The Crusades: An Islamic Perspective

✍ Scribed by Carole Hillenbrand

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 704
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

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.

Hillenbrands introduces 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.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Expanded Contents List
Preface to the second edition
List of Plates
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration and Translations
Note on the Illustrations
Glossary of Islamic Terms
Glossary of Arabic Military Terms
Chronological List of Major Medieval Islamic Authors Mentioned in the Text
Chronological Table of Important Events until the Fall of Acre in 690/1291
Dynastic Tables
Key to Abbreviations Used in the Text
Sources for the Illustrations
Chapter 1: Prologue
Chapter 2: The First Crusade and the Muslims’ Initial Reactions to the Coming of the Franks
Chapter 3: Jihad in the Period 493–569/1100–1174
Chapter 4: Jihad in the Period from the Death of Nur al-Din until the Fall of Acre (569–690/1174–1291)
Chapter 5: How the Muslims Saw the Franks: Ethnic and Religious Stereotypes
Chapter 6: Aspects of Life in the Levant in the Crusading Period
Chapter 7: Armies, Arms, Armour and Fortifications
Chapter 8: The Conduct of War
Chapter 9: Epilogue: The Heritage of the Crusades
Bibliography
Index