A Concise History of the Crusades

Thomas Madden’s A Concise History of the Crusades is a good introduction to the subject. He describes each crusade from a European perspective, focusing on the narrative of what happened. He omits the Christian conquest of Spain, though he does discuss the Albigensian Crusade against French heretics. He explains the rise and fall of the crusader states in the Middle East and the evolution of the major crusading orders, such as the Knights Templar.

Many of the crusaders were incredibly inept, with the leaders squabbling among themselves and with Christian armies launching foolhardy attacks, assuming that God’s grace was all they needed for victory. It’s amazing the First Crusade was so successful, managing to capture a large region including Antioch and Jerusalem. Any victories by the Christians or Muslims could generally be attributed to disarray on the other side. Madden draws a coherent picture of some complex historical events I knew little about.