The astonishing outbreak of religious fervour and military self-confidence that led to the great Christian expeditions to invade the Holy Land during the twelfth century have become such an established part of European myth that it has become almost impossible to view these events as they were seen by contemporaries. The towering historical figures (Frederick Barbarossa, Count Bohemond of Tarentum, Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus, Saladin)...