The experience of crusading

The study of the crusades is one of the most thriving areas of medieval history.

This collection of thirty-four essays by leading researchers in the field reflects the best of contemporary scholarship.

The subjects handled are remarkably wide-ranging, focusing on the history of the Latin East and its place in the context of Mediterranean trade and Near Eastern political developments.

Chronologically, the essays range from the church's approach towards warfare in the pre-crusade era, to the way in which historians in more recent centuries have chosen to reconstruct the medieval epoch.

Comprising two volumes of collected essays, The Experience of Crusading has been published to celebrate the 65th birthday of Jonathan Riley-Smith, the leading British historian of the crusades.

The volumes include an appreciation of his work on the crusades and on the military orders, as well as his contribution to the study of the Latin East.