When the first edition of this book appeared in 1999 the world was adifferent place. Then, the crusades were a faraway concept, an odd series ofevents in a distant and murky medieval past. Wars of religion seemed largelyirrelevant to citizens of a modern secular civilization. That changed. Terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, and subsequently inEurope and the Middle East reminded us all that there remain people in theworld willing to kill or to be killed for their religion. Since then radical Muslims, known as Islamists, have continued to call on their coreligionists to takepart in a worldwide jihad against the people of the West, whom the Islamistsoften refer to as "crusaders."For their part, many in the West worry that their actions actually do resemble those of the medieval crusaders. Significant American and Europeanmilitary forces, for example, remain stationed in the Middle East. And Israel,which enjoys significant Western support, is planted on soil that was once themedieval crusaders' kingdom. Western diplomats and politicians are careful toavoid any mention of the medieval crusades around Muslim leaders, lest theyappear insensitive or conjure up memories of the harm done by the medievalholy wars against them. Unfortunately, these sentiments and approaches are fueled on both sides by an extremely weak understanding of the actual crusades orthe medieval world in which they flourished. As a result, decisions—sometimestragic decisions—are made based on deeply flawed concepts of history. By explaining just what the crusades were and were not, this book is an attempt toilluminate the complex relationship of the past to the present.Despite a modern groundswell of interest, the crusades remain today oneof the most commonly misunderstood events in Western history. That factis all the more lamentable given the extraordinary amount of research that13_158_Madden.indb vii 3_158_Madden.indb vii 8/13/13 5:46 AM /13/13 5:46 AMviii Prefacehas been conducted on the subject during the past sixty years. Scholars knowmuch more about the crusades today than ever before. However, most of thatresearch is highly technical in nature and presented, appropriately enough, inscholarly journals and monographs that can seem impenetrable to those without specialized training. When the first edition of this book was publishedit joined only two other single-volume histories of the crusades written byprofessional historians—and even those two assumed a fair level of knowledge regarding medieval history. Back then an interested person who simplystrolled into a bookstore looking for a history of the crusades was more likelyto walk out with a book by a novelist, journalist, or ex-nun than one writtenwith care by a scholar and based on the best research available.The heightened public interest in the crusades after 9/11 created a strongmarket for new general histories, and popular authors did not disappoint. Yetmany of those new works simply retold myths long ago dispelled by professional historians. It took several years before additional crusade specialists responded to the public demand. But that trickle soon became a torrent. Todaythere are so many histories of the crusades by scholars that they are in dangerof depleting the supply of innovative names to place on their covers. Each hasits own strengths and weaknesses. Yet despite the avalanche of new studies,the fundamental purpose of this book has not changed since 1999. It aims totell the story of the crusades in a concise, understandable, and engaging manner based on the extraordinary fruits of more than half a century of modernscholarship.Any historian who seeks to explain the crusades must first make peacewith the length, breadth, and complexity of the subject. What were the crusades? When did they begin, and when did they end? What were the important milestones of the movement? Who was a crusader, and who was not?Traditionally, authors have defined the scope of the crusades in termsof the expeditions to the Holy Land. In this, they followed the structure ofmedieval sources like the Gesta Dei per Francos. The crusades, therefore, begin with Pope Urban II's call to arms at the Council of Clermont in 1095.The twin poles of such studies are the major expeditions to the East (i.e., the"numbered" crusades) and the history of the crusader states in Syria and Palestine. The narrative thread then weaves itself between conditions in the Levantand conditions in Europe, bringing the two together in the events of thegreater crusades. From this perspective, the crusades come to a close with theextinction of the mainland crusader states in 1291. The movement, therefore,is nicely packaged in an organized fashion and in the space of two centuries.In the past few decades, this construction of the crusades has been largelyabandoned by scholars. Although traditional histories included events like theAlbigensian Crusade or Baltic Crusades, neither of which was bound for the East, they did so only peripherally. Modern scholarship has rehabilitated thisperiphery. Most historians now accept that crusading took on many differentforms; the general passage to the Holy Land was but one of