Wielding their swords in the name of their faith, the crusaders originally set out to reclaim Jerusalem and its surrounding territory in the Middle East. Increasingly, however, Eastern Europe and the last remaining bastions of pagan Europe became the targets of their religious zeal. The era officially began in 1147, when the Saxons, Danes, and Poles, responding to Pope Eugene III's call, initiated a crusade against the Wends of the Southern Baltic. This was followed by crusades against the Livonians, Estonians, Finns, Prussians, and Lithuanians. By the 13th century much of the responsibility for sustaining these crusades fell to the Teutonic Knights, a military order formed in the Holy Land in 1190. They were aided by the constant support of the Roman pontiff and by a steady flow of mercenaries from throughout Christendom. The subsequent Scandinavian campaigns laid the foundations of modern Baltic society by destroying pagan rural farming settlements, and establishing fortified Christian towns and major castles. As with the majority of crusades, the prospective acquisition of land and power was the one of the key driving forces behind these bloody military expeditions. This book reveals the colorful history of these Crusades when the soldiers of the Pope fought their way across Eastern Europe and inexorably changed the future of the continent.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Great images, interesting and bold history.:
The amount of information within this book is amazing. The history is graphic, real and heroic.
Good:
I thought it was a good book but it did not have very much info in it and the middle pictures were not great.
Long Live McBride!:
If you like the wizard of Middle Ages Europe Illustrations then get this one. While the text is fairly good, the Illustrations are the reason why I bought this book.
A key pick.:
D. Lindholm and D. Nicolle's THE SCANDINAVIAN BALTIC CRUSADES 1100-1500 covers the weaponry, armor and ships of the expeditions of the Scandinavian Catholics against the pagans to the east of the Baltics. This is a specialty coverage indeed and so will be limited to collections strong in early military history - but little has been written about this phase of the medieval Crusades and so it's a key pick.
