Sacred Swords: Jihad in the Holy Land, 1097–1291 by James Waterson (PDF)

Description

In 1071 Muslim Turks crushed the Byzantine Emperor’s Anatolian army at Manzikert. The Crusades, the West’s response to this catastrophe, are well known as are the names of the European nobles who fought in them. The names and deeds of many of the Crusaders’ opponents in the Holy Land are often unfamiliar to Western readers.Using primarily Muslim sources, Sacred Swords reconstructs the politics of the Levant on the eve of the First Crusade and places it in the wider context of the Muslim world of the period. This was a realm where war with the Crusaders was only one part of the military and political endeavors of a Muslim prince of the Levant. Much of the action is comprehensible only when the outlook and position of the Princes is understood.Waterson tells the story of the famed leaders of the jihad – the lives and deeds of Zangi, Nur al-Din, Saladin and Baybars are all recounted. Sacred Swords also illustrates the evolution of the jihad in which these Princes were engaged. The story of the Holy War that would eventually destroy the Latin Kingdom is traced and analyzed from its origins among the Princes of northern Iraq, as is the long naval contest that raged between the navy of Egypt and the Crusader fleets.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author James Waterson was born into a London family of Royal Marines and Paratroopers. Fatherly advice however steered him away from a military career and into academia and teaching. He is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and received his Masters degree from Dundee University. He worked and taught in the United States and China for a number of years and now divides his time between the Middle East and Italy whilst trying to makes ends meet. The Ismaili Assassins is his second book and grew out of his travels in Iran. His first book, The Knights of Islam, a history of the slave soldiers of Islam, was published in 2007 by Greenhill Books. He continues to work at producing a life of the Crusader Bohemond of Taranto but knows it will never be finished.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The book covers an area of personal interest and details a history at least as chaotic as the Middle East of our day. Found it well written, well researched and very readable.

⭐Sacred Swords is a must read for anyone who wants a thorough grounding of the Crusades from an Islamic perspective. Starting with the political disintegration of the Saljuk Turks in 1092 and continuing on to the end of the Crusader states, Waterson is thorough, and never boring. However it can be very pedantic for anyone who is not fascinated with this time period, and it can often seem like the wars are going now where, due to the constant back and forth and swapping of territories, as well as the continuous political break-ups of the Turks. Yet this is part of the books charm, since it really does give you a good solid feeling for who the Crusades were fought, with a constant back and forth that often seemed to be going nowhere. While it might seem tedious, it really gives a clear picture of the Islamic perspective which few other books do. My only other complaint about the book is the same as was given in a review for his other book Knights of Islam: The Wars of the Mamluks: He does not know very much about weaponry, sometimes ridiculously so. For example, at one part he says that the Turkish bow could fire three arrows in a second and a half, which seems impossible to believe. Additionally he mentions the Crusaders swords as being two-handed in the early 1100’s which they clearly were not. That said, it doesn’t detract from the book because he so rarely mentions anything regarding weapons, but it is saddening to see yet more poorly researched weapon statements getting spread around. So in conclusion, this is a must read for anyone who wants to know what was going on on the other side of the Crusades. Paired up with The Crusades: A History by Jonathan Riley-Smith and any reader should be well on their way to some good reading.

⭐This was the perfect read for early stages of the lockdown: wittily written and fascinating for a reader who knows some history, but not of the MIddle East during the Crusades from the Islamic point of view. One sentence summary: The Crusaders were tough and the Mongols were terrifying, but the Egyptian Mamelukes saw them both off.

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