Contesting the Crusades (Contesting the Past) [Paperback]

Norman Housley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1405111895 | ISBN-13: 978-1405111898 | Edition: 1

In this book Norman Housley, one of the most distinguished historians of the medieval period, provides an introduction to the complex history of crusading.

Steers readers through the key debates in this popular area of medieval history.

Draws on the author’s 30 years’ experience of crusading scholarship.

Issues addressed range from the definition of ‘crusade’, through the motivation and intentions of the crusaders, to the consequences of the crusades for European society

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book should be in the library of every serious student of the crusades." Alfred J. Andrea, The University of Vermont

"This is a brilliant book. It is easily the best treatment of the historiography of the crusades." Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge

"This first instalment of Blackwell's 'Contesting the Past' series is an impressive showing. The author provides an excellent up-to-date survey of Crusade studies, and even offers suggestions for further investigation. Highly recommended." Choice

"An excellent survey of debates and historiography, concentrating on work produced within the last fifty years. Housley provides a clear guide based on an enviable command of the literature, and for this we owe him a great debt of gratitude." The International History Review

“Lively, lucid and stimulating … [A] highly readable book.” English Historical Review

“Norman Housley has succeeded brilliantly in providing such a book; it is accessible, concise, and comprehensive."
Historian

"Housely's book should be at the very top of the reading list of anyone teaching the crusades." History

From the Back Cover

In this book Norman Housley, one of the most distinguished historians of the medieval period, provides an authoritative introduction to the crusades.

Drawing on 30 years’ experience, Housley steers readers through the key historical debates. Almost every aspect of the long and complex history of crusading has been the subject of energetic discussion, and Housley’s account addresses issues ranging from the definition of ‘crusade’, through the origins and character of the First Crusade, to problems explaining and interpreting the later crusades.

The author also reviews two debates that relate to the entire crusading experience: the intentions and motivations of the crusaders; and what the consequences of crusading were for European society and government in the Middle Ages, and for the relationship between Catholic Christianity and other faiths.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (March 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405111895
• ISBN-13: 978-1405111898
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical Overview of Crusading Historiography, April 10, 2009

By 

B. Qureshi (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Contesting the Crusades (Contesting the Past) (Paperback)

In this book, Housley aims to provide a much needed historiographical survey of crusading scholarship as of 2005. Toward such an end, the text is a great success. Housley deftly outlines the current "states of the question" of numerous issues within Crusading historiography, as broached by scholars from the English, French, German, and Spanish-speaking worlds.

However, it should be noted that the author does not intend to provide the reader with a survey of the Crusades themselves; such knowledge is presupposed. If one is already acquainted with the Crusading era, broadly conceived (~11th - 17th centuries), Housley's masterful synthesis will provide an excellent sense of both the ground which recent scholarship has covered and the directions in which historians are presently heading. Written eloquently yet accessibly for the myriad historians whose first tongue is not English, Houseley's work is an invaluable resource for any scholar of the Crusades.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HOLY WAR OR LAND-GRAB?, May 31, 2011

By 

Stephen Cooper (South Yorkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Contesting the Crusades (Contesting the Past) (Paperback)

Like all the books in this series, this is a summary of the last half-century or so of academic research and debate, regarding one topic or period of history - in this case the Crusades. It is therefore fitting that the author starts by defining his terms; and it comes as a surprise, for the non-academic, to realise that the crusaders themselves did not use the word `crusade': they used the term `passagium', amongst others. Even then, neither the terminology nor the theory of crusading was fully worked out until the pontificate of Innocent III (1198-1216), which came after the first three Crusades, though it coincided with the Fourth.

This is a compendious and very fine survey, concisely and attractively written. Amongst other questions, the author discusses the origins and importance of the First Crusade and whether this was influenced by the view that the world was coming to an end; whether the crusades as a whole were driven by the top ranks in society, or by the bottom; whether they were primarily devotional or military; and whether the expeditions which were not directed at Jerusalem were really crusades at all. The book poses as many questions as it answers; but that is the purpose of the series and anyone who has an open mind will enjoy it.

When I studied history as an undergraduate in the 1960s, I read Steven Runciman's great three-volume history of the Crusades, while R.C. Smail's `Crusading Warfare' was almost a set-text. It was therefore a great pleasure to read Housley's masterly summary of the scholarship of recent decades. The importance of monastic charters as a source was something quite new to me; and I had not realised how the fashion for a socio-economic explanation has fallen out of fashion here, just as it has in relation to the so-called `English Revolution' of 1640. Housley is very good on the minutiae of the debate; but he is also aware of the broader picture and its relevance to current events.

At one point the author refers to 9/11, a seminal event which appears to raise the question of whether, once again, Christianity is at war with Islam. (President Obama, of course, repeatedly affirms that it is not). This book shows how complex the relationship between the two faiths was, even in the so-called Age of Faith. The position of `The Crusade' in Christian theology was often unclear and was certainly not always the same. It would be interesting to know whether debates such as those touched upon here are also discussed amongst Muslims, in relation to `The Jihad'.

Stephen Cooper

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Breakthough work, yet boring, December 11, 2008

By 

Phil Grant "pdgrant" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Contesting the Crusades (Contesting the Past) (Paperback)

This is a great work by Housley. He obviously has done his research on many different historian's perspectives are on the Crusades, which is largely what this book is about. Unfortunately it's rather boring. I did find the last chapter rather intriguing, however.