In his remarkable book, Jonathan Phillips explores the conflict of ideas, beliefs and cultures and shows both the contradictions and diversity of holy war. He draws on contemporary writings - on chronicles, songs, sermons, travel diaries and peace treaties - to throw a brilliant new light on people and events we thought we knew well. Although the notion of fighting for one's faith fell into disrepute in the Enlightenment, Phillips traces the crusading impulse from the bloody conquest of Jerusalem in the First Crusade and the titanic struggle between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin up to the present day - to George W. Bush's characterisation of the war on terrorism as a crusade.
Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades
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"Holy Warriors is not only very readable. Its skilful and detailed use of source material serves as a showcase of what is being done in this, the most intensively studied area of medieval historiography" (Robert Irwin Literary Review)
"Elegant storytelling... Phillips delivers an excellent, compelling, flamboyant and refreshing history of the crusades and wonderful character sketches" (Simon Sebag Montefiore Financial Times)
"Totally absorbing and magnificent history" (Mail on Sunday, Boris Johnson)
"[An] engaging and sprightly book... Each chapter is telegenic, tele-visual even. We get vivid re-creations of places, personalities and events" (Cj Tyerman Times Literary Supplement)
"He [Phillips] has a real gift for highlighting the picturesque and for bringing the past alive." "With its crisp management, accessible style and deft characterisation, this book stakes a strong claim to be the most appealing narrative account of the Crusades for a general audience." (BBC History Magazine)
"Elegant storytelling... Phillips delivers an excellent, compelling, flamboyant and refreshing history of the crusades and wonderful character sketches" (Simon Sebag Montefiore Financial Times)
"Totally absorbing and magnificent history" (Mail on Sunday, Boris Johnson)
"[An] engaging and sprightly book... Each chapter is telegenic, tele-visual even. We get vivid re-creations of places, personalities and events" (Cj Tyerman Times Literary Supplement)
"He [Phillips] has a real gift for highlighting the picturesque and for bringing the past alive." "With its crisp management, accessible style and deft characterisation, this book stakes a strong claim to be the most appealing narrative account of the Crusades for a general audience." (BBC History Magazine)
Book Description
A vivid and original history of the Crusades - from the middle ages to the present day.
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have been reading about the crusades for some years now, and went through Runciman, Tyerman, Housley, Riley-Smith,... This book by Phillips is a great addition to this list. The author concentrates more on some individuals (Arab comtemporaries, Queen Melisende,...), and tries to give some perspective and background to the whole crusading experience. I was very pleased with his emphasis on the Muslim side and view. He makes clear that commercial and other contacts existed between the crusaders and local (Muslim) poupulation once the Christian kingdoms were established. Anyone wishing to get some insight in the crusades should read this book, together with Tyerman's "God's War", which is more detailed on historical facts.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Didier
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I started this book expecting (in all probability through some fault of my own, not having read the short description attentively enough before ordering it or some such mistake) a general, chronological history of the crusades. Chronological it is, but general it is not. In the introduction, Jonathan Phillips declares he has a double aim: to 'bring to life a variety of figures and events outside of those well known to a general audience', and devote equal attention to the Christian and Islamic point-of-view.
Measured against these objectives, the book does indeed deliver the goods. All of the pivotal, almost larger-than-life protagonists of the crusades (Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Louis IX, ...) get their share of attention too of course, but there are indeed insightful and interesting chapters on less-well known figures such as Queen Melisende, or Frederick II. Furthermore, Phillips does indeed make ample use of both Christian and Islamic contemporary (and later) sources, giving a balanced view of the crusades/jihad and how both concepts evolved over time. Also, the scope is not limited to those crusades launched to liberate Jerusalem but there are chapters on the Albigensian crusade, the Spanish Reconquista and crusading in the Baltic too, and the book ends with a very interesting chapter on 'modern' crusades and crusaders (from Walter Scott to George W. Bush).
To sum up: if you are looking for a detailed, chronological history of the crusades The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land or is perhaps a better choice, but if you're already familiar with those this book sheds (additional) light on some very interesting figures and events in the fascinating history of the crusades, 'a cause in which to conquer is glorious and for which to die is gain' (to quote Bernard of Clairvaux). The book's title 'Holy Warriors' is entirely appropriate, the subtitle 'a modern history of the crusades' a bit misleading. Read more ›
Measured against these objectives, the book does indeed deliver the goods. All of the pivotal, almost larger-than-life protagonists of the crusades (Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Louis IX, ...) get their share of attention too of course, but there are indeed insightful and interesting chapters on less-well known figures such as Queen Melisende, or Frederick II. Furthermore, Phillips does indeed make ample use of both Christian and Islamic contemporary (and later) sources, giving a balanced view of the crusades/jihad and how both concepts evolved over time. Also, the scope is not limited to those crusades launched to liberate Jerusalem but there are chapters on the Albigensian crusade, the Spanish Reconquista and crusading in the Baltic too, and the book ends with a very interesting chapter on 'modern' crusades and crusaders (from Walter Scott to George W. Bush).
To sum up: if you are looking for a detailed, chronological history of the crusades The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land or is perhaps a better choice, but if you're already familiar with those this book sheds (additional) light on some very interesting figures and events in the fascinating history of the crusades, 'a cause in which to conquer is glorious and for which to die is gain' (to quote Bernard of Clairvaux). The book's title 'Holy Warriors' is entirely appropriate, the subtitle 'a modern history of the crusades' a bit misleading. Read more ›
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Steve Keen
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Anybody looking for a primer on the Crusades needs look no further than this excellent work by Jonathan Phillips. Taking us as it does from the declaration of the first Crusade in 1095 through to the present day and the legacy the Crusades have bestowed upon the modern world, Phillips helps us to understand, at least in part, the origins of some of the sensitivities leading to many of the conflicts still raging in the world today, just a little of which understanding may have assisted in avoiding their exacerbation: Phillips, like many others, cites specifically George W Bush's use of the word in one of his post 9/11 speeches.
