How to Plan a Crusade: Reason and Religious War in the Middle Ages, by Christopher Tyerman
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How to Plan a Crusade: Reason and Religious War in the Middle Ages, by Christopher Tyerman
Free PDF Ebook How to Plan a Crusade: Reason and Religious War in the Middle Ages, by Christopher Tyerman
A lively and compelling account of how the crusades really worked, and a revolutionary attempt to rethink how we understand the Middle Ages
The story of the wars and conquests initiated by the First Crusade and its successors is itself so compelling that most accounts move quickly from describing the Pope's calls to arms to the battlefield. In this highly original and enjoyable new book, Christopher Tyerman focuses on something obvious but overlooked: the massive, all-encompassing and hugely costly business of actually preparing a crusade. The efforts of many thousands of men and women, who left their lands and families in Western Europe, and marched off to a highly uncertain future in the Holy Land and elsewhere have never been sufficiently understood. Their actions raise a host of compelling questions about the nature of medieval society.
How to Plan a Crusade is fascinating on diplomacy, communications, propaganda, the use of mass media, medical care, equipment, voyages, money, weapons, credit, wills, ransoms, animals, and the power of prayer. It brings to life an extraordinary era in a novel and surprising way.
How to Plan a Crusade: Reason and Religious War in the Middle Ages, by Christopher Tyerman- Amazon Sales Rank: #827525 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-09-03
- Released on: 2015-09-03
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review An impressive synthesis of a complicated subject, presented in elegant, readable prose. Not many historians could have done it -- Jonathan Sumption The Spectator His deeply researched study is dedicated to exploring the relationship between human reason and religious war in all its aspects - justification, propaganda, recruitment, finance, logistics - to show us how 'reason made religious war possible.' -- Diarmaid MacCulloch London Review of Books Mining details on victualing and logistics 800 years ago is Tyerman's forte, and he throws them on to the page like chaff from a trebuchet... it is comprehensive, laying down a great skein of fact where there was only supposition (much of it false). And, as the West gears up for the crusade of 2015-16 against Islamic State, it is horribly timely. -- Giles Whittell The Times Tyerman's book is fascinating not just for what it has to tell us about the Crusades, but for the mirror it holds up to today's religious extremism -- Tom Holland Mail on Sunday How to Plan a Crusade is serious and scholarly, the synthesis of decades of work on difficult, fragmented sources. Administrative records weren't routinely kept until around 1300, which makes Tyerman's task harder and more impressive...this is also a lively book, laced with wry asides and enough surprising details to pique the general reader. -- Jessie Childs The Guardian There is a deeper story here about the rise in Britain of both class structure and bureaucracy... -- Sinclair McKay Telegraph Wonderfully written and characteristically brilliant account of the logistics (and motivations) that underpinned the Crusades -- Peter Frankopan
About the Author Christopher Tyerman is Professor of the History of the Crusades, University of Oxford, a Fellow and Tutor in History at Hertford College, Oxford, and Lecturer in Medieval History at New College, Oxford. He has written extensively on the crusades, most recently God's War: A New History of the Crusades and The Debate on the Crusades. He is also the editor of the Penguin Classics edition of the Chronicles of the First Crusade.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Valuable Information Almost Lost in the Evidence By Helena P. Schrader This book came highly recommended and provides a wealth of valuable information for anyone interested in understanding the society that produced the crusades. Organized by topic rather than chronologically, it examines topics all too often ignored in more conventional histories from finance to health, safety and supply. Most important, it documents the immense amount of planning, coordination, organization and expense that went into mounting a massive military campaign across vast distances in the age of horse and sailing ships. After reading this book, no one can be in any doubt about how sophisticated, literate and well-organized medieval society was during the centuries in which crusading was undertaken. The book systematically and meticulously debunks notions of “spontaneous” movements by wild-eyed religious fanatics. It also highlights that in many ways crusader organization puts modern planning, blessed with all the advantages of digital technology, to shame.The weakness of the book is that it never fully transcends the academic milieu from which it originated. Tyerman meticulously documents his opinions, citing “chapter and verse” of what feels like each and every single example that supports his argument. The result is that what he is saying often gets lost in the supporting documentation. In short, the book bogs down in details and rapidly became a slog through facts rather than providing stimulating new insight. The book would have benefited from more rigorous editing that placed much of the supporting evidence in the foot- or end-notes and focused on the gist of the arguments.