History: Actual, Fictional and Legendary discussion

Following is a list of books about the crusades, some factual, some fictional. Please add whatever books you think would be appropriate.

Templars: The Dramatic History of the Knights Templar, the Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades by Piers Paul Read

Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade by James Reston Jr.

The Crusades The Crusades by Hans Eberhard Mayer

Lionheart's Scribe: The Third Book of the Crusades by Karleen Bradford

A History of the Crusades, Vol. I: The First Crusade and the Foundations of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by Steven Runciman

Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades by John J. Robinson

The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom by Jonathan Phillips

The First Crusade: A New History: The Roots of Conflict between Christianity and Islam by Thomas Asbridge

The Crusades by Zoe Oldenbourg

The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation by Peter W. Edbury

The Iron Lance (The Celtic Crusades, Book 1) by Stephen R. Lawhead

God's War: A New History of the Crusades by Christopher Tyerman

Land of the Infidel (Saracen, #1) by Robert Joseph Shea

Lionhearts: Richard 1, Saladin, and the Era of the Third Crusade by Geoffrey Regan

The Crusades: The Flame of Islam by Harold Lamb

The Third Crusade 1191: Richard the Lionheart, Saladin and the battle for Jerusalem by David Nicolle

A History of the Crusades: 3 volume set by Steven Runciman

A History of the Crusades, Vol. III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades by Steven Runciman

A History of the Crusades, Vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187 by Steven Runciman

Jerusalem by Cecelia Holland

The Book of Saladin (Islam Quintet, #2) by Tariq Ali

Swords from the West by Harold Lamb

The Leopard Sword (Crusader Trilogy #2) by Michael Cadnum

Blood Red Horse (The de Granville Trilogy, #1) by K.M. Grant

The Mystic Rose (The Celtic Crusades, Book 3) by Stephen R. Lawhead

Historical Atlas of the Crusades (Historical Atlas)
by Angus Konstam

"Kingdom of Heaven" by Ridley Scott

God Wills It! by Wayne Bartlett

God's Warriors: "Crusaders, Saracens and the battle for Jerusalem" by Helen J. Nicholson

Crusades by Terry Jones

The Black Rood (The Celtic Crusades, Book 2) by Stephen R. Lawhead

The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf

Montjoie: Studies in Crusade History in Honour of Hans Eberhard Mayer by B.Z. Kedar

Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World by Karen Armstrong

Crusade (Brethren Trilogy, #2) by Robyn Young

Crusader Gold by David Gibbins

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades (Oxford Illustrated Histories) by Jonathan Riley-Smith

The Cross and the Crescent: A History of the Crusades by Malcolm Billings

The Crusades: Five Centuries of Holy Wars by Malcolm Billings

The Second Crusade Extending the Frontiers of Christendom by Jonathan Phillips

God's War A New History of the Crusades (Allen Lane History) by Christopher Tyerman

Arab Historians of the Crusades (Islamic World) by
Francesco Gabrieli

The New Concise History of the Crusades (Critical Issues in History) by Thomas F. Madden

Chronicles of the Crusades by Elizabeth Hallam

The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf

The Dream and the Tomb by Robert Payne

Fighting for Christendom Holy War and the Crusades by Christopher Tyerman

What Were the Crusades? by Jonathan Riley-Smith

Does anyone know of good historical novels with a setting of the Crusades? There have to be some out there, I would think.

I thought I saw about a dozen historical novels on this bibliography.

I'm looking for a good novel about Eleanor of Aquitaine on crusade. I've read that she had a troop of women crusaders.

That's a long list; I'll throw my cents in to help anyone who wants a personal recommendation.

I just finished Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades by Jonathan Phillips. Excellent summary of the whole thing; at only 350 pages or so, it's just the broad strokes.

Tyerman's God's War: A New History of the Crusades is supposed to be terrific; at 1000 pages and change, it intimidates the hell out of me. I tried Tyerman's much shorter Fighting for Christendom: Holy War and the Crusades and it didn't grab me, but I may have just been in the wrong frame of mind.

My homegirl Marieke just recommended The Crusades Through Arab Eyes to me; it gets good reviews and looks like a really valuable perspective. I wish I had time to read it immediately, but it's gonna have to wait a bit.

