Overview
In this work Michael Foss casts new light on the reality of and motives behind the Crusades in general, and in particular the First Crusade, which set the tone for all those that followed. As the eleventh century came to an end, the Christian lands of Western Europe were in trouble. Afflicted by repeated invasions from the north, by the collapse of internal order and safety, by the increasing laxity and ignorance of the clergy, and by the unrestrained tyranny of the feudal lords, life in the West was, as one philosopher described it, "nasty, brutish, and short." To make matters worse, the Seljuk Turks, recently converted to Islam, had overrun the Holy Land. Pope Urban II, searching for a way out of the increasing anarchy and to rid himself of unruly, marauding knights, exhorted the faithful, at the Council of Clermont in 1095, to free Jerusalem from the Infidels. The response was immediate and enthusiastic. Proud knights, poor peasants, artisans armed with pikes and bows and arrows - and often only sticks or clubs - set out on the great adventure, fighting or negotiating their way through strange, exotic lands, until, four long years later, the ragged remnants of the once proud army stood below the forbidding walls of Jerusalem. Michael Foss tells the stories of these men and women of the First Crusade, often in their own words, bringing the time and events to life. Through these eyewitness accounts the cliches of history vanish, the distinctions between hero and villain blur: the Saracen is as base or noble, as brave or cruel, as the crusader. In that sense, the fateful clash between Christianity and Islam teaches us a lesson for our own time. For the attitudes and prejudices expressed on both sides in the First Crusade became the basic currency for all later exchanges, down to our own day, between the two great monotheistic faiths of Mohammed and Christ.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
As a concise popular history, People of the First Crusade gives an engaging overview of the reasons for the first great Christian-Muslim "holy war," its gruesome progress and the confused aftermath. This is by no means a scholarly work (there is no bibliography and no footnotes), but Foss (The World of Camelot, Gods and Heroes) describes the historical background clearly enough for the general reader. To back up his belief that "the history of this crusade is as much a study in character as a story of warfare," Foss focuses on several major figures: Pope Urban, who had multiple motives for proposing the Crusade; the aristocratic leaders whose infighting weakened the Christian forces; and the wily Byzantine Emperor Alexius, who deftly played all sides. The most effective passages are the contemporary accountsboth Christian and Muslimof those who survived the three-year ordeal. These include some very vivid images of suffering that illustrate how ideals were soon buried in the rush for loot and power: Contrary to the ideal of chivalrous knights, the nobility were responsible for some of the worst savagery. Foss ultimately interprets the Crusade as a successful popular uprising. Since commoners provided most of the army's strength and kept the focus on Jerusalem, the ultimate conquest of the city seemed to prove that "God had given a stamp of approval to the aspirations and achievements of the poor." 22 illustrations, 7 maps. (Oct.)Booknews
Examines the First Crusade from the point of view of those who actually participated in it<-->from popes to foot soldiers, Christians to Saracens. Rather than interpreting the first hand accounts which he draws from, the author integrates them into the text, allowing the voices of the participants to speak directly to the reader. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.Kirkus Reviews
Foss, an independent historian, absorbingly tells the strange tale of Christendom's First Crusade (109799) to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule.In an attempt to unify Latin Christendom and defuse the threat of a Muslim invasion from the East, Pope Urban II, in a speech at Clermont, France, in 1095, urged military leaders to form an army of liberation and free the Holy Land from Muslim control. The pope's speech sparked an excess of pious idealism that outstripped common sense: Invoking the protection of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, popular leaders like Peter the Hermit led the first Crusaders, unmilitary mobs of peasants, who indulged in a series of brutal atrocities (a sanguinary pogrom against the Jewish community of Mainz was only the most spectacular) before being scattered by Turkish forces. Knights like Stephen of Blois and Godfrey of Bouillon assembled a more professional but still motley Christian army, notable from the first for its violence and lack of discipline. Driven by an intense religious fervor, the Christian army conducted total war against Muslims and Jews, showing no mercy to the elderly, women, or children. They defeated the forces sent against them, captured the cities of Antioch and Nicaea, and concluded the campaign with a successful assault on the Holy City of Jerusalem. In each case, a wanton slaughter of the inhabitants followed. Through three years of costly struggle, faith that sometimes was little more than superstition sustained the Crusaders: After the fall of Antioch, a seer named Peter Bartholomew claimed to have uncovered the lance that pierced Jesus' side, which was believed to ensure the ultimate victory of the Crusaders. Foss's account points up the irony of this war, in which religion was pressed into the cause of violence and brigandry, and concludes that "God—Allah—is not best served, if at all, by fighting."
A sobering narrative, well told, of a shameful episode that epitomized religious bigotry and intolerance.