The Crusades: Review of Thomas F. Madden's The New Concise History of the Crusades

In Thomas F. Madden’s The New Concise History of the Crusades, he is able to effectively give an accurate depiction of the Crusades in a story-like manner. The expansive and convoluted history of the Crusades has been marred by myths and misconceptions about the true nature of these “holy wars”. In his history, Madden seeks to correct these maladies that plague the Crusades by using concrete evidence to support his claims. Although Madden does an excellent job in condensing the history of the Crusades into 225 pages, there are some improvements that he could have made in his history in order to make it less opinionated and more critical. This paper will criticize the effectiveness of Madden’s arguments and presentation of themes. The doctrine of “holy war”, the place of military leadership and rivalry, and the response of Muslim states and military leaders are all important themes addressed in The New Concise History of the Crusades that will be analyzed to extract Madden’s true intentions, concerns, and assumptions.

Aside from telling the history of the Crusades, Madden also seeks to establish his opinion on the issue by subtly introducing his intentions for the book. As previously mentioned, Madden is concerned about how the Crusades are portrayed by myths and mass media and seeks to set the history straight. He addresses how historians oversimplified the Crusades by only counting the “numbered crusades” which only counted the peaks in history where they were the strongest. Madden also claims that Crusade history fails to address Crusades that transcend pilgrimages to the Holy Land:

If one accepts that the crusading movement transcends the conquest of the Holy Land, then there is no reason its history should abruptly end i...

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...uccessfully view Islam in an objective light, but instead seems to side with Christianity rather than Islam on this matter. He could have made his historical summary more effective by viewing Christianity and Islam through a similar lens.

Thomas F. Madden’s The New Concise History of the Crusades is an invaluable account of the crusades that bases its arguments off of factual evidence and draws from historical accounts. Although his arguments may be flawed because of preconceived biases, Madden is still able to present the history of the crusades in an interesting and professional manner. The themes he addresses accurately portray the crusades as both a religious and territorial endeavor. Overall, Madden successfully summarizes and analyzes the crusades in his historical review, infusing his own ideologies in the text while still maintaining a professional voice.