public and students of finely researched and written history. Written with enthusiasm, crispness and in a straightforward manner, this is a highly recommended read for anyone looking to learn more about the Crusades, their history and the legacies that haunt the present to this day.
January 22, 2023
There is a difference of opinion as to what constitutes a crusade. Many people, myself included, think of the Crusades as the wars fought by European powers and sanctioned by the Catholic church between 1095 and 1296 to win back the Holy Land. Others, like Hindley, include any war that was preached and/or supported by the Church during the Middle Ages, and these conflicts, even the sailing of the Spanish Armada in 1588, are analyzed in Hindley's work. Included in this broader definition are wars fought against the Moors on the Iberian peninsula, wars against Christian "schismatics" within Europe, and even the tragic and semi-farcical expeditions such as that led by Peter the Hermit and the ill-fated Children's Crusade. The tendency of some military propagandists to use crusader vocabulary to describe organized violence of a more secular nature has added to the confusion.
Another point of confusion in the popular image of the Crusades is that of motive. While many crusaders were indeed devoutly religious individuals, other reasons existed for embarking on these military expeditions. The First Crusade, for example, preached by Pope Urban at Clermont in 1095, was undertaken in part as response to the perceived threat to Constantinople from the Seljuk Turks. Monetary gain, political advantage, and fame all figured into the equation as well, along with the feeling that Jerusalem and other strongholds on the eastern Mediterranean had been taken by force initially by the Muslims during the jihads that followed the death of Mohammed. The church guaranteed salvation to anyone who died during a Crusade and allowed crusaders to purchase indulgences for friends and relatives already in Purgatory, to lessen their suffering. Later, the sale of indulgences was used to finance many of the Crusades, and the continuation of this practice was one of the church practices that alienated Martin Luther among others and led to the Protestant Reformation. The Crusades were also a way to draw attention away from political rifts within continental Europe, uniting various factions against a common enemy, as well as providing an outlet for the martial energies of otherwise problematic European youth.
Sadly, the behavior of the Crusaders often fell short of our modern ideal of chivalry, which perhaps has more to do with the literary imaginings of Sir Walter Scott than with any historical reality. Many Crusaders warmed up, as it were, for the real battle with pogroms against Jews living in Europe. Pillage, murder, torture and rape were often part of the holy wars, and presumably innocent people unfortunate enough to live along the Crusaders' route to the Holy Land were frequent victims. Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, during the Third Crusade, showed noble and chivalrous behavior toward each other while slaughtering countless men and women of lesser rank. With the fall of Acre in 1296 the Holy Land Crusades ended with no net gain on the part of the Europeans. Muslims still recall the Crusades with resentment, while westerners view them threw a romantic prism.
This is, as the title states, a BRIEF history of the Crusades, and while Hindley does a good job of covering some 500 years of history in less than 300 pages, it is also informationally dense. There is a huge cast of characters and geographic terms that are less than familiar to the modern reader. Maps, illustrations, a more than welcome timeline, and short biographies of some of the principal characters make useful additions, and Hindley adds some droll humor, which for the most part makes up for his sometimes eccentric use of commas.
Another point of confusion in the popular image of the Crusades is that of motive. While many crusaders were indeed devoutly religious individuals, other reasons existed for embarking on these military expeditions. The First Crusade, for example, preached by Pope Urban at Clermont in 1095, was undertaken in part as response to the perceived threat to Constantinople from the Seljuk Turks. Monetary gain, political advantage, and fame all figured into the equation as well, along with the feeling that Jerusalem and other strongholds on the eastern Mediterranean had been taken by force initially by the Muslims during the jihads that followed the death of Mohammed. The church guaranteed salvation to anyone who died during a Crusade and allowed crusaders to purchase indulgences for friends and relatives already in Purgatory, to lessen their suffering. Later, the sale of indulgences was used to finance many of the Crusades, and the continuation of this practice was one of the church practices that alienated Martin Luther among others and led to the Protestant Reformation. The Crusades were also a way to draw attention away from political rifts within continental Europe, uniting various factions against a common enemy, as well as providing an outlet for the martial energies of otherwise problematic European youth.
Sadly, the behavior of the Crusaders often fell short of our modern ideal of chivalry, which perhaps has more to do with the literary imaginings of Sir Walter Scott than with any historical reality. Many Crusaders warmed up, as it were, for the real battle with pogroms against Jews living in Europe. Pillage, murder, torture and rape were often part of the holy wars, and presumably innocent people unfortunate enough to live along the Crusaders' route to the Holy Land were frequent victims. Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, during the Third Crusade, showed noble and chivalrous behavior toward each other while slaughtering countless men and women of lesser rank. With the fall of Acre in 1296 the Holy Land Crusades ended with no net gain on the part of the Europeans. Muslims still recall the Crusades with resentment, while westerners view them threw a romantic prism.
