Crusaders By Dan Jones

Description

Dan Jones, the most prominent of the younger generation of historians and the most widely read chronicler of the Middle Ages, tells the story of the Crusades so captivatingly that it reads like a thriller. Populated by extraordinary personalities, The Crusades is an example of historical fiction at its best.

For centuries, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes in peace, sometimes in war. When Christian warriors captured Jerusalem in 1099, it marked the beginning of a bloody clash between the two religions. Depending on whom you ask, the fall of the holy city is perceived either as an inspiring legend or as the greatest disaster. In The Crusades, Dan Jones provides different perspectives, expands the usual time frames, taking us back to the 8th century, to the roots of Christianity and Islam, and traces the influence of the Crusades to the present day. The historian also gives a greater geographical scope and refracts these turning points through the eyes not only of popes, kings and generals, but also of Arab-Sicilian poets, Byzantine princesses, Sunni scholars, Shiite viziers, soldiers, slaves of the Mamluk army, Mongol leaders, ordinary monks.

Travels, battles, sieges, massacres, lofty principles and base passions: before you is a history that – soaked with the blood of Christians, Muslims, Jews and populated by heroes who showed incredible courage – reveals the centuries-old connection between conquests, wealth, power and trade, often disguised with beautiful ideals and the fight for the true faith.