Chronicles of the Crusades (Dover Military History, Weapons, Armor) - Softcover

Villehardouin, Geoffrey; De Joinville, Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486454363 ISBN 13: 9780486454368

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2007

Synopsis

This book features two eyewitness accounts of the Crusades: Villehardouin's Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople and Joinville's Chronicle of the Crusade of St. Lewis. A pair of engrossing narratives by actual participants, these are among the most authoritative accounts available of the medieval Holy Wars. They recount terrifying scenes from the battlefields that recapture the horror of warfare, and offer invaluable insights into the religious and political fervor that sparked the two hundred-year campaign.
The first reliable history of the Crusades, Villehardouin's work spans the era of the Fourth Crusade, from 1199–1207. It traces the path of a small army of crusaders who despite overwhelming odds captured the city of Constantinople. Joinville's chronicle focuses on the years 1248–1254, the time of the Seventh Crusade. Written by a prominent aid to King Louis of France, it offers personal perspectives on the pious monarch and his battles in the Holy Lands. Both of these highly readable histories provide rare glimpses of medieval social, economic, and cultural life in the context of the crusaders' quest for honor, piety, and glory.

About this title

About the Author:

Jean de Joinville was a thirteenth-century medieval French chronicler. His most famous work is Life of St. Louis, a biography of Louis IX of France that chronicled the Seventh Crusade.

Geoffrey de Villehardouin was a soldier and historian who took part in, and wrote extensively on, the Fourth Crusade. His eyewitness account of the 1204 conquest of Constantinople is the earliest surviving French historical narrative.

Caroline Smith studied history at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, from where she graduated with a PhD in 2004. Her publications include Crusading in the Age of Joinville (2006). She lives and works in New York, where she continues to pursue her research on the crusades and thirteenth-century French society, and on the life and writings of John of Joinville.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0486454363
• ISBN 13: 9780486454368
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336