God's War: A New History of the Crusades (review)

It seems that there is no end to books about the crusades. A great number of academic titles and popular histories on various aspects of crusading are published at regular intervals, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all that is written about this vast field of historical inquiry. And yet, there are books that stand out from among the many, such as Christopher Tyerman's God's War, imposing by its impressive length of over 1000 pages alone. The dust jacket announces God's War as "the definitive account of a fascinating and horrifying story" and compares it to Sir Steven Runciman's well-loved and much-published "classic study of the Crusades." Harvard University Press may have good reasons for marketing the book in the way it does, but to the professional historian such pre-emptive praise rings alarm bells. Firstly Runciman's work received a less than guarded reception by crusade scholars when it first appeared some fifty years ago and was never accepted as a standard academic narrative. Secondly, if the postmodernist paradigm has taught us anything at all, it is that we no longer move in a world of "definitive" histories. But let us not judge the author by the foibles of his publisher. Tyerman has written an admirable work of synthesis based on his vast knowledge and up-to-date expertise as a crusade scholar. His narrative is pleasing to read, offering sound judgments and profound insights on a topic which spans 500 years of European history and encompasses most parts of medieval Europe. In short, with current world politics and the military conflicts in the Middle East having led to a renewed interest in the history of the crusades, God's War has all the ingredients to become a publishing success. Or has it? The format of the book is not easy to grasp. For the general reader this is not an easy book to read, as it provides a dense account filled with copious detail and numerous references to wider historical contexts. This requires a fair amount of previous knowledge or additional reading to appreciate the full strength of Tyerman's arguments. By the same token, however lucid, Tyerman's narrative is told in a basically academic language which relies on technical terms such as, for example, "redemption of vows" or "legatine power." Many a general reader would probably want an explanation of such terms. God's War, of course, might also be aimed at the undergraduate student, who can be expected to deal with these challenges. If read as a first introduction to the history of the crusades, students might indeed come away with a good grounding upon which to graft their own analytical inquiries into the subject. But despite its apparent qualities, I for my part would be reluctant to use God's War in undergraduate teaching for a number of reasons. First of all Tyerman's overall approach to the history of crusading seems old-fashioned considering the efforts crusade scholars have undertaken in recent years in assigning a new scope to the subject. In essence, Tyerman's is largely a straightforward chronological history of the crusading expeditions to the Holy Land between 1095 and 1291 and of the colonial settlements in Palestine which accompanied them. Out of 1000 pages, the crusades in Spain and the Baltic together are assigned a mere fifty. The political crusades, which are summarily mentioned in less than two pages, and the crusades of the post-1300 era fare even worse. Also there is no systematic treatment of thematic issues such as, for example, ideology, finance, propaganda, or the involvement of women in the crusades. This is not to say that Tyerman does not bring these elements into his narrative. But for properly understanding the crusade as a phenomenon and an institution a more rigorous and more coherent treatment of these structural components is essential. Taken on...