Fighting for the Cross / Jaroslav Pelikan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pelikán, Jaroslav, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crusades.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 357 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2008]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In a series of massive military undertakings that stretched from 1095 to 1291, Christendom's armies won, defended, and lost the sacred sites of the Holy Land. Many books have been written about the Crusades, but until now none has described in detail what is was like to take part in medieval Europe's most ambitious wars. This vividly written book draws on extensive research and on a wealth of surviving contemporary accounts to recreate the full experience of crusading, from the elation of taking up the cross to the difficult adjustments at home when the war was over. Distinguished historian Norman Housley explores the staggering logistical challenges of raising, equipping, and transporting thousands of Christian combatants from Europe to the East as well as the complications that non-combatant pilgrims presented. He describes the ordinary crusader's prolonged years of difficult military tasks, risk of starvation and disease, trial of religious faith, death of friends, and the specter of heavy debt or stolen homelands upon arriving home. Creating an unprecedented sense of immediacy, Housley brings to light the extent of crusaders' sacrifices and the religious commitment that enabled them to endure.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations and Maps

Preface and Acknowledgements

1. Crusading in the East, 1095-1291

2. The call to crusade

3. Signed with the cross

4. Eastward bound

5. Crusading warfare

6. The needs of the flesh

7. Storming Heaven

8. Saracens

9. Brave new world

10. Remembrance of things past

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Important dates

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780300150391

0300150393

OCLC:

1024055449