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"Many people saw the Crusades as pilgrimages, many believed they were doing the will of God, and many too went for the booty. This was an institution that for more than five centuries punctuated European history, troubled Christian consciences and embittered Muslim attitudes towards the West, Geoffrey Hindley takes us from the Middle East and Muslim Spain to the pagan Baltic when 'Crusaders' reclaimed or extended Europe's frontiers, and offers lively portraits of major personalities who took part, from Godfrey of Bouillon, the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem, to Etienne the visionary French peasant boy who inspired the tragic 'Children's Crusade'." "Addressing aspects rarely considered, Hindley's penetrating study sheds light on some of the most pressing issues of religious division and shows how the Crusades helped to shape Europe, the modern world and relations between Christian and Muslim countries to this day."--Book jacket.

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