Crusaders

From the bestselling author of The Templars, Dan Jones brings you an exhilarating and expansive history of the Crusades. Crusaders delves into the dramatic and tumultuous sequence of religious wars fought between the late eleventh century and the late medieval period. These epic clashes between European Christian states and Islamic rulers aimed to control the Holy Land and have left an enduring legacy that still affects relations between the Muslim world and the West today.

Jones begins with the stirring call to arms by Pope Urban II in 1095, rallying Christian forces for the First Crusade. He then takes readers through the harrowing battles and sieges, including the pivotal capture of Jerusalem from the Fatimids in 1099, and leads up to the eventual fall of the last Crusader stronghold in Acre in 1291. The narrative is rich with colourful characters who embody both the noble aspirations and the darker ambitions that drove these campaigns. The tale is imbued with the passions and bloodshed of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish histories, meticulously unravelled.

Dan Jones, a master of popular narrative history, weaves a captivating story that balances page-turning drama with authoritative scholarship. With his trademark pacing, wit, and insight, he brings the era of the Crusades vividly to life, depicting its grandeur and sordidness with unparalleled clarity and enthusiasm. Never before has this period been illustrated in such bright and striking colours, or its story told with such energy and detail.

'Voyages, battles, sieges and slaughter: Dan Jones's tumultuous and thrilling history of the crusades is one of the best' SUNDAY TIMES.

'A powerful story brilliantly told. Dan Jones writes with pace, wit and insight' HELEN CASTOR.

'A fresh and vibrant account of a conflict that raged across medieval centuries' JONATHAN PHILLIPS.

For those who were captivated by The Templars, Jones delivers again in Crusaders with a narrative that is both gripping and enlightening. His ability to transform dense historical material into an engaging and accessible read is unrivalled, making this book not just a recounting of events, but an enthralling journey through time.

PRAISE FOR THE TEMPLARS:

'A fresh, muscular and compelling history of the ultimate military-religious crusading order, combining sensible scholarship with narrative swagger' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE.

'Dan Jones has created a gripping page-turner out of the dramatic history of the Templars' PHILIPPA GREGORY.

'The story of the Templars, the ultimate holy warriors, is an extraordinary saga of fanaticism, bravery, treachery and betrayal, and in Dan Jones they have a worthy chronicler. The Templars is a wonderful book!' BERNARD CORNWELL.

'Told with all Jones's usual verve and panache, this is a dramatic and gripping tale of courage and stupidity, faith and betrayal' MAIL ON SUNDAY.

'This is another triumphant tale from a historian who writes as addictively as any page-turning novelist' OBSERVER.

'The Templars is exhilarating, epic, sword-swinging history' TLS.

'Jones carries the Templars through the crusades with clarity and verve. This is unabashed narrative history, fast-paced and full of incident... Jones tells their story extremely well' SUNDAY TIMES.