The Crusader World

Selected for the Outstanding Academic Title (OAT) Award 2017 by CHOICE magazine. Crusade studies are increasingly popular, and this multidisciplinary survey of recent and current research is a very authoritative collection of essays by well-known and emerging scholars that will play a significant role in the direction of future crusade research. This impressive tome is divided into eight sections by topic; each part contains several of the 37 chapters, each by a different author and with extensive footnotes and references at the end of the chapters. This very scholarly volume fulfills its goal of being an overview of the dynamic and vibrant scholarship that is determining the central issues that should be and/or are already attracting new interest and research. The essays cover an extensive range of topics, including the role of the papacy and church, the involvement of women, mercenaries, the military-religious orders, pragmatic cross-religious alliances and coexistence, cultural and religious exchanges, religious pilgrimages and missionary activities, the practices of Italian merchants, the role of Byzantium, the Latin kingdoms in the East, and new archaeological evidence. All of these traditional and new avenues of research provide an enhanced view of the world of the crusaders. This volume will serve as the starting point for all future crusade research for years to come. Especially for serious scholars and libraries with major crusade collections. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. - G. G. Guzman, Bradley University, CHOICE