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Title: Homer: Iliad Book XXIV by Homer, Colin W. Macleod, P. E. Easterling, Philip Hardie, Richard Hunter, E. J. Kenney ISBN: 0-521-28620-4 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 04 March, 1982 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.76 (21 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: You have entered a master's house.
Comment: I first encountered this extraordinary history back in the early '70s as a medieval student and then again some years ago beyond study and therefore with considerably more money-at least compared to a student-and I was able to purchase this wonderful set.
I freely admit not having read the three volumes cover to cover but have parachuted in to various topics within the span of information covered by the set and I can attest to the brilliance of Runciman's writing. He represents the best of historical writing in that he is the undoubted master of his sources and their subject matter but he can also convey the extraordinary complexity of these centuries in a writing style that is at once understandable and also colourful. To my mind he is the best of the best because, as undoubted master of his subject, he is also able to tease out and convey the human interest, the drama and the wrenching saddness of all that was the Crusades.
Steven Runciman has transcended history as few other historians of any time have been able to do. He has imbued the structure of history with the richness of a night at the opera or theatre-the reader is presented with the panoply of humanness at every turn and I believe this is the true mark of a master's hand.
Rating: 5
Summary: Gripping Tale of the Rise & Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Comment: This second volume of Steven Runciman's three-volume history of the crusades is a masterful piece of scholarship and historiography. If all historians read Runciman's History of the Crusades and learned of his style, there would be fewer complaints from readers that histories are dry, crusty stories.
Indeed, Runciman artfully weaves several elements such as the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the zenith of Byzantium and the ascension of the Turkish power in the persons of Zenghi, Nur ed-din and Saladin powerful, gripping narrative that brings the rogues and heroes of the crusades to life. Runciman skillfully explains the court intrigues behind the scenes in the crusader kingdom and fiefdoms, the delicate balance of power between Byzantium and the Frankish east and the Turks and the rivalry between Turkish clans and leaders.
This second novel concerns the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, its place in the three-volume set is critical in that Runciman articulates a few of his his theories concerning the lessons learned from the crusades, and they are difficult to refute. Runciman of particular relevance to contemporary foreign policy in that region, Runciman notices that the politically fractious Turks discovered a unifying force in the presence of the alien Franks, which became a focal point in the development of a pan-Turkish/Muslin identity and a nexus for action. Also, Runciman argues that first-generation crusaders acclimated to local political and cultural customs and could have co-existed to some degree with the Turks and Muslims had it not been for the brash crusaders that arrived after the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and viewed the situation in more stark, black-and-white terms. Runciman also holds that the Latins could have made more effective use of Byzantium in formulating policy for the east rather than competing with it in some instances and altogether ignoring it in others. Finally, while Runciman assumes that the triumph of Islam in the crusades was an inevitability (mostly due to the policies chosen by the petty nobles that arrived in the east after the first crusade to aggrandize rather than consolidate crusader power) there were shrewd, far-sighted individuals and more of these distinguished men could have stemmed the tide a bit longer. In other words, qualities such as leadership and "the vision thing" are timeless.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Worst of Both Worlds
Comment: This, with volumes II and III, is the definitive history of the Crusades. Runciman refrained from opinion, but is very clear about the background of the Crusades. From the first century, the Holy Land was in Christian hands, and Christians and Jews dwelt together in relative peace. In the eighth century Arab Muslims conquered the Holy Land, but mostly left Christians and Jews alone to live their own lives. But toward the end of the first millenium, Seljuk Turks moved into this area and persecution began. Pilgrimages, which had been conducted from the first century were forbidden, and it was dangerous for Christians to enter the domain of the Turks.
The main story begins with the call of Pope Urban for an army to take back the Holy Land so that pilgrimages might resume. Runciman shows how the pope's vision was not to be implemented. Almost the only armies that responded were Franks from what is today France and Germany. Those Franks had undergone mass baptism several centuries earlier when their king, Clovis, had been converted. Their conversion appears to have been incomplete, and they were not only warlike, but accustomed to raiding their neighbors, looting and killing and destroying the land. On their way to the Holy Land they passed through the Christian country of Byzantium and caused no end of trouble for the Byzantines. When they arrived in the Holy Land, they drove the Muslims out and established several "Christian" kingdoms which endured in an unstable peace until the Muslims grew stronger and reconquered the land and drove out the Frankish princes. As C. S. Lewis remarked, after reading Runciman's account, both sides were a bunch of thugs, except for Saladin.
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Title: The Fall of Constantinople 1453 by Steven Runciman ISBN: 0521398320 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf ISBN: 0805208984 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 29 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades by Jonathan Riley-Smith ISBN: 0192854283 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The First Crusade by Steven Runciman ISBN: 0521427053 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 31 January, 1992 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Chronicles of the Crusades by Geoffrey De Villehardouin, Jean De Joinville, Margaret R. Shaw ISBN: 0140441247 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: October, 1963 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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