SACRED SWORDS: Jihad in the Holy Land 1097-1295

1-195190

In 1071 Muslim Turks crushed the Byzantine Emperor's Anatolian army at Manzikert. The Crusades, the West's response to this catastrophe, are well known as are the names of the European nobles who fought in them. The names and deeds of many of the Crusaders' opponents in the Holy Land are often unfamiliar to Western readers. Waterson tells the story of the famed leaders of the jihad - the lives and deeds of Zangi, Nur al-Din, Saladin and Baybars.

Using primarily Muslim sources, Sacred Swords reconstructs the politics of the Levant on the eve of the First Crusade and also places it in the wider context of the Muslim world of the period. It illustrates the evolution of the jihad from among the Princes of northern Iraq and analyzes the Holy War that would eventually destroy the Latin Kingdoms. Much of the action is comprehensible only when you understand that the Crusaders were not the only concern for Muslim princes. It also covers the long naval contest that raged between the navy of Egypt and the Crusader fleets.

6 x 9.5 inches with 16 pages of plates.