The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714 [Paperback]

John France (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415371287 | ISBN-13: 978-0415371285 | Publication Date: November 9, 2005 | Edition: New edition

The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714 is a fascinating and accessible survey that places the medieval Crusades in their European context, and examines, for the first time, their impact on European expansion.

Taking a unique approach that focuses on the motivation behind the Crusades, John France chronologically examines the whole crusading movement, from the development of a ‘crusading impulse’ in the eleventh century through to an examination of the relationship between the Crusades and the imperialist imperatives of the early modern period.

France provides a detailed examination of the first Crusade, the expansion and climax of crusading during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the failure and fragmentation of such practices in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Concluding with an assessment of the influence of the Crusades across history, and replete with illustrations, maps, timelines, guides for further reading, and a detailed list of rulers across Europe and the Muslim world, this study provides students with an essential guide to a central aspect of medieval history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A study that is both wide ranging and refreshingly insightful, which pulls together historical episodes that are often accorded insufficient attention and traces the fortunes of a developing political matrix in which piety and greed, loyalty and aggression, self-interest and faith, went hand in hand." - Professor Peter Edbury, Cardiff University

About the Author

John France is Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Wales, Swansea. His previous publications include Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, 1000-1300 (1999).

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; New edition edition (November 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415371287
• ISBN-13: 978-0415371285
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,770,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Triumph, June 11, 2011

By 

Daniel McFarlin "bioroid" (Mountain View, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714 (Paperback)

Professor France has crafted a masterpiece. The underlying premise of this work is that the Catholic Church, the last vestige of well articulated, persistent and centralized authority in Western Europe was able to co-opt the violence and militancy of Western Europe's "sub-kings" and redirect their energies towards expanding the Catholic sphere of influence.

The Crusades as we know them, i.e. the military expeditions to and settlement in the Levant and Asia Minor were but one sustained effort amongst many lesser known but arguably more durable and successful ventures. In particular, Prof. France highlights the continuous campaigns of "Marcher Lords" against pagan peoples, particularly the slavic peoples ("Wends" in German parlance) who inhabited the territory between the Oder and the Elbe. These campaigns received the blessing and support of the Catholic church and were often accompanied by extensive forced or voluntary conversion.

Like the efforts in the Holy Land, the "Northern Crusades" were not without their devastating reversals for the Crusaders but Prof. France suggests that the success of the Northern Crusades was due in large part to the material culture of the West seducing and overawing the pagan peoples who had no or only limited contact with materially comparable or superior civilizations unlike their counterparts in the Holy Land.

Fundamentally, Prof. France argues that Catholic Christendom constituted a unique civilization and culture that was in violent competition with two other civilizations of equal or superior capability and depth; the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliphate.
The ensuing wars were as much a "clash of civilizations" or Kulturkampf as they were wars of resources and territory. In particular, Prof. France argues that military and economic competition with the Byzantine Empire and Islamic Caliphate signficantly shaped the course of Western history.

A recurrent theme in this book is the major role that Western seapower played during the period 1000-1714. The ability of the West to establish and maintain naval superiority was vital in enabling the (re)conquest of Wales, Spain, the Baltic states, southern Italy and Sicliy as well as to the maintenance and reinforcement of the Latin Kingdoms in the Levant. The Ottoman Empire's sustained challenge to this naval superiority in the Mediterranean altered the balance of power and ultimately propelled the West to seek a maritime out-flanking of the Ottoman's which ultimately culminated in the Age of Disovery where the book ends.

The pace of this book is nothing short of relentless. The prose is superb and there is a real sense of the huge scale and scope of the historical narrative. Prof. France's theories are certainly controversial but his arguments are extremely well informed and articulated. This book is a *must* for any serious student of the Medieval period.