Introduction
1: Frankish Expansion
2: Friends and Foes (1099-1129)
3: Aleppo and Damascus (1117-1129): The challenge of the Big
Cities
4: The evolving balance of power (1130s-1148)
5: The rise of Nur al-Din 1149-1174
6: Saladin and the battle Hattin
7: Innovation and cross-cultural exchange in the evolution of Near
Eastern warfare
Why did the Crusader States lose the contest for the Near East?
Nicholas Morton is a lecturer in History at Nottingham Trent
University where he specialises in the history of the Crusades, the
Military Orders, and the Medieval Mediterranean. He is especially
interested in interfaith relations, medieval biblical exegesis, and
military history, and has written extensively on these themes. His
recent publications include: The Field of Blood: The Battle for
Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East (2018),
The Uses of the Bible in Crusader Sources (2017, co-edited with
Elizabeth Lapina), and Encountering Islam on the First Crusade
(2016). He is also an editor of the Routledge series: Rulers of the
Latin East and The
Military Religious Orders: History, Sources and Memory.
In The Crusader States & Their Neighbours: A Military History,
1099-1187, Nicholas Morton takes a fresh look at the history of the
military encounters between the Frankish states of the Latin East
and their various Christian and Muslim neighbors in the twelfth
century. Morton's work differs from that of others in his careful
situation of the Latin polities within their Levantine context for
understanding of how and why Frankish armies and their commanders
operated the way they did.
*Ann E. Zimo, University of New Hampshire, Journal of British
Studies *
For general readers, perhaps the most important conclusion of
Morton's book is that because such a complex and evolving
political, cultural, and religious climate characterized the Near
East, both alliances and wars were not driven by religious ideology
alone ... This volume therefore breaks new ground in military
history and should become required reading for those interested in
the history of the crusades, conflicts in the Near East, and the
Mediterranean.
*Jessalynn Bird, Sehepunkte*
Morton ambitiously sets out to offer a comprehensive analysis of
all the military activity of the region in the twelfth century,
with as many military episodes considered as possible, from the
smallest to the largest. In this, he has succeeded impressively.
The results of his extensive research have led to not only an
invaluable book on warfare in the Middle East in the twelfth
century, but one which also contributes notably to our
understanding of medieval warfare in general. It is a thoroughly
engrossing read.
*Sean McGlynn, Global Military Studies Review*
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