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A History of the Crusades I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Steven Runciman

A History of the Crusades I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

The first volume of Steven Runciman's classic, hugely influential trilogy on the history of the Crusades

'On a February day in the year AD 638 the Caliph Omar entered Jerusalem, riding upon a white camel'

An enthralling work of grand historical narrative, Steven Runciman's A History of the Crusadesoverturned the traditional view of the Crusades as a romantic Christian adventure, and instead shifted the focus of the story to the East. With verve and drama, volume one of Runciman's trilogy tells the story of the First Crusade - from its unlikely beginnings in pilgrimage to the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem and the carving out of new territory on the edge of the eastern Mediterranean.

Book Details:

  • Author: Steven Runciman
  • On Submission
  • Rights Sold
    • Spain: Alianza Editorial
    • China: Ginkgo
    • Germany: Beck
    • France: Soc d’ed Les Belles Lettres
Steven Runciman

Steven Runciman

Sir  Steven Runciman (1903- 2000)   was a leading expert on the history of the Byzantine Empire and the Crusades. His three-volume work, A History of the Crusades, was published in 1951–54 to wide acclaim and was followed by The Fall of Constantinople, 1453 (1965), another highly praised work. Runciman served as a lecturer at the University of Cambridge from 1932 to 1938 and as a professor of Byzantine art and history at the University of Istanbul from 1942 to 1945, but for most of his life he was an independent scholar. 
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Book Reviews

  • "Without question one of the major feats of contemporary historical writing."
    New York Times
  • "The historian whose magisterial works transformed our understanding of Byzantium, the medieval church and the crusades."
    Guardian