The Northern Crusades: Second Edition [Paperback]

Eric Christiansen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

The 'Northern Crusades', inspired by the Pope's call for a Holy War, are less celebrated than those in the Middle East, but they were also more successful: vast new territories became and remain Christian, such as Finland, Estonia and Prussia. Newly revised in the light of the recent developments in Baltic and Northern medieval research, this authoritative overview provides a balanced and compelling account of a tumultuous era.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The verve and vigour of Eric Christiansen''s study illuminates developments vital in the early history of Eastern Europe and brings to life a story that had epic dimensions"
--Maurice Keen

"For a one-volume history of the Northern Crusades, the reader has but one choice; this is it"
--William Urban in the American Historical Review

"A fine study of the Baltic conquest"
--Hans Eberhard Meyer in the English Historical Reivew

"Independent, erudite, lucid and witty ... a narrative that never flags"
--Christpher Tyerman

"A fascinating and elegant book"
--Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the London Review of Books

About the Author

ERIC CHRISTIANSEN, a fellow of New College, Oxford, works mainly on Northern history in the Middle Ages. He has lectured in London, Copenhagen and Florida, and is the author of The Origins of Military Power in Spain. He lives in Oxford.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 2 edition (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140266534
• ISBN-13: 978-0140266535
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > History > Europe > Eastern

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for those interested in the Baltic region., June 21, 2002

By 

Michael A. Brooks (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Northern Crusades: Second Edition (Paperback)

This book covers the Christianization of the Baltic region during the late middle ages. Christiansen does a very nice job assimilating the archaelogical and historical evidence, and then explaining it and telling a good "story" in a very readable fashion. This is a very complex area, and Christiansen has to deal with the collision of four different linguistic groups and cultural traditions: 1. The Christian West Germanic and North Germanic peoples, i.e., Saxons, Danes, Swedes, etc. 2. The pagan Baltic peoples such as the Latvians and Lithuanians. 3. The pagan Finnic peoples, including the Finns and Estonians, but also many tribes whose language and culture barely survives today, such as the Livonians, Ingrians, Karelians, etc. 4. The partially Christianized Slavic tribes.

There is very little published in English about this time and place in history. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the subject, or in the Baltic region in general, especially someone interested in a good overview as a start. As I've indicated, in spite of the complexity of the subject, it does read well.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome light on an obscure period, May 21, 2001

By 

Donal A. O'Neill - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Northern Crusades: Second Edition (Paperback)

This is a very readable account of a subject largely inaccessible to the general reader. It covers the conquest and conversion of the pagan tribes of the Southern and Eastern Baltic Coasts from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, the extension of German civilisation north-eastwards and the collision, and ultimate uneasy equilibrium between Latin and Orthodox Christianity in the area. The surprise of the book, for this reader at least, is the fact that the Dark Ages endured in this corner of Europe well into Medieval times, and that Paganism was still a vibrant force there almost until the period of the Renaissance. A significant strength of the book is the introductory section, which provides a fascinating overview of the peoples and cultures of the area at the opening of the period covered, and this is built upon in greater detail, when necessary in more detailed accounts of specific campaigns. The linkage to the overall Crusading ideal is well handled and though the transformation of the Teutonic Knights from a warrior order in Frankish Palestine to a frontier force skilled in forest, river and marshland warfare is a dominant theme, the roles of the Danes, Swedes and Russians, not to mention a host of Baltic tribes, receive equal attention. The mechanics of the warfare of the period, including the particular constraints imposed by climate and terrain, are well handled. In summary - a splendidly informative work that cast light on an obscure period that bred baleful myths with dire consequences in more recent times.

61 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sins of the fathers....., July 6, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Northern Crusades: Second Edition (Paperback)

The Crusades are back in the news again (they were out-of-fashion for awhile), but don't believe everything you read in the newspapers or hear on tv, take time to read a few good books on the subject. Begin with JJ Norwich and Bernard Lewis to get a handle on the Crusaders and Byzantium and the Holy Land, then go onto Cathars and the 'Reconquesta' of Spain. Perhaps you will come to the conclusion that I have--the European Crusaders spent more time outside the Levant than in it, although Lewis suggests Europeans probably acquired the idea of mounting religious jihads from the Arabs who were quite good at it.

Christiansen has written an excellent and well-researched book on the NORTHERN CRUSADES. His writing is very readable and unbiased, and he has availed himself of many original documents. I particularly appreciated the material he included that covered the internal church debates on "what constitutes a 'just war'" or when can Christians fight in the name of Christ?

The perspective of some clergy during the High Middle Ages was that good reasons existed for a Crusade or a 'Just War' with the Muslims because they had seized formerly Christian lands in the Levant, North Africa, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Eastern Europe. However, these same clergy argued there was no basis for a 'Just War' with the Byzantine Greeks, the Orthodox Russians, or non-Christian pagans who wanted to become Christian without fighting. Unfortunately, clear thinking did not always prevail.

Christiansen suggests the Crusades were waged for the purpose of Christianizing the tribes who lived at the Eastern end of the Baltic Sea. In the end they were Christianized and mostly Latinized, although Russia chose the Greek Orthodox side. People who lived in what is today Lithuania, Poland, and Russia were invaded by Germans, Swedes, and Danes. Christiansen's book highlights a period when German warrior monks known as the Teutonic knights seized much of the land.

Like the Templars and other warrior-monk orders in Western Europe that formed in response to the loss of the Holy Land, the Teutonic Knights were motivated by a desire to infuse Christianity in "heathern" peoples. Christiansen says that although some individuals undoutedly grew wealthy, "the profit motive is not a convincing argument" for the behaviour of the monks. "To present these wars as false -- either as matters of interest disquised as matters of conscience, or simply as misnamed events -- is too easy. This type of judgment is itself fraudulent."

The Crusades were bloody and cruel, and as is usually the case, folks at the low end of the ladder suffered the most. But Christiansen poses a question -- were these people who led relatively "free" lives at subsistence levels better or worse off when they became Latinized, Christian serfs and/or peasants? Christiansen provides plenty of material to fuel both sides of the argument.

Apparently, the Lithuanians and Polish did not think the Germans made good masters, and in the end they prevailed in defeating the Teutonic Knights. Although the Polish and Lithuanian people Christianized, they never accepted German rule -- a fact not lost on the Nazis. This stance continued long after Germany became mostly Protestant in the 16th Century and Lithuania and Poland remained staunchly Roman Catholic.