Crusades by Terry Jones

Crusades Reviews

• 
  Jimi

  Great fun and an excellent introduction to the history of the Crusades. From the historian of Monty Python, (how can you go wrong there)?! comes a fabulous first galne at crusade history that anyone can read. I immediately immersed myself into more concentrated works on the crusades after this book.
• 
  Marilyn

  "We make no pretensions to extending the bounds of scholarship. This is a book for the reader with little or no knowledge of the subject. For those who want to read more there is plenty. We hope that this book may be a help in reading the others." - Introduction.
  
  Terry Jones and Alan Ereira did a good job in my case. I knew a little bit about the Crusades. Richard the Lionheart led one crusade against Saladin, who I once thought invented tea (Salada was a brand of tea when I was young.) Richard got stuck in Germany, where he sang songs from his prison cell. That's all I "knew" about the Crusades. Now I know a bit more.
  
  It's not a funny book. Don't expect Monty Python. Mr. Jones and Mr. Ereira's slant, in my opinion, is that the Pope called on Europe's kings and knights to conquer and defend the Holy Places in order to
  1) solve for the knights the problem between God's command "Thou shalt not kill" and Christ's "Blessed are the peacemakers ... Blessed are the meek ...." against their job to kill to defend their kings and homelands from other Christian kings and knights. "If you kill the infidels, you will not sin but you will gain forgiveness and even glory."
  2) get those randy and rambunctious knights out of Europe, to a place where they can do their valiant stuff and get loot to live on. All those landless knights needed to get rich to maintain their knightly status.
  3) become the absolute Head of the Christian Church. Many crusading armies from western Europe fought the Eastern Orthodox and other sorts of Christians in the Middle East as well as the Moslems, or instead of the Moslems. The Pope in Rome said nothing against it.
  
  The authors also wanted to show the Moslem as well as the Christian view of the Crusades. Islam gets a little more sympathetic treatment but not much. Sunnis and Shiites were fighting each other. Caliphs, Sultans and Viziers were being assassinated. They didn't expect Christian interference in their countries; but the Franks could be useful allies in getting victory over their own enemies.
  
  Now, Jones and Ereira rather breezed through 300 plus years; but they warned us that they weren't extending the bounds of scholarship. They were just giving us an ABC of who the players were, how the "game" was played by each side and what rules got changed when. The pictures in this edition are many and of "National Geographic" quality.
  
  All in all, I thought it was a thoughtful and informative ABC.
• 
  Edward Allen

  I found this book to be exactly what I was looking for. A quick accurate historical account of the Crusades. I found Terry Jones sly sense of humour in the pages a nice touch and would recommend this book to anyone whose looking to learn more about the Crusades with their only really knowledge being that it happened. It’s not super in depth but it gives a great overview.
• 
  Sean

  This was great. An excellent companion to Richard Fidler's Ghost Empire. Full of light touches as it puts the crusades into a broader context. Read this if you want to learn where militant Muslim's came from and about the world changing events that echo into the modern era and your daily newspaper.
• 
  Alex

  An interesting basic history of the Crusades which shows both the religious fervor and the terrible violence involved in the crusades. As someone who studied this subject at A Level, it was useful to have a recap of the events.
• 
  Elias Kvist

  A rather delightful read, Crusades gives you a fair overview of the crusading phenomenon. The last couple of chapters felt a bit rushed, though, as scantily depth was included.
  What I enjoyed most were the sarcastic comments scattered in the text - a nice way to enliven the fact-based narration.
• 
  Mary

  Roaringly good history, very balanced (on the whole, if anything, the Muslim forces come across as more disciplined than the Christian, although there is plenty of infighting and fractioned stupidity there too). Gives you a sense of how bizarre the crusades were--random groups of poor folk led by crazy preachers, political leaders, deals with sultanate conspiracies, cannibalism, plagues, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Frederick Barbarossa drowning on his way to a crusade and getting pickled as a figurehead--really this is as good a preparation for Monty Python's Holy Grail as anything. History is stranger than comedy, I suppose
• 
  Mick

  Savage, evil bastards! Men, Women n Children of any faith were up for slaughter if they were in the way(or even if they weren't). In the name of their lord, they sort ta make a new kingdom, but spent so much time fighting each other they ended up making a region that was fairly peaceful and respectful of all three doctrines, before they arrived, into an almost identical place as where they came from. So much for heaven on earth, ha! Well written, well researched and well funny.
• 
  Rick Davis

  Given the author, Monty Python's Terry Jones, and the purpose of this book, to accompany an A&E miniseries, I wasn't expecting a lot from this book other than a rollicking fun read. It was a fun read, but I was also surprised by how closely the narrative was tied to primary sources. This is a good, solid introduction to the Crusades, written with an eye to telling a good story. The only negative thing about the books was its persistent cynicism, but that's only to be expected.
• 
  Tarma

  Crusades is an extremely well-researched and well-written history of the crusades, as told from another point of view -- not that of Euro-centric 'civilization'. I'd seen the BBC broadcast and wanted more information so found the book at a library. LOVED the book and purchased it. It's sad, it's funny; it is, I feel, very truthful as to what went on then. Primary sources are listed throughout, supported by secondary sources (which cite currently unavailable primary sources).
• 
  Dave Evans

  Probably one of the best introductions to the Crusades!
  
  A well written (and sourced) introduction to the crusades. The sort of book that anyone can read without having a background in history.
  
  If I had to nitpick then that would be that I'd like to have seen more illustrations and maps in the book. However, the book is brilliant as it is.
  
  Get this book if you have any interest in the Crusades, read this before going onto anything more in-depth.
  
• 
  Bibi shakoor

  A well written book on the Crusades, documenting the history of religious conflict between Christianity and Islam. The author highlights the origins of the Crusade, the actual battles for the Holy Land as well as the slaughter, and plunder, and once the mission was achieved by the West, the obstacles and problems encountered in keeping Jerusalem.
• 
  Marylene

  Another Terry Jones and Alan Ereira success, I read it in less than a day. Wonderful insights from the non-christian point of view, refreshing reading and once again some well-placed puns on our modern "european" history.
• 
  Charles Murray-Todd

  Companion book to the A&E/History Channel series. Fun, and a great read. Makes the history easy to understand!!
• 
  Old-Barbarossa

  Good primer for Crusades Hx. Relaxed writing but broadly paints most of the big events. Easy read, amusing and informative. A taster before jumping into Runciman's work.
• 
  Matthew

  Excellent summary written in style understandable to a person not very well read in Medieval history.
• 
  Katherine

  Another book to accompany a TV series. More serious than Medieval Lives.
• 
  Willy Hart

  best