The Crusades and the Soldiers of the Cross: The 10 Most Important Crusaders, From German Emperors to Charismatic Hermits, Child Armies, and Warrior Lepers by Michael Rank

 The Crusades and the Soldiers of the Cross: The 10 Most Important Crusaders, From German Emperors to Charismatic Hermits, Child Armies, and Warrior Lepers by Michael Rank

Synopsis: 'The Crusades and the Soldiers of the Cross' is an exciting new book by best-selling author and historian Michael Rank about the quest to retake the Holy Land. It looks at the lives and times of the 10 most important people in one of the most interesting times in history, covering 1095 to 1212.

Whether it is Peter the Hermit raising an army of 100,000 peasants to fight in the Holy Land with nothing but pitchforks or Baldwin IV personally leading his forces against Saladin despite having terminal leprosy, these larger-than-life figures were all drawn to the Holy Land and compelled to forsake their vast land holdings while embarking on a dangerous adventure against a superior enemy.

This book will look at the reasons for these 10 figures joining the crusade. Perhaps it was for glory in battle, as was the case for Richard the Lionheart. For others it was simple curiosity, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, who added dramatic panache to the whole affair and brought along 300 female servants donned in decorative armor and carrying lances while on the march to Jerusalem. For many it was a simple faith conviction, such as the thousands of child crusades, who legend has it marched to the Mediterranean sea and expected it to open for them as the Red Sea had done for Moses.

Whatever their background, these 10 crusaders demonstrate that a person willing to brave the enormously dangerous journey -- traveling to to a different continent over land no less -- had a personality fitting for the fascinating time in which they lived.
  

Review: The book provides facts about various crusades in a very dry way. I found some of the facts interesting but didn't ever found anything exciting or enthusiast, it read more like a textbook than a fun read.

Because of the coldness of the writing I never felt any connection to the historical figures and didn't really care how they fared.

I do have some knowledge of the medieval period, but I am by no means a historical buff, still I found myself knowing a lot about what I was reading and a lot of the information in here is probably well known.

Quite a few of the ten chapters overlapped and information in one could be read about in another. Also some of the crusades in this book were very similar to others and even if there were some differences it felt too similar and I would have preferred to have read about a more varied tales.

Because each chapter was short, the information on each crusade was limited and I felt I was missing out on a lot.

Overall this was an okay read, perhaps a nice afternoon read if you fancy an easy historical read even if it wasn't particularly exciting.

In full disclosure I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

Rating **