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Pages: 365 p. NEW. Hardback. Illustrations:3 b/w Language(s):English. Brepols, Publication Year:2021 - SUMMARY This book represents the first work of history dedicated to the crusade of King Conrad III of Germany (1146 48), emperor-elect of the Western Roman Empire and the most powerful man yet to assume the Cross. Even so, many of the people following the king on the Second Crusade were dead before they reached Constantinople and their ranks were devastated in Anatolia. Yet he went on to join with his fellow kings, Louis VII of France and Baldwin III of Jerusalem, in an attempt to capture the city of Damascus, the most powerful Muslim stronghold in southern Syria. Their unsuccessful attack lasted just five days. The recriminations for the many privations and problems the Germans suffered and encountered in Byzantium, Anatolia and Outremer were long and loud and have echoed down the ages: German indiscipline and poor leadership, Byzantine deceit and duplicity, and the self-serving interests of a Latin Jerusalemite nobility were and still are blamed for the various failings of the expedition. Scrutinising the original source evidence to an unparalleled degree and employing a range of innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches, this work challenges the traditional and more recent historiography at every turn leading to a significantly clearer and appreciably different understanding of the expedition s complex and much maligned history. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements Note on Names and Translations Maps Abbreviations Introduction Chapter One - Key Texts Odo of Deuil s De profectione Ludovici VII in orientem The Greek Texts Verse Encomia and So-Called Manganeios Prodromos The Epitomae of John Kinnamos s History Niketas Choniates s Historia Chapter Two - Prelude The Staufer-Komnenian Alliance Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux and King Conrad III of Germany Conrad III s Iter: Royal Command and Princely Assent Chapter Three - Practicalities Composition of the Army Numerical Size of the Army Victualling on the Via Militaris in 1096 and 1147 Chapter Four - The Army in the Balkans and its Arrival at Constantinople Braničevo to Naissos Sardika to Philippopolis Philippopolis Philippopolis to Adrianople Adrianople Adrianople to Choirobakchoi Choirobakchoi The Arrival of the German Army at Constantinople Violence at the Philopation Chapter Five - The Army at Constantinople Conrad III, Manuel I and the Stand-Off Outside Constantinople Byzantine Reception Ceremonial Louis VII of France and the French Barons: Fealty and Homage Conrad III and Manuel I: Proud Inheritors of the Imperial Title of Old Rome Pikridion and the Propaganda of Legitimisation Pikridion and the Emperor s Ascendency over the Staufer Pretenders Chapter Six - Twelfth-Century Western Anatolia Chapter Seven - The Army at Nikaia The Bosphoros to Nikaia The Pöhlde Annals and the Army s Arrival at Nikaia The Route Between Nikaia and Ikonion Victualling and Logistics Otto of Freising and the Division of the Army Chapter Eight - The Advance Towards Ikonion Traditional Interpretations of the Failure to Advance on Ikonion The Advance Beyond Dorylaion The Collapse of the Campaign The mob on foot which was unable to follow the army For every time our lines strove to charge them, the enemy broke ranks These men of Belial Chapter Nine - Retreat, Detour and Return to Constantinople At the request of our princes and barons, we led the army back to the sea The Dorylaion Türkmens and the Attacks on the German Army The Retreat to Nikaia and Detour to Ephesos Conrad III s Return to Constantinople and the Strengthening of the Staufer-Komnenian Alliance Chapter Ten - The Crusade in Outremer Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch The Council of Palmarea and the Decision to Attack Damascus Current Interpretations for the Failure of the Attack on Damascus A Further Explanation for the Failure of the Attack on Damascus Conclusions Appendix: Itinerary of Conrad s Crusade Bibliogr SFMAC N°. Seller Inventory # 00721
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