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The gripping story of the First Crusade, as witnessed firsthand The fall of Jerusalem in 1099 to an army of exhausted and starving western European soldiers was one of the most extraordinary events in history--with a legacy that remains controversial more than nine centuries later. This remarkable collection contains firsthand accounts from the knights, religious leaders, and peasants who experienced the First Crusade in all its cruelty and strangeness. Edited with an introduction and notes by one of the foremost experts on the Crusades, Chronicles of the First Crusade is a comprehensive look at the climax of Christian fervor and the record of an ultimately futile attempt to implant a European kingdom in an overwhelmingly Muslim world. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.… (more)
User reviews
If nothing else, these accounts reveal the reality that there were black-hats and white-hats all mixed up in the Crusader's troops, as even the Christian armies sought one another's destruction at various times. The Greek emperor's attempts to minimise losses when engaged by Latin Christians is heartening; he sought to injure and dissuade their attacks rather than destroy them utterly. The reality of war is that not all motives are for the "cause", and the opportunities presented by the chaos means that "bad-men" are going to try and profit from the plans of the good-guys. But the good-guys shine that much brighter because of it.
Ignore the commentary —if you tire of the now-popular approach to paint every action of the West as wholly evil or misguided (Crusades = all bad)—, although some of the explanatory footnotes are helpful. A book like this would profit from more maps with detailed movements of the troops during key battles and skirmishes. Maps are always a bonus when dealing with very complex confrontations.