The Crusades

Abstract

Less than a year after one textbook on the crusades, Routledge have produced another. The earlier volume, by John France (rev. ante, cxxi (2006), 829) was a substantial and detailed work. Nikolas Jaspert's synthesis is, by contrast, a sketch. Both are designed for the student market, although Professor Jaspert's study is more clearly aimed at a market primarily in North America. Translated from the original German edition of 2003, it contains features accessible to students in a hurry to receive a general picture of the subject. Each chapter begins with a relevant list of dates, unfortunately not always accurate: the Damietta crusade was in 1218, not 1219–21 (p. 35), an error repeated on page 57; and Baibars was not Sultan of Egypt at the battle of Ain Jalut (p. 36), only after it. There are a number of other factual slips and typos in the text as well: for example,...