This is, as the title states, a BRIEF history of the Crusades, and while Hindley does a good job of covering some 500 years of history in less than 300 pages, it is also informationally dense. There is a huge cast of characters and geographic terms that are less than familiar to the modern reader. Maps, illustrations, a more than welcome timeline, and short biographies of some of the principal characters make useful additions, and Hindley adds some droll humor, which for the most part makes up for his sometimes eccentric use of commas.
June 5, 2024
This book does a good job of giving an overview of the Crusades from 1095 when Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade to 1588 when Spain launched an armada against England. That is a long time period to summarise and the text is necessarily brief.
Most people think of the Third Crusade when they imagine Western knights battling Saracens in the Holy Land and this period gets a chapter and a fairly good potted biography of Saladin and Richard the Lion Heart.
There is a useful chronology at the front of the book and some good tables at the back summarising popes, emperors and rulers of the Western and Eastern kingdoms.
If you're interested in the military history this book will be next to useless. It doesn't give a very good description of the military engagements and many of the famous battles are not even named; they just get a passing mention in terms that force you to look them up in another reference book to confirm what battle it is.
Nor is this a very good book if you want a detailed narrative of the struggles for the Kingdom of Jerusalem up to the death of Saladin in 1193. The period covered is much too broad for that.
Where this book is useful is if you are reading a book about medieval Europe and the protagonists suddenly disappear from view on a Crusade. Historians have a habit of focusing on very narrow territorial areas so when the kings and nobles ride off the map they are no longer talked about until they come back. If you want more context for their off-stage exploits, you will find it here.
Some of the narrative is quite tantalising and it may whet your appetite to seek out more detailed accounts of some of the exploits touched on here. If so, that is probably as much as you can expect from a book like this. There is a 'select bibliography' at the back that lists far more books on the topic than most of us will want to read.
Most people think of the Third Crusade when they imagine Western knights battling Saracens in the Holy Land and this period gets a chapter and a fairly good potted biography of Saladin and Richard the Lion Heart.
There is a useful chronology at the front of the book and some good tables at the back summarising popes, emperors and rulers of the Western and Eastern kingdoms.
If you're interested in the military history this book will be next to useless. It doesn't give a very good description of the military engagements and many of the famous battles are not even named; they just get a passing mention in terms that force you to look them up in another reference book to confirm what battle it is.
Nor is this a very good book if you want a detailed narrative of the struggles for the Kingdom of Jerusalem up to the death of Saladin in 1193. The period covered is much too broad for that.
Where this book is useful is if you are reading a book about medieval Europe and the protagonists suddenly disappear from view on a Crusade. Historians have a habit of focusing on very narrow territorial areas so when the kings and nobles ride off the map they are no longer talked about until they come back. If you want more context for their off-stage exploits, you will find it here.
Some of the narrative is quite tantalising and it may whet your appetite to seek out more detailed accounts of some of the exploits touched on here. If so, that is probably as much as you can expect from a book like this. There is a 'select bibliography' at the back that lists far more books on the topic than most of us will want to read.
September 9, 2025
While I didn’t outright hate this book, it was definitely biased. I found some statements made by the author to be quite audacious, arrogant, and just plain rude (lol) For instance, in the epilogue, he mentions that in modern times the general consensus is that the crusades were an unjustified aggression carried out by the west against the east, so much so that the pope issued a formal apology for them. Instead of leaving it at that, the author goes on to disingenuously question this gesture, because, he says, Muslims haven’t apologized for things they’ve done over the centuries against Christians. Never mind that Muslims have to apologize for existing now. The reality is, there is no base for comparison when it comes to the Muslim conquests, as Muslim conquest of European/Christian lands was not an exploitative land grab disguised as a holy cause by the figures who called for it and benefitted from it. Muslims (more specifically Sunnis) didn’t persecute non-Muslims, nor did they force anyone to convert. They allowed freedom of religion and did not hinder pilgrimages by non-Muslims in their lands. They also kept holy sites of Christianity and Judaism intact under their rule. More importantly, they didn’t carry out regular pogroms against Jews, and they did not *cannibalize* their enemies (of course, the author does not mention this well-known incident of crusaders eating Muslims after one siege, which is another bias-related problem with this book, the omission of quite heinous atrocities on the crusaders’ part). And even more important, Muslims were indigenous to the holy land region—the crusades were as much invasions by foreign forces as they were holy wars, if not more so. Bottom line, definitely would not recommend this as anyone’s only source on the Crusades, but a good source for some information, especially as part of comprehensive and varied research.
