Customer Reviews

People of the First Crusade

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A good review of the First Crusades using their own words. While it does not replace the works of Riley-Smith or others, it is an easy read. Recommended for those who want a quick introduction to the subject. My only complaint is that the sources should have been identified.

This book is somewhat interesting as a story, has virtually no documented sources whatsoever. There is no bibliography, no works cited, not even footnotes. The closest we get is an occasional quotation from a primary source with a rough citation above or below it. This makes it virtually useless as any sort of serious academic study.

I searched high and low for a book on the Crusades, the history of which I remembered only vaguely from high school. I bought books that came highly recommended and couldn't get through more than twenty pages. This book, on the other hand, is excellent. Foss's great writing style allows the reader to experience the turmoil, hardship, deep religious feelings, and most of all the excitement of the Crusades. It is thorough, easy to follow, and wonderfully readable.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, Foss writes reasonably well and he does a good job of describing the First Crusade, beginning with Pope Urban II's call for crusade at Clermont in November of 1095 and continuing through the capture of Jerusalem in July of 1099.

On the other hand, the author relies heavily on material from a few contemporary sources. There's nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but in this case it results in a book that is about one half narrative and one half block quotations from the original sources. A little of that goes a long way, and the book would have flowed more smoothly if the author had digested the raw material and presented it more selectively.

As for the First Crusade itself, Foss makes it clear that it was a nasty, brutal business. Pope Urban II called for the Crusade at least in part to unify the warring factions of Christian Europe and to give them something to do besides killing each other. The ruthlessness that had until then been reserved for Europeans was suddenly visited upon the Islamic occupants of the Holy Land, with often horrific results for all concerned. Although the Crusaders come in for heavier criticism than their adversaries, each side seems to have had plenty to be ashamed of.

If the Crusades interest you, you might take a look at James Reston's "Warriors of God," which is something of a tabloid account of the Third Crusade. Reston's book has been criticized for being too hard on the Crusaders, but regardless of whether that criticism is valid it is interesting reading.

This is a compendium of excerpts reprinted from contemporary sources - mostly just four of them, plus a bevvy of unnamed ones. The author supplies tie-in text that does not get us any further, and is often written in strange language ("...Rome had declined... into a broken ant heap of faction and sedition..."). And there are spelling mistakes that careful proofreading should have avoided.