Fighting for the Cross: Crusading to the Holy Land

by Norman Housley

In a series of massive military undertakings that stretched from 1095 to 1291, Christendom’s armies won, defended, and lost the sacred sites of the Holy Land. Many books have been written about the Crusades, but until now none has described in detail what is was like to take part in medieval Europe’s most ambitious wars. This vividly written book draws on extensive research and on a wealth of surviving contemporary accounts to recreate the full experience of crusading, from the elation of taking up the cross to the difficult adjustments at home when the war was over.

Distinguished historian Norman Housley explores the staggering logistical challenges of raising, equipping, and transporting thousands of Christian combatants from Europe to the East as well as the complications that non-combatant pilgrims presented. He describes the ordinary crusader’s prolonged years of difficult military tasks, risk of starvation and disease, trial of religious faith, death of friends, and the specter of heavy debt or stolen homelands upon arriving home. Creating an unprecedented sense of immediacy, Housley brings to light the extent of crusaders’ sacrifices and the religious commitment that enabled them to endure.

Genres: History, Medieval, Religion, Military Fiction

357 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2008

Reviews

[DoctorM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-done account of the underpinnings of Crusade--- the ideology of "armed pilgrimage" as well as the way the Church as an organization preached Crusade. Housley looks at the ways local knights and lords financed their journeys to Outremer and how returning Crusaders were treated by those they'd left behind.

Housley's overview of the Crusading era--- from the Council of Clermont to the fall of Acre ---is fairly brief, and he assumes that the reader will be familiar with the major figures, cities, and battles, so "Fighting for the Cross" isn't an introductory book on the Crusades. Be clear about that.

However--- if you're interested in the logistics of Crusade (how much did it cost to get to the Levant by sea? by overland travel? what did it cost to supply an army at Damietta or Antioch?) or in the kinds of propaganda the Church circulated both to encourage well-equipped, self-sufficient lords and knights to go and to keep at home those who would be a drag on any march to Jerusalem, "Fighting for the Cross" is a fine read, and explains how Crusades were run...and why so few Crusaders bothered to stay in the East.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Housley has done it again! This premier historian of the Medieval period has taken on the Crusade Era and provided an engaging and accurate portrait of the reasons, logistics, problems, triumphs, failures, and faith that surrounded "taking the cross." It is a fascinating read for scholar and general readers alike as Housley takes us from the palazios of Italy through the Mediterranean seaport at Messina, into Jerusalem's Holy Places, and back again. A journey not to be missed.

[Dale]

If there is to be just one lesson we can take from the Crusades and the Reformation it simply must be that its impossible to convince everyone of the rightness of our beliefs.

It seems to me that many of us have forgotten this simply reality of the human condition - to the detriment of us all.