them. Crusadesagainst pagans, heretics, and enemies of the church were just as common bythe thirteenth century as wars against the lands of Islam. Much of Europe'scrusading energy was also devoted to removing Muslims from Spain.Beyond broadening the definition of the crusades, scholars have also reassessed the neat organization of the major expeditions. The simplicity of thenumbered crusades gives the impression that Europe periodically explodedwith crusading zeal, sending large armies east to fight the Muslims of Palestine.Yet the crusades were not discrete campaigns but continuous streams of armieson the march. Between the major crusades were countless smaller expeditionsheading to a variety of targets.If one accepts that the crusading movement transcends the conquestof the Holy Land, then there is no reason its history should abruptly end in1291. During the past century, much research has been done on these "latercrusades." There is no doubt that crusading remained an important part of European thought well into the Renaissance and even beyond into the ProtestantReformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. At some point, though, thehistorian must accept that the trail has grown cold and that crusade rhetoric hasbecome merely that. If one insisted that the history of the crusades continueduntil the last crusader institution crumbled, then it would have to continueuntil the present so as to include the modern history of the Knights of Malta.Without a clear stopping point, it is up to the student to judge when the crusades ceased to be religious wars and transformed themselves into secular warswith religious trappings.Despite the explosion in crusade studies over the past sixty years, thetraditional construction of the crusades as a set of expeditions launched between 1095 and 1291 remains popular. There are good reasons for this. Thetraditional view introduces the student to the crusades in a way that is easier tograsp but does not distort the fundamental character of the movement. Whenone has a firm understanding of the crusades' peaks, one can then better descend into the foggy crevices of their valleys. For the interested student, thatwill require reading many more books than just one general survey.For this concise history of the crusades, I follow in many respects theconstruction, if not the scope, of the traditional histories. The crusades are firstand foremost an aspect of European history. At the time few Muslims in theMiddle East understood the crusades at all. For western Europeans the crusadeswere epic struggles that helped to fashion their image of themselves and theirplace in the larger world. For Muslims the crusades were hardly worthy ofattention. As late as the seventeenth century the crusades remained virtually unknown in the Muslim world. From the grand perspective of Muslim history, they were simply tiny and futile attempts to halt the expansion of Islam.For that reason my overriding objective here is to relate the history of thecrusades in a way that focuses on the events most important to Europeans atthe time. Although political crusades and crusades against heretics were heldto be valid, they were generally seen as variations on the theme of the Eastern crusades. The crusade, first and foremost, was a war against Muslims forthe defense of the Christian faith and people; therefore, although I devote achapter to crusading at home, the overall focus of this book is decidedly onthe foreign expeditions. I do not deny the validity of scholarly arguments thatwould bring other crusades to share the center stage, but I think that this canbe done only when one has a solid grasp of the original intent of the holy wars.In other respects, I part company with the traditional construction ofthe crusades. Because my concern is the crusades as an element in medievalEuropean history, I describe the history of the crusader states only insofar asthey make the crusades themselves more intelligible. The history of the LatinEast is fascinating but long and complex, and not all of it is relevant to themajor expeditions. I also extend my treatment of the crusades well beyond thefall of Acre in 1291. Although the Holy Land was lost, it was not forgottenin Europe. After 1291, many crusades were planned, and some launched, togo to the aid of Palestine. Although by the fourteenth century turning backthe Ottoman threat replaced the capture of Jerusalem as the primary motiveof crusades, crusading remained a ubiquitous part of European thought andculture. I therefore follow the later history of the crusades until the point that(it seems to me) the Europeans themselves lost interest in them.In summary, I have attempted to craft a history of the crusades that chartsa middle course between the traditional and revisionist constructions. Thereis, after all, no contradiction between the two approaches: Both are merelydifferent ways of understanding a complex set of events spanning centuries ofMediterranean history. In any general history, much of the story must be leftout. It is my hope that readers will be sufficiently intrigued by the crusades todiscover the rest for themselves.Thomas F. MaddenSaint Louis, Missouri
