A concise history of the crusades - whose chief goal was the liberation and preservation of the 'holy places' of the middle east - from the first calls to arms in the later twelfth century to the fall of the last crusader strongholds in Syria and Palestine in 1291. This is the ideal introductory textbook for all students of the crusades. Professor Richard considers the consequences of the crusades, such as the establishment of the Latin east, and its organisation into a group of feudal states, as well as crusading contacts with the Muslim world, eastern Christians, Byzantines, and Mongols. Also considered are the organisation of expeditions, the financing of such expeditionary forces, and the organisation of operations and supply. Jean Richard is one of the world's great crusader historians and this work, the distillation of over forty years' research and contemplation, is the only one of its kind in English.

Table of Contents

List of maps; List of genealogical tables; 1. The beginning of the crusades; 2. The crusade of Urban II and Paschal II; 3. The first crusade confronts the east; 4. The Holy Land: a new country overseas; 5. From the first to the second crusade; 6. Between Byzantium and Saladin: the perils of the Latin east; 7. Crusades of reconquest (1188-1205); 8. The crusade as an institution; 9. War and diplomacy: the rebuilding of the kingdom of Jerusalem; 10. The turning point of 1250; 11. In the Holy Land: a new Frankish society; 12. The crusade and the Mongols; 13. The end of the Frankish Holy Land; Conclusion; Appendices; Chronology.