The Crusades: A Reader

Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures #8

by S.J. Allen (Editor), Emilie Amt (Editor)

Since its first appearance in 2004, The A Rea der has been the go-to sourcebook in the field. It covers the entire crusading movement, from its origins to its modern afterlife, using key primary source documents. Muslim, Jewish, and Byzantine voices are represented here alongside those of European Christians. The geographic range is also broad, covering not only Crusades in the Middle East, but also in Spain and in northern Europe and against European heretics. Each reading or visual source is preceded by a short introduction to set it in context and followed by questions for discussion. The introduction to the third edition includes a guide for students on how to use the book; the new edition also features more content on women, material culture, Jewish and Byzantine perspectives, Muslim-Crusader interactions, and modern use of Crusade imagery and rhetoric by the Far Right. While scholarship, courses, and textbooks on the Crusades have proliferated over the past twenty years, The A Reader remains the only comprehensive, up-to-date, and in-print sourcebook available on the subject.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Textbooks, Medieval History, School, World History

496 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

Dr. S.J. Allen is a medieval historian and Associate Lecture for The Open University (UK). She holds an MA from the University of York, and doctorate (D.Phil.) from Oxford University. Her new book, An Introduction to the Crusades, will be published by University of Toronto Press in May, 2017. It supports The Crusades A Reader (Second Edition, 2014) and is part of UTP's Companions to Medieval Studies series (series editor: Paul Edward Dutton).

Reviews

[Andrew Wehrheim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primary sources are integral to understanding and interpreting history. This book offers a wide range of crusade-related primary sources throughout the era of crusading, touching on various topics and various points of view on events. The Crusades impacted many different groups of people: Latin Western Europeans, Byzantine Orthodox Christians, the various indigenous peoples of the Levant and Palestine and the various Islamicate powers of the time. These groups were impacted in different ways and viewed the crusades and the crusading states from different perspectives. This is a great place to start for those interested in how those who were directly affected by crusading and interacted with the people and events of the time perceived them.

[Ian Beckett]

Grad School

[Graham Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Review from 2023)

Read back in college for a course outside my major. It was very helpful for someone who knew little to nothing of the Crusades to learn more about the history and figures involved. As it wasn't my field of study though, this didn't quite grab my attention enough to switch majors but all the same a useful review of the time period.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amt has translated and preserved several primary sources of great interest and use to the Medieval historian. In this volume Amt has accomplished a full translation of over 50 sources ranging from pope to layman/woman, included commentary, and questions for discussion. It is priceless.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to primary source materials from the Crusades. Highly readable, organized in bite-sized chunks.

[Trey · Rating 3 out of 5]

What can I say..It was a text book well kind of...Really a book full of primary sources on the Crusades

[Ewa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good selection of primary sources from the age of crusades

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A large collection of primary sources about the Crusades. Used as a major source for my Crusades class at Utah State University Fall 2016

[Jason Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and well curated collection.