The Crusaders: A Story of the War for the Holy Sepulchre

by Alfred J. Church

A wonderful retelling of the stories of the First, Third, and Eighth Crusades, narrated by a fictional "wandering Jew" (cursed to live until the Second Coming of Christ), this classic work takes the reader on an epic rollercoaster ride of the triumphs, tribulations, and ultimate defeat of the European counterattack against the rampant Muslim aggression which had seized the Christian lands in the Middle East. The author explains how the Islamic military conquest of huge areas of the Byzantine Empire sparked off the call to Crusade, and then weaves the story of some of the most famous characters and events of the Crusades. From the dizzying successes of the First Crusade-the siege and fall of Antioch and the fall of Jerusalem-to the recapture of Jerusalem by the Muslims, the reader will meet and understand the major characters of the time: Richard Lionheart, Duke Godfrey (the Norman warrior and first king of Jerusalem), Saladin and King Louis of France. The reader will also discover the full tragedy of the ill-fated "Children's Crusade" and much more in this enthralling book.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2008

About the author

Alfred John Church (1829-1912) was an English classical scholar. He was born in London and was educated at King's College London, and Lincoln College, Oxford, he took holy orders and was an assistant-master at Merchant Taylors' School for many years. From 1880 until 1888 he was professor of Latin at University College, London. While at University College in partnership with William Jackson Brodribb, he translated Tacitus and edited Pliny's Letters (Epistulae). Church also wrote a number of stories in English re-telling of classical tales and legends for young people (Stories from Virgil, Stories from Homer, etc. ). He also wrote much Latin and English verse, and in 1908 published his Memories of Men and Books. Other works include: Stories of the Magicians (1887), The Count of the Saxon Shore; or, The Villa in Vectis (with Ruth Putnam) (1888), Heroes of Chivalry and Romance (1898), Stories of Charlemagne (1902), The Crown of Pine (1906) and With the King at Oxford (1909).