The Crusades

Zoé B. Oldenbourg (1916 - 2002) was both a highly esteemed specialist in mediæval French history and a critically acclaimed and prize winning historical novelist. She is best known for her novels The World Is Not Enough and The Cornerstone. The Crusades (Les Croisades) was first published in 1965. Concentrating on the period of the first three Crusades Oldenbourg's book is a social, cultural, political and military history of the period, and covers the history of Turkey, Persia, Iran, Iraq, the Bosphorus, the Balkans, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Sicily, Spain and southern Europe. She makes illuminating references to other phenomenon such as colonialism and pogroms, and is exceptional in that she is able to imaginatively suggest the attitudes, beliefs and limitations of the people she is writing about. The subject is an immense one: the results of the Germanic invasions; the position of the Papacy; the 'Holy War' and its legacy; the economic effects of overpopulation on a poorly developed agriculture; feudalism; the differences between eastern and western Christianity; heresies and national differences in the east; the history of Constantinople; the rise of the Turks; the divisions and unity of Islam; relations between the Turks and the Arabs, Christians and Muslims; cultural effects of East on West and vice versa; literary influences in both directions; the legend of the Crusader; the subsequent history of 'crusades' such as the Albigensian, the Inquisition and the Conquistadores. Oldenbourg on contemporary medieval attitudes: it was a time before machines were widely used. 'Man was therefore infinitely closer to physical reality than we can be now. Tools and raw materials had a value and immediacy not easy for us to understand. This direct contact with matter whose laws he knew only empirically made man simultaneously more superstitious than we are today and more skillful and enterprising.' She is illuminating on the distinction between western and eastern religious feeling, in a way which explains much subsequent Catholic history. She says also that 'men thought of themselves first and foremost as religious beings...' A plethora of suggestive ideas: that popular religion was (and is) largely pagan (and pagan is used in a non pejorative way); that miracles occupied the space in our lives of science; that war and religion were combined in the Latin west in a way they never could be in the Byzantine east. 'This exclusive, even excessive, exaltation of physical valour was something the Byzantines could never understand. The people of Western Europe believed implicitly that a man's worth was, first and foremost, measured by his prowess in battle. To the Greeks, courage was certainly an estimable virtue... but they did not rate it any higher than many 'civilised' virtues.' 'The fundamental difference lay in the co-existence in the Western mind of two quite separate ideas, the warrior and the Christian. Byzantium never seems t

Zoe Oldenbourg's "The Crusades" was one of the first books I ever read about the subject, and still remains an unsurpassed introduction to the topic in my experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it is still one of my favourites. Oldenbourg covers the main events of the major Crusades, and informs the reader in great detail of the situation at hand. Oldenbourg gives a very detailed introductory account of the world and lives of the Crusaders. It will certainly give you enough to decide if you want to learn more on this fascinating topic, or just leave it with Oldenbourg's book. As an initial introduction to the Crusades, "The Crusades" stands as one of the best available, and will keep you engrossed throughout.

Upon finishing the first half of this book, I soon found myself in a university library eagerly devouring smaller works on specific periods and figures that Oldenbourg introduced to me. I am a student of European history trying to narrow my interests before I apply to graduate school, and this book may prove very instrumental in guiding me toward the medieval period. It offers everything an inquisitive but largely uninformed reader could ask for-an even pace that piques the interest enough at every turn to inspire further inspection, lean but sufficiently detailed character sketches, a compelling narrative that provides minimal historiographical analysis, but enough to provoke the reader to draw his/her own conclusions... It also provides maps and illustrations, which are always a pleasant respite after mulling through hundreds of pages of prose.One small complaint-the index and bibliography are light. This might be a non-factor, though, if you just want a thorough, solid account of an inherently interesting period of history to fulfill your personal interest. It's a good size at 700 or so pages, but I haven't come across a better overview of the first three crusades and believe me, I've been looking.

Having read this book from its French translation, I was impressed with its clear prose. I would suggest this book to anyone looking for a in-depth, scholastic-minded work on the first three crusades; I would suggest another work for the lay reader, or someone without a wealth of knowledge on the subject already. The only problem is that while the work deals with the Islamic response to the Frankish invasion of the Holy land, it only takes a small portion of the book. The other trap the book falls in is an age old one for historical works: We are presented with quasi-fleshed out people, and the author aludes to great knolwledge while failing to translate that wealth of knowledge to paper. Still very informative and well worth reading. The author makes great use of period source documents, worth reading for this alone. If you can find a copy get it and treasure it.

Zoe makes the Crusades come alive. She is historically precise, but makes the characters and personalities involved come alive with anecdotes, insights, and analysis. This book is entertaining, engaging, and suitable for readers of all ages. The author is accurate without being dry, making the story of the Crusades interesting, entertaining, sometimes horrifying, and always human. Enjoy!