LibGuides: The Crusades: Background Information

Background Information

According to Encyclopedia of Global Studies,

The Crusades constituted a global event for their times and provided a term that continues to be applied to strident, zealous effort. The Crusades were a set of religiously motivated military campaigns that occurred primarily from the 11th to the 13th centuries and that had the principal goal of recovering the Holy Land from non-Christians, especially the Muslims. The Crusades, with all their ideological, economic, and social characterizations, exerted formative influence on European history and on the relationship between East and West, between Islam and Christendom, having a lasting effect until the present day. In modern times, the term crusade has been revived for use both as a call for a concerted effort toward a particular goal (e.g., Campus Crusade for Christ) and as a metaphor for efforts and ambitions that try to establish the supremacy of one's own worldview. (Source: Credo)

Reference Books

Defining Documents in World History by Salem Press Editors; Michael Shally-Jensen (Editor) Covering topics from Gilgamesh to Ancient Egypt to the Fall of Rome, this volume provides easy-to-use tools to engage, enlighten, and give students a new frame of reference to study and analyze the most important documents from Ancient History.
Call Number: REF D52 .A42 2015
ISBN: 9781619257719
Publication Date: 2015-09-17
Defining Documents in World History by Salem Press Editors; Michael Shally-Jensen (Editor) This volume offers in-depth analysis of a broad range of historical documents and historic events that shaped law, government, religion, and culture throughout the Middle Ages. The text provides in-depth analysis of more than forty primary source documents to deliver a thorough examination of events from 400 to 1400 B.C.E.
Call Number: REF D113 .M53 2015
ISBN: 9781619257733
Publication Date: 2015-10-28
Historical Dictionary of the Crusades by Corliss K. Slack The crusades were among the longest and most bitter wars in human history and consisted of no less than seven major expeditions from Western Europe from the late 11th to the early 14th centuries for the purpose of wresting Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the control of the Muslims. In the end, it was the Muslims who won, and the Christians who suffered a major setback, and the Middle East remained firmly in Muslim hands. This was one of the worst clashes between different religions and civilizations and, for long, it was largely forgotten or brushed over. That is no longer the case, with many Muslims regarding Western interference in the region as a repeat of the crusades while launching their own jihads. So, while an old conflict, it is still with us today. Even at the time, it was very hard to understand the causes and outcome of the crusades, and that remains a problem today. This Historical Dictionary of the Crusades cannot claim to have resolved it, but it most definitely does make the situation easier to understand. The introduction provides an overview, tracing the crusades from one expedition to the next, and assessing their impact. The actual flow of events is far easier to follow thanks to the chronology. And maps help to trace the events geographically. The entries, and there are more than 300 of them in this second edition, look more closely at notable figures, including Pope Gregory VII, Richard "the lionhearted," and Saladin, as well as important places (Jerusalem, Constantinople and others), events, battles and sieges, as well as the use of weapons and armor. The bibliography points to further reading.
Call Number: REF D155 .S53 2013
ISBN: 9780810878303
Publication Date: 2013-05-09