Thanks Alex, The Phillips book seems the most accessible.

FYI, there are a number of web-sites that can be accessed through Google that provide insights into the Muslim (If not Arab) view of the Crusades.

One thing I have noted, though, is that the contemporary Arab reactions to the Crusades seldom point out that the Arab's won and it is the Turks that lost Palestine in WW I.

I also find it ironic that the Arabs never condemn the Turks for conquering the lands they had so gallantly won back from the Crusaders.

The Arabs never condemn the Turks? That's definitely not the way I see the historical record. There was this whole struggle to liberate themselves from the Ottoman Empire. Someone named T.E. Lawrence was involved. But that isn't relevant to a discussion of the Crusades.

Shomeret wrote: "The Arabs never condemn the Turks? That's definitely not the way I see the historical record. There was this whole struggle to liberate themselves from the Ottoman Empire. Someone named T.E. Lawr..."

I agree that the Arabs spent decades trying to free themselves from the Ottoman Empire.

What I meant is that they NOW never talk about the Turks as ancient enemies or acknowledge that the reason England and France ended up with protecterats (Sp) in the Middle East was a result of Turkey joining the losing side in WW I.

The connection to the crusades is that, I hear from Arabs that the crusaders were occupiers, (true) but only for less than 100 years. Whereas the Turks ruled the Arabs for hundreds of years, which is seldom talked about.

I'm just getting going on the Phillips book (about 100 pages in). So far so good -- but not far enough into it yet to make any insightful comments :-)

Alex above mentioned The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, which also appeared in Ed's bibliography. I listened to the audiobook a few years back and plan to re-read it. I found it very interesting and enjoyable, with a nice perspective. I recommend it, especially if you want to read a book about the Crusades and have no idea where to jump in.

Cool, Philip! Nice to get another recommendation on that. Thanks.

Alex wrote: "Cool, Philip! Nice to get another recommendation on that. Thanks."

You're welcome, I hope you enjoy it.

I'm on the waiting list at our library for Holy Warriors. So in the meantime I'm reading Tim Severin's travel history Crusaders, by Horse to Jerusalem. I have read several of his other sea-based history replications re. Odysseus and Jason and the Argonaut voyages. His first was the Brendan Voyage about the earliest record of trans Atlantic travel by a monk in a leather coracle. Fascinating. Does anyone else know or want to read Severin's account of the First Crusades in the meantime? cheers, James

Hey James, Severin looks wicked interesting! I'd never heard of him. Founder's Medal from National Geographic, woo. I'm pretty booked up so I can't join you, but I'd love to hear how you like it. And I'm gonna keep an eye out for all his books, which appear to be at least mostly out of print.

If you're looking for a fairly easy introductory read God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark is pretty accessible and and provides a good bibliography for those inclined to dig deeper.

Ericmgb1974 wrote: "If you're looking for a fairly easy introductory read God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark is pretty accessible and and provides a good bibliography for those inclined to dig..."

Thanks, I didn't know of this resource.

Ed

The Shield and the Sword is a good, very readable book if you're interested on the Hospitallers.
The only crusade book I've ever read, unfortunately. It's awfully difficult to find even one of the above mentioned books in bookstores. Sorry for not being able to contribute more in the discussion.

I would agree that the Sultans' influence in the Middle East is sadly overlooked.

We live near Akko and the Old City is commonly known as The Crusader City of Acre, except that most of the impressive fortifications date from the time of the Sultans!

And on that subject can anyone point me in the direction of books, fact or fiction, focused mainly on
Acre?
The local tourist authority offers a couple of mouldy pamphlets but I would love something more in depth on the era of the Crusaders and the Sultans.

Fan of Steven Runciman's work. Read the chunky God's War: A New History of the Crusades a while back and found it a bit hard going.
Also read some very bad fiction on the subject where basic geography was wrong and another where terms for armour were wrong...read a map, do some research folks!
There are some very good little books by Osprey on the subject, part of their Men At Arms series. EG:
The Armies of Islam : 7th-11th Centuries
Armies of the Crusades
El Cid and the Reconquista 1050-1492
Hattin 1187: Saladin's greatest victory