The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives / Edition 1

by Carole Hillenbrand

Overview

At the 900th anniversary of the Crusader capture of Jerusalem, it is timely to reflect on how the phenomenon of the Crusades influenced the Muslim world, then and now, militarily, culturally and psychologically. This book discusses a group of themes designed to highlight how Muslims reacted to the alien presence of the Crusaders in the heart of traditional Muslim territory. Ideological concerns are examined and the importance of the jihad is assessed in the context of the gradual recovery of the Holy Land and the expulsion of the Crusaders. Two chapters are devoted to an analysis of warfare - arms, battles, sieges, fortifications - on the basis of written sources and extant works of art, and the neglected aspect of the navy is brought into prominence. One chapter deals with the complex issue of the interaction between Muslims and Crusaders in a social, economic and cultural setting. The epilogue traces in outline the profound impact of the Crusades on Muslim consciousness until the present day.This is not a chronological survey of the events of the period 1099 to 1291and even beyond, for that has already been done several times. Instead, this is a general book intended to introduce some of the wider aspects of the history of the Crusades from the Muslim side. Accordingly, as a deliberate policy, an attempt is made here to view the phenomenon of the Crusades entirely through the prism of medieval Muslim sources. This naturally involves bias, but such a bias is salutary given the cumulative impact of centuries of Eurocentric scholarship in this field and it should help to create a more balanced picture of this fascinating and momentous period of Christian/Muslim confrontation and interaction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748606306
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	07/28/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	704
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Carole Hillenbrand is Honorary Professorial Fellow, Professor Emerita at the University of Edinburgh and Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews since 2013. In 2005 she became the first non-Muslim scholar to be awarded the prestigious King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies, reflecting her ‘revolutionary approach to the largely one-sided subject of the Crusades’. She is author of The Crusades (EUP, 1999), The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate (Albany, 1989), A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times (Brill, 1990), and co-editor (with C. E. Bosworth) of Qajar Iran, (Edinburgh, 1984) and editor of The Sultan's Turret (Brill, 1999).

Table of Contents

Contents: 1. Prologue; 2. The First Crusade and the Muslims' Initial Reactions to the Coming of the Franks; 3. Jihad in the Perios 493-569/1100-1174; 4. Jihad in the Period from the Death of Nur al-Din until the Fall of Acre (569-690/1174-1291); 5. How the Muslims Saw the Franks: Ethnic and Religious Stereotypes; 6. Aspects of Life in the Levant in the Crusading Period; 7. Armies, Arms, Armour and Fortifications; 8. The Conduct of War; 9. Epilogue: The Heritage of the Crusades

Editorial Reviews

The Crusades from a Western viewpoint have produced a very rich and abundant bibliography for more than a century. On the other hand, very few studies on the Muslim response to the Crusade have appeared. For the first time the subject is tackled here globally and an attempt is made to explain, through a deep analysis of the Arabic sources, the motives and aims of the Muslims … This work - which shows very clearly the impact which the Crusades have had in Islamic territory up until our own time - is a remarkable contribution to the history of relations between east and west.

Anne-Marie Edde

Rather than chronicle events from 1099 to 1291, as many others have done, Hellenbrand (Islamic history, U. of Edinburgh) introduces some of the wider aspects of the history of the Crusades from the Muslim side, exploring how they reacted to the alien presence in the heart of traditional Muslim territory. She also traces the military, cultural, and psychological heritage of the invasion and occupation from then to the present. She includes an abundance of illustrations and maps. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

This is ground-breaking work, and its value lies not only in the detailed reportage, but also in the way Carole Hillenbrand gives western historians a guide to source material, either unknown to them or available only in partial translation, and introduces her readers to the mindset of medieval Muslims, providing an entirely different angle from which to look at the crusading movement. By putting modern ideas into context the book will enable readers in both the western and Islamic worlds to understand better events which to some extent are shaping the present.

Jonathan Riley-Smith

"a valuable work of serious scholarly synthesis... Heavily annotated and lavishly illustrated, The Crusades is a most welcome book... The Crusades is a major contributor to the goal of a more "holistic" overview of the crusades. More than a textbook, it certainly can be used as one. Historians and teachers of the medieval eastern Mediterranean now have an extremely useful resource at their fingertips; it unfolds the complexity of the Muslim opposition to the Crusades, and presents a careful introduction to many aspects of Muslim history... Hillenbrand's book takes major strides toward unpacking and revealing what contemporary eyes may have seen." — MESA Bulletin
"[T]he author aims at providing an 'outline for future research' as well as engaging students and the general public Themes covered extend beyond mere chronology to topics in theology, warfare, art and literature, popular and material culture." — Middle East Journal
"A remarkable contribution to the history of relations between east and west." — Anne-Marie Eddé
"Ground-breaking work." — Jonathan Riley-Smith
"A landmark." — London Review of Books
"Hillenbrand's The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives offers specialist and nonspecialist readers a wonderful starting point for all future studies of Muslim and Arab responses to the Crusades. Hillenbrand has succeeded very well in writing a rather comprehensive compilation of primary and secondary sources without sacrificing academic rigor or remaining too general." — Albert Hernández, Iliff School of Theology,Journal of the American Academy of Religion

From the Publisher