Nine hundred years ago, at a church council in Clermont, Pope Urban II delivered an impassioned sermon, calling upon Frankish knights to vow to march to the East to free Christians from the yoke of Islamic rule and to liberate the tomb of Christ, the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, from Muslim control. Thus began the Crusades: the bloody and grueling battles pitched between European knights and the Islamic defenders over the course of two hundred years, movements that created the legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, military orders such as the Knights Templar, and an unusually rich tradition of art and architecture.
In The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, the story of the Crusades is told as never before in an engrossing, authoritative, and comprehensive history that ranges from the preaching of the First Crusade in 1095 to the legacy of the crusading ideals and imagery that continues today. Here are the ideas of apologists, propagandists, and poets about the Crusades, as well as the perceptions and motives of the crusaders themselves and the means by which they joined the movement--crusaders were required to "take the cross" (which involved making a vow, often at an emotional public gatherings under the influence of preachers whose business it was to whip their audiences up into a frenzy) and were foresworn to wear a cross on their clothing until they returned from their mission in the East. The authors describe the elaborate social and civic systems that arose to support the Crusades--taxation, for example, was formalized by the Church and monarchs to raise enormous funds needed to wage war on this scale; nearly 1,000,000 livres tournois were raised from the French church (out of estimated total expenses of some 3,000,000 livres) for Louis IX's first crusade in 1248. And here are vivid descriptions of the battles themselves, frightening, disorienting, and dangerous affairs, with keen and insightful commentary on the reactions of the Muslims to a Christian holy war. Extensively illustrated with hundreds of illustrations, maps, chronologies, and a guide to further reading, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades even includes coverage of crusades outside the eastern Mediterranean region and post-medieval crusades.
From descriptions of the battles and homefront conditions, to a throrough evaluation of the clash (and coalescence) of cultures, to the legacy of the crusading movement that continues into our conflict-torn twentieth-century, to the enduring artistic and social changes that the Crusades wrought, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades offers an unsurpassed panorama of one of the great movements in western history. This beautiful work will engage and inform anyone with an interest in the Crusades.
Jonathan Riley-Smith is Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge and is one of the world's leading authorities on the Crusades. His previous publications include The Atlas of the Crusades and The Crusades: A Short History.
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说实话,我一开始对这类题材的书籍是抱持着一种敬而远之的态度,总觉得历史叙事会过于枯燥和学术化,但这本书完全颠覆了我的想象。它的叙事节奏把握得极好,就像一部精心剪辑的史诗电影,高潮迭起,引人入胜。我几乎是连夜赶完了关于第三次十字军东征的部分,理查一世的个人魅力和战略布局,在作者的笔下显得栩栩如生,几乎能听到他盔甲碰撞的声音。最精彩的是对后勤补给线和经济基础的侧写。我们通常只关注刀剑和旗帜,但这本书非常巧妙地解释了,维持一支远征军穿越数千公里需要耗费多少金钱、多少物资,以及这如何反过来影响了发动战争的君主的财政状况。这种宏观视角与微观个体命运的结合,使得整个历史画卷立体而丰满。我尤其欣赏它对女性角色在十字军运动中扮演的隐形角色的挖掘,这些视角往往在传统历史著作中被轻易忽略。它不是一本让你看完后只会背诵日期的书,而是一本让你真正开始思考历史驱动力的书,非常具有启发性。
评分天呐,这本书简直是历史爱好者的一剂强心针!我花了整整一周的时间才勉强读完它,但那种酣畅淋漓的感觉至今难以忘怀。作者的笔触细腻得像是一位经验丰富的织工,将那些错综复杂的政治阴谋、信仰的狂热以及前线士兵的血与泪,如同丝线般精准地编织在一起。尤其让我印象深刻的是对拜占庭帝国衰落和西欧崛起之间那种微妙的权力转移的描绘。它不仅仅是在罗列年代和战役,更深入地探讨了“为什么”——为什么那些虔诚的信徒会选择跨越千山万水去争夺一块圣地?书中对十字军东征前夕的伊斯兰世界内部矛盾的剖析,简直是教科书级别的,它揭示了冲突的根源远比简单的“正义与邪恶”的二元对立要复杂得多。我特别喜欢它对于不同文化间交流与冲突的平衡视角,它没有将任何一方塑造成完全的英雄或恶棍,而是展示了在那个特定历史时期,不同人群是如何基于各自的认知和利益做出选择的。读完后,我感觉自己仿佛亲身走在了耶路撒冷那尘土飞扬的街道上,感受着不同信仰交汇时产生的巨大张力。这本书的深度和广度,绝对值得我珍藏在书架的最显眼位置,时不时拿出来重温一番。
评分我通常对需要大量地图和插图来辅助理解的历史书感到头疼,但《牛津插图历史》系列果然名不虚传。这本书的视觉呈现简直是艺术品级别的享受。那些古老的地图、手稿插图和考古遗址的照片,不仅是装饰,它们本身就是叙事的一部分。当读到关于阿卡被围攻的描述时,随之而来的高质量的战役图解,立刻将抽象的文字描述具象化了,极大地降低了理解复杂军事部署的难度。对于我这种依赖视觉辅助来构建历史空间感的读者来说,这简直是福音。特别是那些关于十字军盔甲演变和堡垒建筑风格的细致图示,展现了惊人的专业性。每张图片似乎都经过了精心的挑选和注释,与旁边的文字内容完美契合,相得益彰。这使得阅读过程不仅是知识的汲取,更是一种视觉上的沉浸体验。这本书在学术严谨性和大众可读性之间找到了一个近乎完美的平衡点,让即便是对军事史不太熟悉的读者也能轻松跟上节奏,并从中获得极大的满足感。
评分这本书最成功之处,我认为在于它对“遗产”的探讨。十字军东征的结束,并非故事的终结,而是新格局的开端。我非常欣赏最后几章关于十字军国家融入或被新兴力量(如马穆鲁克王朝)吞并的后续影响的论述。作者没有简单地将此视为一个“失败的篇章”,而是将其置于更广阔的地中海贸易和文化交流的历史长河中进行评估。这使得整部作品的视野从单一的军事冲突扩展到了跨文化的长期影响。例如,书中关于欧洲对伊斯兰科学、医学和哲学知识的重新发现和吸收的论述,让人耳目一新。它有力地反驳了那种认为东西方交流仅仅是冲突的狭隘观点。阅读过程中,我的思维一直在被引导,不断地将书中的信息与我已知的其他历史脉络进行连接和比对。这种启发性的阅读体验,让这本书超越了一般历史著作的界限,更像是一部关于文明互动与演变的研究报告。
评分如果用一个词来形容我的阅读体验,那大概是“震撼”。我必须承认,在阅读关于早期十字军(特别是第一次十字军东征)的段落时,我的心绪久久不能平静。那种夹杂着宗教狂热、军事纪律涣散和极端暴力的混合体,让人在情感上承受了巨大的冲击。作者对于早期十字军“非理性”的行为逻辑的分析,并没有用现代的道德标准去苛责,而是试图还原当时的思维模式,这是一种非常成熟的历史态度。我为之倾倒的是其严谨的史料运用,参考文献的广度令人咋舌,看得出作者投入了巨大的心血去比对不同的编年史和信件记录。每当叙述到一个关键转折点,总能看到脚注或附录中支撑论点的详细证据,这极大地增强了文本的可信度。对于那些对中世纪晚期军事组织结构和贵族义务体系感兴趣的读者来说,这本书提供了无与伦比的细节,远超出了普通入门读物的范畴。它是一部需要静心研读的鸿篇巨制,不是那种可以随意翻阅的消遣之作。
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