The Crusades: A Reader

S.J. Allen teaches in the Department of History and Political Science at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. She writes on the ecclesiastical history of early medieval Europe.

Emilie Amt is the Hildegarde Pilgram Professor of History at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Her books and articles on medieval subjects include Medieval England, 1000-1500: A Reader (University of Toronto Press, 2001) and Women's Lives in Medieval Europe (Routledge, 1993).

Introduction

I. Background and Origins

1. The Pilgrimage of Etheria
2. Augustine of Hippo on the Just War
3. The Quran
4. Al-Baladhuri on Early Muslim Conquests
5. The Pact of Omar
6. Early Indulgences
7. Ibnu Hayyan on Warfare in Spain
8. The Song of Roland
9. Declaration of the Truce of God
10. Accounts of the Seljuk Conquests
11. Gregory VII's Call for Assistance to the Greeks

II. The First Crusade

12. Urban II's Call for a Crusade
13. Albert of Aachen on the Peasants' Crusade
14. Solomon Bar Samson on the Massacres of Jews
15. Anna Comnena's Alexiad
16. The Deeds of the Franks
17. Letter of Stephen of Blois
18. Anselm of Ribemont on Events at Antioch
19. Ralph of Caen on Divisions among the Crusaders
20. Raymond of Aguilers on the Fall of Jerusalem
21. Letter of Pope Paschal on the Capture of Jerusalem
22. Muslim Reaction to the Fall of Jerusalem

III. The Crusader States

23. William of Tyre's History
24. Fulcher of Chartres's History
25. Venetian Treaty
26. Laws of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
27. The Travels of Saewulf
28. John of Wurzburg's Pilgrim Guide
29. The Travels of Ibn Jubayr
30. Memoirs of Usamah Ibn Munqidh
31. The Itinerary of Benjamin Tudela
32. Burchard of Mt. Sion on the People of Palestine

IV. The Second and Third Crusades

33. Ibn al-Qalanisi on Zengi and Nur ad-Din
34. Ibn al-Athir on the Fall of Edessa
35. Letter of Bernard of Clairvaux
36. Odo of Deuil: The Journey of Louis VII to the East
37. John Kinnamos: The Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus
38. Analyses of the Second Crusade
39. Baha ad-Din's Life of Saladin
40. Imad ad-Din on the Battle of Hattin
41. Roger of Wendover on the Fall of Jerusalem
42. Letters on the Fall of Jerusalem
43. Taxation and Regulations for the Third Crusade
44. Accounts of the Third Crusade

V. The Culture and Logistics of Crusading

45. Gerald of Wales on Preaching a Crusade
46. Privileges and Indulgences
47. Personal Arrangements
48. Liturgy for Pilgrims and Crusaders
49. Bernard of Clairvaux: In Praise of the New Knighthood
50. The Rule of the Templars
51. Financial Accounts
52. Travel Information
53. The Saga of Sigurd the Crusader
54. Stories of Women Crusaders
55. Crusading Songs

VI. The Age of Innocent III

56. Letters of Innocent III
57. Accounts of the Fourth Crusade
58. Documents on the Sack of Constantinople
59. Bernard of Gui's Manual for Inquisitors
60. Accounts of the Albigensian Crusade
61. Accounts of the Children's Crusade
62. Decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council
63. Oliver of Paderborn on the Fifth Crusade

VII. Crusades of the Holy Roman Empire

64. Charter to German Settlers
65. Poem Describing Cistercian Settlement
66. Proclamations of Northern European Crusades
67. Helmold's Chronicle of the Slavs
68. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
69. Rule of the Teutonic Knights
70. Nikolaus von Jeroschin on the Prussian Crusades
71. Philip of Novara on Frederick II's Crusade
72. Frederick II on His Taking of Jerusalem
73. Responses to Frederick II's Crusade

VIII. Conflict and Coexistence in Spain

74. Chronicle of the Cid
75. Accounts of Arab Learning
76. The Conquest of Lisbon
77. Alfonso VIII's Report on Las Navas de Tolosa
78. Muslim-Christian Treaty
79. Moorish Laws
80. Christian Laws
81. Constitutions of the Order of Merced
82. Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
83. Abu Abdilla Mohammed on the Expulsion of the Muslims

IX. Crusades at the Crossroads

84. Joinville's Life of St. Louis
85. Matthew Paris on the Shepherds' Crusade
86. Ibn Al-Athir on the Mongol Invasion
87. Ibn 'Abd al-Zahir's Biography of Baybars
88. Ludolph von Suchem on the Fall of Acre and Its Aftermath
89. Pierre Dubois's The Recovery of the Holy Land
90. Humbert of Romans's Defense of Crusading
91. Ramon Lull's Plan to Convert the Muslims
92. Marsilius of Padua's The Defender of Peace
93. Order for the Arrest of the Templars
94. Papal Bull Suppressing the Templars

X. From Crusades to Colonization

95. John Mandeville on Prester John
96. Letters between Pope Innocent IV and Guyuk Khan
97. William of Rubruck on the Mongols
98. Johann Schiltberger on the Nicopolis Crusade
99. Kritovoulos on the Fall of Constantinople
100. Gianfrancesco Morosini on the Janissaries
101. Christine de Pisan's Song of Joan of Arc
102. Pius II's Commentaries
103. Erasmus's On the War Against the Turks
104. Narratives of Exploration

This collection of translated sources is one of the most comprehensive yet assembled. It covers the centuries from the late eleventh to the early sixteenth and includes texts illustrating actions in theatres-of-war which are often ignored such as Spain, the Baltic region and the interior of western Europe. It is to be recommended as a very congenial and informative introduction to a large, complex and historically important subject.

Jonathan Riley-Smith, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

The most extensive collection of translated sources for the crusades available today. The editors have brought together a wealth of material from Muslim and Christian sources dealing with a wide array of subjects. The editors’ approach to the crusades is expansive, beginning with early ideas of holy war and extending to the waning of the movement and its effect on the subsequent age of discovery.

Thomas F. Madden, Saint Louis University