Fighting for Christendom: Holy War and the Crusades

by Christopher Tyerman

Book Overview

The image of the Crusaders--chain-mailed knights on horseback, bearing crosses on banners, fighting for their faith under an alien sun--occupies a familiar niche in modern western culture. Yet despite their powerful hold on our imaginations, the Crusades remain obscured and distorted by time.
In Fighting for Christendom, Christopher Tyerman picks his way through many myths and misconceptions to present a vivid portrait of the Crusades, both the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192803255
• ISBN13: 9780192803252
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.8" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

An Introduction to the Crusades

Christopher Tyerman has composed a brief account of the history of the Crusades with an eye toward contemporary current events. For the reader who has little knowledge of the background of the Crusades, Mr. Tyerman gives a big picture overview of Christian Europe's many military operations (1095-1464 AD) to retake Jerusalem from the Muslim Arabs (who had conquered the Holy Land by 640 AD). The writing is a readable synthesis of the diverse research he has undertaken for this book. Mr. Tyerman ties together our Crusader past with its impact upon our present day world and debunks popular myths in his concluding chapter. For the reader who desires to read further upon the topic, I recommend Sir Steven Runciman's three volume (and 1,400 pages) magisterial epic upon the Crusades. Though published between 1951-1954, "A History of the Crusades" is a masterwork of popular writing. Jonathan Phillip's "The Fourth Crusade and the Sack Of Constantinople" is a more detail account of a crusade gone berserk.