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
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. 
More about Steven Runciman

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