November is traditionally the SF month in the blogging community but this year, due to job reasons, is going for me to be Medieval history month. Therefore it is not surprising that the books on my desk (virtual or otherwise) are all nonfiction (albeit one does read like a novel).
1. The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge. If you decide to go past movies spectacular but painfully devoid of historical accuracy (I’m thinking of you, Kingdom of Heaven) and find out more about the Crusades, this is where you begin.
Here’s the blurb: “The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge—a renowned historian who writes with “maximum vividness” (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker)—covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, readable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history. From Richard the Lionheart to the mighty Saladin, from the emperors of Byzantium to the Knights Templar, Asbridge’s book is a magnificent epic of Holy War between the Christian and Islamic worlds, full of adventure, intrigue, and sweeping grandeur.”
2. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf. Of course, no Western history of the Crusades is complete without reading the other side’s view of the events. Before going deeper into the historical sources, I thought this could be a good starting point. If nothing because, written by a Lebanese-born, French-speaking writer, it is the easiest to understand for a European like me who has lived and studied several years in East Asia but knows little of the Middle East.
“Amin Maalouf has sifted through the works of a score of contemporary Arab chroniclers of the Crusades, eyewitnesses and often participants in the events. He retells their stories in their own vivacious style, giving us a vivid portrait of a society rent by internal conflicts and shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. He retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, and offers fascinating insights into some of the forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today.” (From the back cover).
3. Directorium Inquisitorum by Nicholas Eymerich. The Dominican friar Nicholas Eymerich is probably as popular in fiction as it is in history.
Appointed Inquisitor General of Aragon in 1357, was one of the most famous Inquisitors ever (together with Bernardo Gui and Torquemada) and wrote this massive 800-page treaty where he analyses and discusses various types of heresies, canonical and civil law, and proper trial procedure. It will be used over the centuries as a real ‘manual for Inquisitors’, and it’s fundamental reading for everybody who wants to understand more about the historical face of the Inquisition. Cornell University has a copy of the 1607 Venetian printed edition here. (If Medieval Latin puts you off, you can probably locate one of the many translations in English or French in your local university’s library. There are also some available on Amazon, unfortunately not for free).
While I’m aware of the FY series centered on the fictional character of the inquisitor Eymerich, I confess my ignorance of the fact he was a historical figure. And he wrote a sort of manual for inquisitors? I just shudder at the thought… But I’m intrigued nonetheless! 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
There are also a lot of novels with Eymerich by Valerio Evangelisti (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerio_Evangelisti), albeit I am not sure they’ve been translated into English yet. And a game, of course. He certainly is an intriguing character. 😀
Interesting that people are still reading Maalouf’s work! What’s more, the only other book I know about covering this topic is Gabrieli’s Arab Historians of the Crusades, published about the same time (early 80’s IIRC) and also well worth reading.
I wonder, though… are there no more recent books on this topic? Or have I just not noticed them?
Hello, thanks for contributing this and for the reference (I have taken good note)! Actually the first in this list (The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge) is quite recent and it DOES take into consideration Arab sources as well, especially about Salad Ah-Din. Definitively a good one on the subject.