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. New Crusader Reference? By JPS With this book, Christopher Tyerman has managed to bring together the contents of many of his studies and monographs, alongside with some materials drawn from other authors (such as Riley Smith, among others). The result is something that is bound to become a new reference on the Crusades, and more particularly on their organisation, planning and logistics.Those that were expecting a piece written for the so-called “general reader” might end up being disappointed. This is a piece of first class scholarship where each and every theme is meticulously examined and each statement and point made backed by a whole collection of examples and illustrations drawn from the whole period. One consequence of this is that it is probably necessary to have some prior knowledge of the Crusades, if only by having read a general history of the Crusades beforehand.The strength of this book is to show to what extent the Crusades, starting with the first one, were carefully organised and planned in all respects and aspects, as opposed to spontaneous. To begin with, the author shows to what extent the themes developed for preaching Crusades and the various preaching themselves developed and built on each other. There was an ideological dimension: the popes and the Church had to justify and “establish a case for war”. Then there were tools to disseminate this case through publicity and persuasion, the two chapter headings that make up the book’s second part (aptly titled “Propaganda”).The author then moves on to “Recruitment”, clearly showing how the enticements, rewards and protections were targeted at a specific subset of medieval society. It was this subset whose enlistment was sought and the rewards and protections that were attached to going on Crusade were precisely targeted to their needs. Particularly interesting are the spiritual exonerations and pardons for past sins that were offered. Also fascinating were the Crusaders’ ability to “redeem” their vows if, for any reason, they had second thoughts or were incapable of honouring them. The author shows why such a system developed and became necessary, largely for both practical and financial reasons. It also shows how, by the 14th century, it was evolving into something quite different – the selling of Indulgences – that would do much to fill Church coffers but would be one of Luther’s (and others) main criticisms against the Church.The two final parts are about finance and logistics.The past on financing Crusades is divided into costs, showing to what extent they were tremendous for ordinary Crusaders, and how these costs were covered. The huge costs (up to several years of income for a knight), which were nevertheless meet in various ways, as the author shows. These costs also explain why most Crusaders often had to rely on their overlords who stepped in with their vastly superior treasuries and used this as instruments to assert their power, as did, for instance, both Raymond the Saint Gilles, Count of Toulouse, during the First Crusade, Richard Lionheart during the Third or Saint Louis during the first of his two Crusades. Also included in the section about paying for Crusades are the financial techniques that were used. Crusades saw the development of the ancestor of letters of credit, with the Military Orders playing a major role in funding both their own establishments in the Holy Land and the expeditions of Kings and Princes.The part on logistics shows the vital and increasing role played the Italian naval Republics in transportation and supplying reinforcements and equipment from the very beginning, especially once the land route through Asia Minor was severed. One element which the author elaborates upon was horse transportation and the logistical difficulties that had to be overcome for journeys that could take at least six weeks to be successful. Another consideration was the extent to which Crusaders, including Kings, had to depend on this, including Louis IX (Saint Louis) who’s Crusades were allegedly among the best funded. Also included is a very worthwhile section drawing on relatively recent studies and showing to what extent Crusaders knew where they were going, both by land and sea. While they did not have modern maps up to scale, they did have portolans and itineraries showing the main features that they would come across during their expeditions.The main value of this book is to demonstrate to what extent Crusades were planned, organised and prepared at all levels and in all respects – up to the number of horseshoes that would be needed – as opposed to improvised. A related point is to show to what extent rationale planning was harnessed to serve faith in general, and the idea of crusading in particular. In both respects, the author makes a very convincing case.There are however some weaknesses in form and substance.One, although perhaps not the main one, is that the author’s multiple examples may perhaps tend “to drown” the main points he is striving to make, as other reviewers have also mentioned.Another one, on substance this time, is that most of the examples mentioned by the author are from the Second Crusade onwards and focus on the Third Crusade and those of Louis IX in particular. There are comparatively few examples from the First Crusade and from the various expeditions during the following half century that is before the participation of Kings and Emperors. I was for instance a bit surprised to discover that the author had not made more use of the surviving Charters made with monasteries and the various techniques used to raise funds in exchange of pledging land or future revenues. There is relatively little on the various ways in which individual lords – as opposed to Kings - raised the huge amounts of cash they needed to fund their expeditions during the first half of the 12th century. Four strong stars
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