Joseph Francois Michaud - The History of the Crusades - Volume II

The History of the Crusades #2

by Joseph-François Michaud, W. Robson (Translator)

TRANSLATED BY W. ROBSON. WITH PREFACE AND SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER BY HAMILTON W. MABIE. Most know the purpose of the Crusades was the re-capture of Jerusalem by Christian forces from the sweeping Muslim victories of previous centuries and to protect pilgrimages to the Holy sites. Beginning with the 1st Crusade in 1096 and ending with the 9th (which is sometimes grouped with the 8th although it should be noted other expeditions both military and economic are sometimes were also called ‘Crusades’ and some re-numbering exists from the 5th Crusade onwards) in 1271 their history is a fascinating example of how disparate Western Nations under Papal authority (and sometimes lack of) allied and fought together. It is also a shocking example of how these same nations fought and squabbled amongst themselves most tragically in the 4th Crusade when it sacked Orthodox Christian Constantinople and later crusades when it fought in Egypt as a means to cut off supply lines to the Holy Land. Despite many early successes there were equally many failures. In these volumes the French historian Joseph François Michaud (1767–1839) examines and brings this centuries long series of engagements to historical review.

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Michaud was born at Albens, Savoie, educated at Bourg-en-Bresse, and afterwards engaged in literary work at Lyon, where the French Revolution first aroused the strong dislike of revolutionary principles which manifested itself throughout the rest of his life. In 1791 he went to Paris, where, at great risk to his own safety, he took part in editing several royalist journals. In 1796 he became editor of La Quotidienne, for which he was arrested after the 13th of Vendémiaire; he evaded his captors, but was sentenced to death in absentia by the military council. Having resumed the editorship of his newspaper on the establishment of the Directory, he was again proscribed on the 18th of Fructidor, but after two years returned to Paris, when the Consulate had superseded the Directory.

His Bourbon sympathies led to a brief imprisonment in 1800, and on his release he temporarily abandoned journalism, and began to write and edit books. In 1806, with his brother Louis Gabriel Michaud and two colleagues, he published Biographie moderne ou dictionnaire des hommes qui se sont fait un nom en Europe, depuis 1789, the earliest work of its kind. In 1811 published the first volume of his Histoire des Croisades (History of the Crusades) and also the first volume of his Biographie Universelle. In 1813 he was elected Academician, taking up the vacancy left by the death of Jean-François Cailhava de L'Estandoux. In 1814 he resumed the editorship of La Quotidienne. His brochure Histoire des quinze semaines ou le dernier règne de Bonaparte (1815) met with extraordinary success, passing through twenty-seven editions within a very short time.

His political services were now rewarded with the cross of an officer in the Legion of Honour and the modest post of king's reader, of which last he was deprived in 1827 for having opposed Peyronnet's "Loi d'Amour" against the freedom of the Press. In 1830-1831 he travelled in Syria and Egypt for the purpose of collecting additional materials for the Histoire des Croisades; his correspondence with a fellow explorer, Jean Joseph François Poujoulat, consisting practically of discussions and elucidations of various points in that work, was afterwards published (Correspondance d'Orient, 7 vols., 1833-1835). Like the Histoire, it is more interesting than exact. The Bibliothèque des croisades, in four volumes more, contained the "Pièces justificatives" of the Histoire. Michaud died at Passy, where his home had been since 1832.
Michaud's Histoire des croisades was published in its final form in six volumes in 1840 under the editorship of his friend Poujoulat (9th ed., with appendix, by Huillard-Bréholles, 1856). Michaud, along with Poujoulat, also edited Nouvelle collection des mémoires pour servir de l'histoire de France (32 vols., 1836-1844). See Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. vii.

In 1875, the famous illustrator Gustave Dore produced 100 pictures for a 2 volume medium folio edition of the Histoire which was published by Hachette and Company.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second volume of Michaud's takes from the time of Richard II (where volume I left off) up through Louis IX's first crusade and his stay in Palestine. The recounting of events remains relatively straightforward and we can see the author's pro-Catholic and pro-Crusade leanings without. Amusingly, the English translator adds some footnotes of his own (more so than in volume I) where he comments on both the history and the author's own editorial biases. This interplay is enjoyable on its own and adds to the book. I look forward to volume III.

[Orgadena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolt

War, House of War, Crusaders.
Queen Blanche.
Emperor.
Second murder.
Virgin, of Tears.
Jerusalem, family throne.

Run – Memories, of – A masterpiece, Church.

Cups, Kings.
His adversary.
The Church.
Mussulmans.
A dove.

The general mind – The Alter – St. Helena.

A, religious affair.
Frederick II.
St. Louis.
Crusaders.

Leader – Louis IX – Not, deceived.

Tables.
Wisdom.
Answers.

Christian army.

Of, Christiandom – The People’s, Hope – The Tartars.

Strong, Pilgrims.
The Crusade, of Louis IX.
Divine.
In, despair.
Fable.
Asia, Russia.
Obscure.
Crusade.
Bad fortune.
Of Antioch.
Towers & Rampants.

Constantinople.
The Frenchman.
City, of …
Syria.
Northern Crusaders.
Conquerers.
To, Glory.
Contest.
The Transfiguration.
Damietta.
Sanguinary.
The Walls.
Damascus.
“Christians, Christians.”
Crowds.
Man.
Life, withing limit.
Of, Conquest.
Pastorial.
Centuries, of …
Apostles.
Ambition, Changes.
Of, Marble.
Venetian.
His course.
Revolt.
Venice.
Himself.
Nation.
Crowded.
Soldiers.
Succession, of …
Mêlée.
Believe.

●

Power.
Saladin.
The Cross.
Land, of France, of Germany.
St. Sophia.
Of, Isaac.
The Nile, Keys.

Openeth gates – The Cross – Power.

Ptolemaïs.

Barrier City – The Fortress – Prince.

●

Of, Christ.
Constantinople.
~

[Mads Floyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best account of the crusades.

[Bernardo Arcos Álvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

La escritura de Michaud no tiene el rigor de un estudio histórico, y tampoco la estética de una novela; sin embargo, las ilustraciones de Doré son obras inmortales, hasta la última de ellas. Me sorprende el contexto de la caída de Constantinopla, donde la capacidad guerrera europea resultó muy inferior a la otomana, a tal grado que causó el miedo generalizado a un próximo fin del cristianismo, probablemente fue el último momento en que el poder musulmán fue superior al de Europa. Los siglos siguientes verían abusos y matanzas europeos en medio oriente sin que hubiera una fuerza capaz de oponerse a ellos. ¡La Historia es una fuente infinita de placer!