Many of the episodes and occurrences have the power to raise eyebrows or to cause a penny to drop in the revelation, and sometimes both. One of the interesting consequences of King Baldwin of Jerusalem's rather unchristian marital arrangements was the accession of a woman, Melisende, to throne of Jerusalem. In 1148, chaste by a series of mawlings at the hands of the Turks, King Louis devolved executive power over the French army to the Knights Templar, hence bestowing upon them a power that would last a century and a half, and a legend that lingers to this day. And he describes Frederick as an erudite and pragmatic ruler, wearing his Christianity lightly, fraternising with Muslims, employing them in his army and conversing in Arabic.
In contrast to the apparent enlightenment of a woman in power in Jerusalem, one can't help but wonder at the general lot of women of the nobility, passed around like chattels: betrothed at 8, married at 13, widowed at 14, needing to get remarried quickly to retain influence, promised to a series of nobles in the interests of alliances and, in the case of Richard's sister, to Saladin's brother, Saphadin.... Read more ›
Many of the episodes and occurrences have the power to raise eyebrows or to cause a penny to drop in the revelation, and sometimes both. One of the interesting consequences of King Baldwin of Jerusalem's rather unchristian marital arrangements was the accession of a woman, Melisende, to throne of Jerusalem. In 1148, chaste by a series of mawlings at the hands of the Turks, King Louis devolved executive power over the French army to the Knights Templar, hence bestowing upon them a power that would last a century and a half, and a legend that lingers to this day. And he describes Frederick as an erudite and pragmatic ruler, wearing his Christianity lightly, fraternising with Muslims, employing them in his army and conversing in Arabic.
In contrast to the apparent enlightenment of a woman in power in Jerusalem, one can't help but wonder at the general lot of women of the nobility, passed around like chattels: betrothed at 8, married at 13, widowed at 14, needing to get remarried quickly to retain influence, promised to a series of nobles in the interests of alliances and, in the case of Richard's sister, to Saladin's brother, Saphadin.... Read more ›
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've always been fascinating by the history of the Crusades - if only because the reverberations of what happened so many hundreds of years ago is still so terribly relevant to the world today. The impact of the Crusades on the East/West, Muslim/Christian divide is impossible to overstate: the metaphor of a 'crusade' is used today in everything from politics to entertainment; the Muslim concept of 'holy war', jihad is enshrined in the very core of the religion, and the arguments and political and physical strife over Jerusalem continues to this very day.
In this book Phillips charts the narrative history of the Crusades, from the first Crusade' successful recapture of 1099 to the final collapse of the Levant states in 1291, as well as the crusades declared against the Cathars in southern France and the pagan states in the Baltic, and the political and military wrangling over Constantinople. He also looks into the lingering legacy of the crusade as a concept, its place and use in today's society and the impact the word is, George Bush's use of the term after 9/11, for example.
It's a very good book, and it manages to make clear what was often an incredibly tangled and complicated era, with competing monarchs, military orders, Outremer nobles, sultans and monks all adding to the complications. I would have possibly liked a little more about the role and history of the military orders such as the Knights Templars, Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights, as their involvement in many cases was far more than just military and they placed an enormous role in the development of Outremer. But as this after all a quite concise exploration about several hundred years of immensely convoluted history, that omission is understandable.
In this book Phillips charts the narrative history of the Crusades, from the first Crusade' successful recapture of 1099 to the final collapse of the Levant states in 1291, as well as the crusades declared against the Cathars in southern France and the pagan states in the Baltic, and the political and military wrangling over Constantinople. He also looks into the lingering legacy of the crusade as a concept, its place and use in today's society and the impact the word is, George Bush's use of the term after 9/11, for example.
It's a very good book, and it manages to make clear what was often an incredibly tangled and complicated era, with competing monarchs, military orders, Outremer nobles, sultans and monks all adding to the complications. I would have possibly liked a little more about the role and history of the military orders such as the Knights Templars, Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights, as their involvement in many cases was far more than just military and they placed an enormous role in the development of Outremer. But as this after all a quite concise exploration about several hundred years of immensely convoluted history, that omission is understandable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Introduction
I read this book as a General overview as I will be studying this Module Next Year. It is great as this. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Medieval Lady
5.0 out of 5 stars
Phillips' new book is a 5 star purchase
Bought this for my son's A2 exam. This is Prof Phillips' new book and it's a must buy for the Crusades. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2011 by ragspeed
5.0 out of 5 stars
Holy Warriors - why you need to buy this.
Having listened to Jonathon Phillips discuss this topic and read previous works, this is a superb combination of his dynamic style and intelligent prose. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2010 by C Hallam
4.0 out of 5 stars
God wills it!
Great book depicting the crusading era. As you would expect the majority of the book is dedicated to the various crusades to the near east. Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2010 by Jacks
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enthralling
This was a fabulous read that brought together and clarified all of the various crusades. It's not a novel but it has all of the excitement of one.
David Snell
David Snell
Published on 2 Oct 2010 by Mr. David John Snell
2.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't live up to expectations
Bought this on the basis it wasn't a 'heavy' read! Well that's exactly what it is. Dry and slow - more for academics. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2010 by Gareth Morgan
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