From a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (The New Yorker) comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume military history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land.Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed, Islam and Christian...

Thomas Asbridge’s remarkable new book reveals the global impact of humanity’s greatest natural disaster, and the terrible human cost of this calamity.'An up-to-the-hour work of scholarship that is at the same time a page turner... Asbridge's definitive biography of yersina pestis, the germ that caused the world’s deadliest disease, is a masterpiece' Thomas W. LaqueurIn the mid-fourteenth century, a lethal plague struck the medieval...

A renowned scholar brings to life medieval England’s most celebrated knight, William Marshal—providing an unprecedented and intimate view of this age and the legendary warrior class that shaped it.Caught on the wrong side of an English civil war and condemned by his father to the gallows at age five, William Marshal defied all odds to become one of England’s most celebrated knights. Thomas Asbridge’s rousing biography chronicles William’s rise, using his life as a ...

Richard I's reign is both controversial and seemingly contradictory. One of England's most famous medieval monarchs and a potent symbol of national identity, he barely spent six months on English soil during a ten-year reign and spoke French as his first language. Contemporaries dubbed him the 'Lionheart', reflecting a carefully cultivated reputation for bravery, prowess and knightly virtue, but this supposed paragon of chivalry butchered close to 3,000 prisoners in cold blood on a single ...

Zeitreise ins Mittelalter: Eine andere Betrachtung der KreuzzügeIn seinem Monumentalwerk rückt Thomas Asbridge die Geschichte der Kreuzzüge zwischen dem 11. und 13. Jahrhundert in ein neues Licht: Denn im Gegensatz zur gängigen Vorstellung war dies keineswegs ein unvermeidlicher Kampf des Westens gegen den Orient. So erzählt der britische Historiker erstmals gleichberechtigt von den von Christen und Muslimen verübten Grausamkeiten und erduldeten Leiden. Auf Basis e...

Narrated by Derek PerkinsFrom a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (The New Yorker) comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume military history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land.Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the tw...

Brought to you by Penguin.Thomas Asbridge’s remarkable new book reveals the global impact of humanity’s greatest natural disaster, and the terrible human cost of this calamity.In the mid-fourteenth century, a lethal plague struck the medieval world, causing unimaginable suffering and destruction. This terrifying pandemic – the Black Death – was unquestionably one of history’s defining episodes, yet a critical feature of its progress has oft...

A renowned scholar brings to life medieval England’s most celebrated knight, William Marshal—providing an unprecedented and intimate view of this age and the legendary warrior class that shaped it.Caught on the wrong side of an English civil war and condemned by his father to the gallows at age five, William Marshal defied all odds to become one of England’s most celebrated knights. Thomas Asbridge’s rousing narrative chronicles William’s rise, using his life as a ...

A HISTÓRIA DEFINITIVA DE UM EVENTO QUE MARCOU UMA ERA. No século XI, um vasto exército cristão, convocado para a guerra santa pelo papa, invadiu o mundo muçulmano do Mediterrâneo oriental, tomando posse de Jerusalém, uma cidade reverenciada por ambas as religiões. Ao longo dos duzentos anos que se seguiram a esta Primeira Cruzada, o Islã e o Ocidente lutaram pelo domínio da Terra Santa, travando uma sucessão de guerras assustadoramente brutais, ambos firmes na crença de que estavam fazendo...

First published in 1999, this edition of Walter the Chancellor’s account of the wars of the Antiochenes against the Muslims in the early twelfth century is a vivid first-hand account of a dramatic yet less well-known period in the history of the northern Crusader states, and an important balance to the more usual focus on Jerusalem. As a highly-placed Antiochene official, Walter was able to write the most authoritative account of the principality's fortunes and internal workings, and his b...