In the early crusades men of all ranks from all over Europe took the cross and went to fight Islam as volunteers. Some went out of religious fervour, others to escape the plagues and famine which were rife at the time, still others in search of land or a fortune in loot. Fighting alongside all of these were the armies raised in Outremer, the Holy Land itself. Together they waged a bloody religious war, the participants of which included such forces as the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Knights, and the Byzantine Army.

At Moson, the river Danube ran red with blood. At Antioch, the Crusaders -- their saddles freshly decorated with sawed-off heads -- indiscriminately clogged the streets with the bodies of eastern Christians and Turks. At Ma'arra, they cooked children on spits and ate them. By the time the Crusaders reached Jerusalem, their quest -- and their violence -- had become distinctly otherworldly: blood literally ran shin-deep through the streets as the Crusaders overran the sacred city. Beginning in 1095 and culminating four bloody years later, the First Crusade represented a new kind of warfare: holy, unrestrained, and apocalyptic. In Armies of Heaven, medieval historian Jay Rubenstein tells the story of this cataclysmic event through the eyes of those who witnessed it, emphasizing the fundamental role that apocalyptic thought played in motivating the Crusaders. A thrilling work of military and religious history, Armies of Heaven will revolutionize our understanding of the Crusades.

A major history of the Crusades that illuminates the strength and sophistication of the Western and Muslim armies. During the Crusades, the Western and Muslim armies developed various highly sophisticated strategies of both attack and defense, which evolved during the course of the battles. In this ambitious new work, Steve Tibble draws on a wide range of Muslim texts and archaeological evidence as well as more commonly cited Western sources to analyze the respective armies’ strategy, adaptation, evolution, and cultural diversity and show just how sophisticated the Crusader armies were even by today’s standards. In the first comprehensive account of the subject in sixty years, Tibble takes a fresh approach to Templars, Hospitallers, and other key Orders and makes the controversial proposition that the Crusades were driven as much by sedentary versus nomadic tribal concerns as by religious conflict. This fluently written, broad-ranging narrative provides a crucial missing piece in the study of the West’s attempts to colonize the Middle East during the Middle Ages. “Now Tibble takes a new approach, one that adds to prior research and may well influence subsequent research. This book is a must read for medievalists.” —R. J. Powell, Choice “A book that welcomes everyone, regardless of the reader’s background in the subject. . . . Crusade historians like to complain that the general public knows nothing about their scholarship. It is books like this that will change that.” —Thomas F. Madden, Reading Religion “The Crusader Armies offers more than the obligatory corrections to the historical ignorance of our age. It is a full-scale reassessment of the warfare, armies, and enemies of the Western Crusades in the Middle East . . . readable, expertly sourced, and well organized.” —Timothy D. Lusch, Chronicles “The Crusader Armies: 1099–1187 is a worthy and sound contribution to the literature on its subject. . . . Steve Tibble paints a compelling picture of continual systemic warfare.” —Laurence W. Marvin, Michigan War Studies Review Selected for Choice's 2019 Outstanding Academic Titles List

This text examines the nature of war in the period 1000-1300 A.D. and argues that is was primarily shaped by the people who conducted war - the landowners.

The first edition of this book was published in 1978 and proved a valuable addition to our collection of Army books. Sadly it has been out-of-print for many years. Now WRG is happy to produce this revised second edition and make it available to wargamers once again. As usual it contains information on the organisation of the various armies, descriptions of the major battles of the period and information on the dress and equipment of the armies illustrated by the usual line drawings. It contains information about the Franks, Hospitallers, Templars, Armenians, Syrians, Seljuks, Fatamids, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Assassins, Byzantines, Georgians, Mongols and Ilkhanids.

With ramifications on geopolitics today, a vivid chronicle of the Christian and Islamic struggle to control the sacred places of Palestine and the Middle East between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. Crusade and jihad are often reckoned to have represented two sides of the same coin: each resonated on the opposing sides in the holy wars of the Middle Ages and each has been invoked during the war on terror. A chronicle of the Christian and Islamic struggle to control the sacred places of Palestine and the Middle East between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, this dynamic new history demonstrates that this simple opposition ignores crucial differences. Placing an equal emphasis on the inner histories of Christianity and Islam, the book traces the origins and development of crusade and jihad, showing for example that jihad reflected internal tensions in Islam from its beginnings. The narrative also reveals the ways in which crusade and jihad were used to disguise ambitions for power and to justify atrocity and yet also inspired acts of great chivalry and heroic achievement. The story brims with larger than life characters, among them Richard the Lionheart, Nur al-Din, Saladin, Baybars, and Ghengiz Khan. Lambert concludes by considers the long after-effects of jihad and crusade, including the role of the latter in French imperialism and of the former in the wars now afflicting the Middle East and parts of Africa. This vivid, balanced account will interest all readers who wish to understand the complexities of the medieval world and how it relates our own.

Claiming that many in the West lack a thorough understanding of crusading, Jonathan Riley-Smith explains why and where the Crusades were fought, identifies their architects, and shows how deeply their language and imagery were embedded in popular Catholic thought and devotional life.

A new look at the crusaders, which shows how they pursued long-term plans and clear strategic goals Medieval states, and particularly crusader societies, often have been considered brutish and culturally isolated. It seems unlikely that they could develop "strategy" in any meaningful sense. However, the crusaders were actually highly organized in their thinking and their decision making was rarely random. In this lively account, Steve Tibble draws on a rich array of primary sources to reassess events on the ground and patterns of behavior over time. He shows how, from aggressive castle building to implementing a series of invasions of Egypt, crusader leaders tenaciously pursued long-term plans and devoted single-minded attention to clear strategic goals. Crusader states were permanently on the brink of destruction; resources were scarce and the penalties for failure severe. Intuitive strategic thinking, Tibble argues, was a necessity, not a luxury.

An extensive study of the strategy and technology employed by the Franks and Muslims as they fought each other in the Holy Land. Sieges played a key role in the crusades, but they tend to be overshadowed by the famous battles fought between the Franks and the Muslims, and no detailed study of the subject has been published in recent times. So, Michael Fulton’s graphic, wide-ranging, and thought-provoking book is a landmark in the field. Fulton examines the history of siege warfare in the Holy Land from every angle—the tactics and technology, the fortifications, the composition of the opposing armies, and the ways in which sieges shaped Frankish and Muslim strategy at each stage of the conflict. The differences and similarities between the Eastern and Western traditions are explored, as is the impact of the shifting balance of power in the region. The conclusions may surprise some readers. Neither the Muslims nor the Franks possessed a marked advantage in siege technology or tactics, their fortifications reflected different purposes and an evolving political environment, and, although there were improvements in technologies and fortifications, the essence of siege warfare remained relatively consistent. Essential reading for medieval and military historians. “A lavishly illustrated text full of original photographs of sites, many of which are inaccessible and hard to find images of, guides the reader through the strategies, tactics and weaponry of offense and defense in the Latin East.” —The Society for Medieval Archaeology “This is a book you will read once and continually return to not only as an invaluable reference but as a cracking good read.” —Michael McCarthy, battlefield guide

A paperback of John France's new analysis of the strategies and battles of the First Crusade.