March 26, 2019
This is not a well-written book, unfortunately. It's dry, there are sentences that have clearly escaped the editor's eye and just make no grammatical sense, and because it hops around in the timeline quite a bit, it gets quite confusing. Admittedly, the content is amazingly complex and covers a wide swathe of history, hundreds of important players and myriad motivations and agendas, but even given all of that, I think the author could have very easily made this more readable. Because of these issues I can't give this book more than 3 stars.
However, I friggin LOVE medieval history. Also, thanks to games like Paradox's wonderful Crusader Kings II (grand strategy at its best, highly recommended), Assassin's Creed (they were REAL) and Age of Empires II I was already familiar with the geography and with some of the personages involved. I may have been a bit more lost without that, but even so there was a lot of new, fascinating information: the Children's Crusade, Eleanor of Aquitaine and her ladies dressing up as warrior 'Amazons' and going off to the Holy Land with the men, the Mongol invasion which utterly destroyed Baghdad and killed its 80 000 inhabitants, Egypt's Mamluk dynasty starting with slave soldiers recruited from the Turks and the southern Russian steppe...
If you have an interest in this era and want a broad overview, this is a decent place to start I'd say. Don't expect too much depth, but at the very least it's a good stepping stone toward more scholarly and/or more accessible works on the Crusades.
However, I friggin LOVE medieval history. Also, thanks to games like Paradox's wonderful Crusader Kings II (grand strategy at its best, highly recommended), Assassin's Creed (they were REAL) and Age of Empires II I was already familiar with the geography and with some of the personages involved. I may have been a bit more lost without that, but even so there was a lot of new, fascinating information: the Children's Crusade, Eleanor of Aquitaine and her ladies dressing up as warrior 'Amazons' and going off to the Holy Land with the men, the Mongol invasion which utterly destroyed Baghdad and killed its 80 000 inhabitants, Egypt's Mamluk dynasty starting with slave soldiers recruited from the Turks and the southern Russian steppe...
If you have an interest in this era and want a broad overview, this is a decent place to start I'd say. Don't expect too much depth, but at the very least it's a good stepping stone toward more scholarly and/or more accessible works on the Crusades.
February 3, 2019
This book is neither brief, nor (as the title may suggest,) an accessible introduction for those who have no prior knowledge of the Crusades beyond the myths and legends of popular culture. And as I navigated the incredibly interesting and insightful, but also equally confusing and frustrating tangents as the narrative leapt forward and back in time at whim, obsessively focusing on trivial minutia while skipping over major events, I thanked my lucky stars that I had at least a basic knowledge of Crusading history by which to get my bearings. But even then, I had to keep pausing to check wikipedia every other line to figure out the context of who these people and what these events were before finally accepting that I need to learn a lot more about the period and then try to re-read this book at least twice in order to fully comprehend it. So although I'd recommend this 'Brief' history to anyone who already has a thorough grasp of the events and the period, if you're just looking for an introductory text, then I would highly recommend reading "The Crusades" by Abigail Archer for a basic, bare-bones overview. And then after that, I recommend reading "In Distant Lands" by Lars Brownworth for a more in depth exploration that still follows the set chronology, as well as reading more about the political history of that period before you even attempt to tackle this broad and meandering beast.
January 6, 2021
The book is lacking in chronological order. You will something in the 13 century in one chapter and suddenly the writer will put a story in the 11 century. Reference on important event in chronological order is only available on the first few pages. Imagine that you are really into reading through an episode of war, then you lost or forget one of the war character (because there is a lot of name of medieval
kings/queens/emperors that being disguised by roman numbers) and then you need to go back to the few first pages or references at the end of the book to recall who is the guy in the story. It really breaks your feeling about the story.
Writer tend to write in one long sentence just to describe who is the character. I believe that footnotes will really help rather than putting it in one whole long sentence.
Storyline is scattered in some of the chapters. Map or chronological date of the events would really help the reader; which is obviously not in the particular chapter.
Be ready to have your phone next to you just to imagine where the events took place because map on the first few pages is not really helpful to understand where is the event.
kings/queens/emperors that being disguised by roman numbers) and then you need to go back to the few first pages or references at the end of the book to recall who is the guy in the story. It really breaks your feeling about the story.
Writer tend to write in one long sentence just to describe who is the character. I believe that footnotes will really help rather than putting it in one whole long sentence.
Storyline is scattered in some of the chapters. Map or chronological date of the events would really help the reader; which is obviously not in the particular chapter.
Be ready to have your phone next to you just to imagine where the events took place because map on the first few pages is not really helpful to understand where is the event.
