God’s War: A New History of the Crusades by Christopher Tyerman (PDF)

Description

The story of how a group of warriors, driven by faith, greed and wanderlust, carved out new Christian-ruled states in the Middle East is one of the most extraordinary of all epics. The crusaders’ stunning initial success started a sequence of great Crusades, each with its own story, that fundamentally shaped the Christian and Muslim worlds for two centuries, until the last Crusader castles were finally expunged. The energy and commitment that sent army after army into the eastern Mediterranean also led to the invasion and conversion of Central and Baltic Europe, Spain, Portugal, the destruction of the Cathars in Provence and the settlement of America. Told with great verve and authority, God’s War is the definitive account of a fascinating but also horrifying story.We are still living with the images and legends of the crusades. Tyerman tells us how the Church set about preaching the crusades, exploiting the perennial pessimism and guilt of the European nobility of the Middle Ages. He shows how crusading ideology penetrated the religious sensibility of the period, as well as its secular fiction and poetry. Of all the modern histories of the crusades it is the shrewdest, the most reliable and the most complete.The Spectator

User’s Reviews

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

⭐To tackle a subject as broad (geographically) and long (in time) as the Crusades is an imposing task. To do so in a one-volume treatment, balancing the line between scholarly research and popular interest is even more difficult. It is a tribute to the author (and, presumably his editors and proofreaders) that this book succeeds. I am no more than an armchair historian, and certainly no expert on the Crusades, so I can only take the word of Tyerman’s colleagues that this is a well-researched and referenced text. As an armchair historian, I might be more qualified to testify to the book’s general readability, and it is very readable – dense, yes, but also entertaining and informative. More importantly it is never confusing nor does it degenerate into a compendium of names and deeds.This is no mean feat – Crusading stretched all across Europe and into North Africa and, obviously, the Holy Land. As such, the number of princes, bishops, cult leaders, merchants, and commoners that participated is enormous, made the more confusing because names might duplicate over the centuries and/or between different nations, while some people will have multiple names due to their multiple titles (e.g. King Conrad II of Jerusalem was also Emporer Conrad IV of the HRE). Somehow, Tyerman skirts the fine line between excessive detailed explanation and confusion – you are never required to keep track of all the noble lines of European royal houses!Another potential pitfall to writing about any military campaign (or sets of campaigns) is to overemphasize certain aspects. Although the chronicle of battles and seiges might be the most entertaining, the reader is hardly well-informed about the true nature of warfare including the logistics, politics, etc. Thus, the various (and varied) Crusades depicted in this book are covered end-to-end: from recruitment to victory (or defeat) on the battlefield. Much space is devoted to the internicene quarreling of the Christian nations (e.g. England vs. France, various claimants to the Imperial throne, the trading rivalries between Venice, Genoa, and Padua, etc.), and how these coloured the national characters of each Crusade. Finances are equally well documented – mounting a campaign over such a distance was expensive.Ultimately, any such massive history as this comes down to the execution of the writing, and here is Tyerman’s greatest success. He comes off as knowledgeable and populist at the same time. It’s rare that I’m sent to my dictionary as often as with this book – the author using such new and useful words (to me) as “elision” (deliberately omitting something) and “fissiparous” (reproducing by fission) – but the author also talks of “the gravy train” and uses other vernacular terms. Thus is such a thick subject rendered entertaining in the hands of a skilled writer.My only complaint is that, as the Crusades proceed, they appear to become much of a muchness. It becomes a formula: 1. set up the political scene, 2. proceed to the recruitment stage, 3. talk about finances, and 4. describe the military campaign. This pattern repeats for each Crusade, meaning it repeats 10+ times through the course of the book. There’s not much Tyerman can do about that, I suppose, and maintain his rigour, but it does diminish the reading experience somewhat.

