Description

The crusader route maps within front and back covers prepare the mindset for events to be discussed within the 118 pages of The Crusades soft-cover laminate book. All text throughout is enhanced with beautiful illustrations by respected Russian historical painter Igor Dzis. The past comes to life in glowing detail.
The Christian Victory of the First Crusade 1096-1099 opens at the time of the Seljuk decline and Pope Urban’s call to crusade to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The reader is introduced to Raymond of Toulouse, Godfrey of Bouillon, Baldwin of Boulogne, Bohemond of Otranto, Tancred de Hautevile, Peter the Hermit and the Peasants’ Crusade following the Siege of Nicaca, the Battle of Dorylaeum approaching the Siege of Antioch and then on to Jerusalem.
The new Christian Kingdom would be challenged by Muslim subjects and jihad was preached as a means of uniting the fractured Islamic states. The reader meets Imad ad-Din Zengi and then Nur-ed-Din, great leaders who united the powerful Muslim armies in jihad against the Christian crusaders.
Discussion of the Second Crusade: Debacle at Damascus introduces Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine as well as the military orders of the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers, and the Teutonic Knights.
Loss of Jerusalem in the Third Crusade 1189-1192 follows the rise of the mighty Muslim leader Saladin through the Battle of Hattin, Acre, Beirut, and Jaffa en route to recapture Jerusalem. Enter Richard the Lionheart and Frederick I Barbarossa and excitement abounds in descriptive battles of this most-storied crusade.
The Fourth Crusade with sack of Constantinople reminds the reader of the legacy and impact of the politically savvy and assertive Pope Innocent III (1160-1216). Follow the destruction of the Byzantine Empire and crusader states to secure the eventual dominance of the Ottoman Turks.
As part of the Fifth Crusade chapter, readers learn of the disastrous Children’s Crusade and then years of relative peace in the Holy Land after a truce was honored by both sides. Prominent leaders Frederick II (1194-1250), King Louis of France, Baybars the Pather, decendants of Ghenghis Kahn and the second fall of Jerusalem demonstrate savagery unleashed by Christian fanaticism and Islamic retaliation following through the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Crusades.
Final summary in The Crusades pages discusses European and Islamic arms and armor, organization of the Christian and Muslim armies and their tactics which preface six two-page plates of costume and weaponry and The St. Petersburg Collection® miniatures.
The Crusades fills imagination with realization of brutal and passionate historical times by brave, dedicated warriors on both sides. Illustrations in harmony with text will flow with major events affecting history forever.