February 7, 2024
Review of Crusades: Islam and Christianity in the Struggle for the World Supremacy
By: Geoffrey Hindley
This work of non-fiction takes a look at the history of the Crusades and a detailed account of how it played out. It was a long ongoing war between Christianity and Islam’s claim over Jerusalem and which God it was the holy city for. The European army won the first Crusade, but the Islam army stole it back and the Christian’s couldn’t seem to get it back. King Richard “Lionheart” came close, but didn’t win, though there seemed to be peace formed between Christians and Islam. I appreciate how much information the author gave, but at times it felt overwhelming while reading all the information. I enjoyed learning about Crusades.
By: Geoffrey Hindley
This work of non-fiction takes a look at the history of the Crusades and a detailed account of how it played out. It was a long ongoing war between Christianity and Islam’s claim over Jerusalem and which God it was the holy city for. The European army won the first Crusade, but the Islam army stole it back and the Christian’s couldn’t seem to get it back. King Richard “Lionheart” came close, but didn’t win, though there seemed to be peace formed between Christians and Islam. I appreciate how much information the author gave, but at times it felt overwhelming while reading all the information. I enjoyed learning about Crusades.
January 17, 2018
What I like about this book was how it seemed to be easy to understand and the details were always relevant. But that lasted for 3 chapters. After that, the book seemed to drag on and, though there were some parts that were exciting, was difficult to pay attention to. It is a look from the Christian perspective and that becomes extremely obvious. As someone trying to get a feeling of the facts from both sides, I felt it was biased.
I skimmed over the last 2 chapters instead of actually reading them because I honestly stopped caring about what the author had to write. I would not recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about both perspectives.
I skimmed over the last 2 chapters instead of actually reading them because I honestly stopped caring about what the author had to write. I would not recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about both perspectives.
February 2, 2020
A Brief History of the Crusades covers more than only the wars between Christians and Muslims in Anatolia, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Iberia, it also covers many other wars and incidents within Europe such as the past conflicts between the Catholics, Pagans and the Orthodox Christians, as well as the history of the persecution of Jews on multiple occasions.
The book is packed with information and has given me a good understanding of the crusades, but in my experience of reading this book; it was confusing at times due to the way the author writes.
Within the pages there are multiple maps and timelines outside of the text, it also includes assorted images grouped inside the text.
The book is packed with information and has given me a good understanding of the crusades, but in my experience of reading this book; it was confusing at times due to the way the author writes.
Within the pages there are multiple maps and timelines outside of the text, it also includes assorted images grouped inside the text.
February 8, 2018
I bought this book so long ago while I was still an undergrad getting my history degree. I took a class on the crusades, so a lot of this was review for me, but it was still nice to refresh and review a subject that I'm fascinated by.
The crusades played such a big role in society. Not only did it provide a connection with the east and west, but opened up trade routes of both goods and knowledge and learning.
The book itself does a good job of telling the crusades like a story so that the reader remains engaged, while also providing information like the role of women and children during the crusades, and what life would have been like for the people living in the European middle eastern settlements like Jerusalem, Acre, and Tyre.
If this is subject that fascinates you, then this is a pretty good book to read if you want to know what the crusades were all about!
The crusades played such a big role in society. Not only did it provide a connection with the east and west, but opened up trade routes of both goods and knowledge and learning.
The book itself does a good job of telling the crusades like a story so that the reader remains engaged, while also providing information like the role of women and children during the crusades, and what life would have been like for the people living in the European middle eastern settlements like Jerusalem, Acre, and Tyre.
If this is subject that fascinates you, then this is a pretty good book to read if you want to know what the crusades were all about!
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July 5, 2020Una serie de guerras religiosas, con el objetivo de recuperar para la cristiandad la llamada Tierra Santa, la cual se encontraba bajo el dominio del Islam. Hasta la fecha, hay tensiones y conflictos..En esta ciudad debería ser posible que cristianos, judíos y musulmanes convivan de modo fraterno y libre, justicia y paz.
December 2, 2019
Well written but in its briefness it still leaves slightly too many gaps which it does kind off make up in the end xith a nice general chronology of characters and events. Still a worthwile read for anyone interested in the crusades.
March 4, 2025
Completely incoherent. Reads like chapters were plucked from a greater tome, in a haphazard fashion.
I managed to get to the halfway point before calling it a day.
No doubt the information presented is correct and well researched.
I managed to get to the halfway point before calling it a day.
No doubt the information presented is correct and well researched.
July 21, 2018
The organisation of this was weird.
August 31, 2020
Good book to read. Sejarah ringkas Perang Salib dan Politik Eropah Zaman Medieval.
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