⭐Everything arrived on time and as advertised

⭐This book comes none too late to combat the prevalence of the postmodernist myth of the Crusades having been a conflict between intolerant Christianity and cosmopolitan Islam. Tyerman’s introduction illuminates a central flaw in the modern West’s view of its past:”A familiar but baneful response to history is to configure the past as comfortingly different from the present day. Previous societies are caricatured as less sophisticated, more primitive, cruder, alien. Such attitudes reveal nothing so much as a collective desire to reassure the modern observer by demeaning the experience of the past.”With God’s War, Tyerman brings to modern discourse on this most controversial and formative periods of the European past something that has been missing for centuries: objectivity. As Tyerman himself will readily admit, complete objectivity is impossible, and therefore he begins and ends this work in full recognition of its Eurocentric point of view. But unlike many commentators, Tyerman refuses to fall into the trap of issuing a moral verdict on the actions of his ancestors and their enemies. His mission is simple and pure; he comes to tell us a story of what happened and do so as honestly and directly as he can. He does not read cynicically into the motives of the actors and levies skepticism and criticism only where it is positively backed by the historical record. To these qualities I must also add that it is entertainingly written–a hundred Hollywood film scripts could come from this book. It is a long book, though, and those who are uninterested in details may want to stick to Wikipedia articles. If, however, you really want to learn just what was behind this bizarre alliance of Christianity and militarism, I highly recommend this excellent book.

⭐This is a must read for any history fan, Crusader Kings player, or someone who wants a good understanding of the crusades with a scholar touch but without any dull moments. Like a great podcast almost on paper. I only wish it was on kindle to read as I travel, hopefully it will be on kindle soon

⭐I purchased “God’s War” because I wanted to learn a bit of history about the Crusades and about the philosophies that drive war. This book is exactly what I was looking for. I usually read the reviews for books and use them to help me make a purchase decision. The reviews for “God’s War” are understandably mixed. Many who responded negatively seemed not to enjoy the book because it is written in an academic style. The vocabulary can be a challenge. My solution was to purchase the e-book (in addition to the traditional text I had already purchased). Like other readers, the language, the historical references, and the writing style kept me on my toes. Having it on my ipad gave me immediate access to definitions and Wikipedia. Also, being able to make notes easily was a benefit of the e-book. Still, I often reread paragraphs or pages for full comprehension, but that’s just what it takes sometimes. The value of working a bit with a text is in the knowledge and insights gained that can be applied to contemporary issues. For me, the need to know where we’ve come from is key in understanding where we are now, and ultimately where we’re going.

⭐A tiring read. I was assigned this as part of my A level coursework so I’m really not in the best position to judge but I found this a pretty horrendous read. I noted that it’s too narrative based for actual scholars but far too detailed for amateur history readers. A good effort, certainly a much needed advancement on Runciman’s works back in the 50s . He also uses a very healthy collection of sources from all classes and geographical locations available…

⭐This is not a classic; I found it difficult to get through and abandoned the whole book after less than 100 pages. It’s a very liberal and partisan approach to history which I found tough to take – lefties and ultra liberals will love it.

⭐A very detailed and thorough overview of the history of the crusades – and can be used as an encyclopedia on the subject. Very good in explaining the development in Western Europe, that preceded and led up to the crusades, but rather unclear when it comes to giving the reader an understanding of the wider background and the way in which 400 years of muslim expansion and the saracen invasion of the 11th century form a part of that background

⭐Really good condition. No need to buy books brand new.

⭐It took me the best part of two months to wade through this book. About six weeks of that was after the third crusade and I think this highlights my main criticism. The fourth crusade and beyond, the Baltic and Albergensian crusades and Spanish Reconquisita seem to interest Tyerman less than the three “classic” crusades. The result is that a very readable history full of anecdote, interesting detail and absolutely chock full of primary material takes a turn towards a different form of storytelling. The author’s voice originally channels the eye witness accounts as if he himself was present when Peter Bartholemew unearthed the Holy Lance in Antioch but after Richard’s return from Palestine the author’s voice becomes more distanced as if presenting material not so dear to his heart.If you are after a well researched history of the crusades (all the crusades) in an easily digestible volume and with tons of original sources, this is it. The apologetic view of the fourth crusade’s result is also an interesting read.

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