The Crusades

The story of the Crusades is remembered as a tale of religious fanaticism and unspeakable brutality, of medieval knights and Jihadi warriors; of castles and kings; of heroism, betrayal, and sacrifice. But now, using fresh evidence, eye-witness testimonies and contemporary accounts – from both the Christian and Islamic worlds – Dr Thomas Asbridge re-examines this epic medieval tale. Retracing the steps of the Crusaders from a small town in France to the magnificent cities of the Holy Land he brings to life the human experience of the Crusades, and sheds new light on how it was that two of the world’s great religions waged war in the name of God; why hundreds of thousands of Christians and Muslims answered the call to Crusade and Jihad.

In July 1192 Richard the Lionheart stood poised for a strike on Jerusalem. At the same time, Saladin – sultan of Islam and Muslim hero – readied his troops inside the city, preparing for the inevitable attack. During a year-long campaign across Palestine these two legendary leaders had fought each other to a stand-still. Thousands had perished, appalling atrocities had been perpetrated on both sides. Now they faced each other in a battle for their sacred objective. In part two of the series, Dr Thomas Asbridge looks beyond the legends of these two medieval titans to begin to understand them as men – each capable of dark deeds and acts of stunning genius.

The finale to Dr Thomas Asbridge's revealing series explains how 200 years of Holy War were decided not we might imagine in a pitched battle before Jerusalem, but by a failed campaign led by a French King, later anointed a Catholic saint… in Egypt. He reveals how the end of the Crusades was due in large part to the Mongol hordes, and how the Islamic champion who destroyed the crusaders was not Saladin - but a captured slave boy whose name has long been forgotten in the West.