Books about Crusading from Amazon.com

THE WIZARD AT WAR

From beyond the mountains, a monstrous scourge sweeps down the steppes--a bloodthirsty barbarian horde, seemingly endless in numbers and hell-bent on conquest With each nation that falls before their murderous onslaught, the marauders draw closer to Merovence, where good Queen Alisande rules with the help of her husband, Royal Wizard Matt Mantrell.

Now Matt and Alisande receive an urgent call for help from Jerusalem-- destined to be the barbarians' next target. But when Matt arrives in the Holy City to assess the imminent threat, he makes a shocking discovery: The power-mad khan who rules the ravaging minions is in league with a far greater and more dreadful enemy! With the aid of his old ally the djinn princess, a giant talking bird, and a fledgling enchantress with the power to change into a cat, Matt must call upon every resource, magical and mortal, to defy the triumph of pure evil . . ..
Price: $18.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Order of St John of the Hospital of Jerusalem (or the Hospitallers as they are better known) has existed for almost a thousand years. It was established in Jerusalem in the mid-11th century to care for Christian pilgrims and its role initially was entirely non-combatant. But, as the wars of the crusades progressed, the Order took on a military role, at first simply protecting the pilgrims and then expressed as "defending the Holy Sepulchre to the last drop of blood and fighting the infidel wherever one can find them". The military arm of the Order quickly emerged as one of the most effective fighting forces of the era and was given responsibility for the construction and defense of several of the major fortresses of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, exercising considerable political and strategic influence. When Jerusalem and Acre fell at the end of the 13th century the Hospitallers moved to Cyprus and then established a new base in Rhodes, having taken the island by force. After two centuries there protecting Christian shipping and other interests in the region they were driven out by the Ottoman Turks and continued as a bastion of Christendom in Malta. In 1565 the Order achieved its greatest military success, beating off the massive forces of Suleiman the Magnificent in the Great Siege. They continued to be a force in the Mediterranean but finally capitulated tamely to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 and a much changed world. However, the Order of St John carry on their Christian work to this day with Priories all over the world, including North America, with support of the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem a key piece of their mission.

Dr Nicolle illuminates the world of the warrior Knight Hospitaller, both his training, skill at arms and campaign experience, and his beliefs and daily life at home, through centuries of religious and territorial conflict. Numerous color and black & white images support an absorbing narrative of adventure, courage and service.

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Price: $17.13 [Notify me when price goes down.]

""Riley-Smith marshals his case lucidly ""--Times Literary Supplement ""Riley-Smith's analysis of the formation of Crusading ideology offers a provocative new interpretation. . . . [His] scholarship is impeccable, and he supports his contentions with.
Price: $21.22 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In 1863, when Ida B. Wells was not yet two years old, the Emancipation Proclamation freed her from the bond of slavery For her family and others like them, it was a time of renewed faith in America s promise of freedom and justice for all. Blessed with a strong will, an eager mind, and a deep belief in this promise, young Ida never turned away from the challenges she faced.

She insisted on holding her family together after the death of her parents. She defied convention and went to court when a railroad company infringed on her rights. And she used her position as a journalist to speak out about injustice.

But Ida s greatest challenge arose after one of her friends was lynched. How could one headstrong young woman help free America from the shadow of lawlessness that loomed over the country?

Author Philip Dray tells the inspirational story of Ida B. Wells, from her birth into a slave family in Mississippi and her early encounters with racism to her lifelong commitment to end injustice. Award-winning illustrator Stephen Alcorn s remarkable illustrations recreate the tensions that threatened to upend a nation a century ago while paying tribute to a courageous American hero..
Price: $9.29 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Narratives of crusading have often been overlooked as a source for the history of women because of their focus on martial events, and perceptions about women inhibiting the recruitment and progress of crusading armies. Yet women consistently appeared in the histories of crusade and settlement, performing a variety of roles. While some were vilified as 'useless mouths' or prostitutes, others undertook menial tasks for the army, went on crusade with retinues of their own knights, and rose to political prominence in the Levant and and the West. This book compares perceptions of women from a wide range of historical narratives including those eyewitness accounts, lay histories and monastic chronicles that pertained to major crusade expeditions and the settler society in the Holy Land. It addresses how authors used events involving women and stereotypes based on gender, family role, and social status in writing their histories: how they blended historia and fabula, speculated on women's motivations, and occasionally granted them a literary voice in order to connect with their audience, impart moral advice, and justify the crusade ideal. Dr NATASHA R. HODGSON teaches at Nottingham Trent University..
Price: $79.76 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This is a revised edition of R. C. Smail's classic account of the military achievements of the Crusaders in the context of a 'feudal society organized for war'. A new bibliographical introduction and an updated bibliography have been provided by Christopher Marshall, while the original plates section has been replaced by a series of new subjects. In covering the period 1097-1193, this edition also complements Dr Marshall's own Warfare in the Latin East, 1192-1291, also available in a paperback edition..
Price: $26.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Tomaz Mastnak's provocative analysis of the roots of peacemaking in the Western world elucidates struggles for peace that took place in the high and late Middle Ages. Mastnak traces the ways that eleventh-century peace movements, seeking to end violence among Christians, shaped not only power structures within Christendom but also the relationship of the Western Christian world to the world outside. The unification of Christian society under the banner of "holy peace" precipitated a fundamental division between the Christian and non-Christian worlds, and the postulated peace among Christians led to holy war against non-Christians..
Price: $56.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]