[set of three volumes]

The Crusades are at the center of Medieval History, whether we consider them the most dramatic and inherently romantic Christian adventure or the last of the barbarian invasions. Before the Crusades began, the center of our civilization was in Byzantium and the countries of the Arab Caliphate. Before they faded away, the hegemony of civilization had passed to Western Europe. From this transfer, modern history was born. However, in order to clearly understand this issue, we must not only comprehend the specific conditions in Western Europe that led to the Crusader impulse, but - perhaps even more so - the circumstances in the East that paved the way for the Crusaders and facilitated their advance and retreat. We must also take into account what was happening from the Atlantic to Mongolia. If we view history solely from the perspective of the Franks or solely from the perspective of the Arabs or even solely from the perspective of their main victims, the Christians of the East, their significance will elude us. Because, as Gibbon concludes, the history of the Crusades was the history of a global conflict.
In the second volume, the situation of the Frankish states of Outremer is described from the ascension of Baldwin I to the throne to the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin.
"The ultimate duty of the historian is to write history, in other words, to attempt to narrate in a unified and flowing continuity the greatest events and movements that have shaken human destinies."
(Steven Runciman)