Medieval Christianity: Saladin

In this book the medieval Muslim sultan Saladin is at last freed from his romantic image and presented realistically. Professor Ehrenkreutz portrays Saladin as a central figure of his time, only much more capable, intelligent, and ambitious than heretofore acknowledged. The author's careful treatment of Saladin's early career is in sharp contrast to earlier biographies, just as he emphasizes Saladin's political ambitions in the Muslim Middle East rather than his far more celebrated activities against the Crusaders. While Saladin's involvement with the Crusader Kingdom and his capture of Jerusalem, which stimulated the Third Crusade, have led most Western historians to concentrate on this aspect of his career, Professor Ehrenkrautz corrects this distortion by showing that Saladin preferred to turn against his Muslim rivals in Syria and Mesopotamia, rather than against the Christians on the Syrian littoral. While Saladin declared his convenience, he did not fight the Crusaders in earnest until he had gained recognition as military leader of all Islam. But after a devastating sweep of the Christian fortresses, Saladin chose an easy propaganda victory, the capture of Jerusalem, rather than reducing Tyre, the last important Christian stronghold on the Mediterranean coast. To this spot came the battered Christian remnants; there they held off Saladin's belated attempt to rectify his mistake until troops of the Third Crusade arrived and reestablished the Christian presence in the Middle East. While pointing out Saladin's genius, Professor Ehrenkreutz demonstrates that all his accomplishments were quite ephemeral and some, perhaps, ultimately proved detrimental to the Muslim cause. The unity between Egypt, Syria, and part of Mesopotamia did not at last long after his death in 1193. The Crusaders not only regained a foothold in Syria, but also got back Jerusalem less than fifty years later. Saladin's successful use of Egyptian revenues to finance his campaigns elsewhere, a policy he learned from Nur al-Din, caused Christian attacks to be focused on Egypt. This helped destroy the Ayyubid regime and bring about the Mamluk domination of Egypt.-Flap cover.

Born in the year 1137, Salah-ad-Din Ysef Ibn Ayyub (Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, son of Job), known to us as Saladin, remains an enigmatic figure. Having decisively trounced the Christian crusading armies and driven them from the holy places, he struck a harder blow at Europe's self-esteem than any Asian warrior since Attila the Hun. Yet centuries later he was still revered in the West as "a man very prudent and wise, one for excellent actes, moderation and valiantness greatly renowned." How is it that he became, even for his enemies, a symbol of chivalry and of indomitable military leadership? Geoffrey Hindley has provided us with a skilful and enthralling narrative of Saladin's rise to power and of the complex historical background to his campaigns. He charts the successes which led to the gradual process of disintegration that put an end to Christian supremacy in Palestine. In spite of his triumphs, when Saladin died in1193, he did not even leave sufficient money to pay for his grave.-Flap cover.

"Jerusalem Besieged" is a fascinating account of how and why a baffling array of peoples,ideologies,and religions have fought for some four thousand years over a city without either great wealth,size,or strategic importance.Cline guides us through the baffling,but always bloody,array of Jewish,Roman,Moslem,Crusader,Ottoman,Western,Arab,and Israeli fights for possession of such a symbolic prize in a manner that is both scholarly and engaging."-Victor Davis Hanson,Stanford University;author of "The Other Greeks and Carnage and Culture".

Examines the history of the great Islamic expansion, reveals how the Arab armies were able to overcome almost everything in their path, and brings to light the unique characteristics of Islamic settlement in new lands and the conversion to Islam of vast populations.

Here,Professor Udovitch explores some of the important qualitative aspects of medieval Near Eastern economic life from the point of view of both legal and economic history history.Concentrating on partnership and commenda,the major institutions of commercial association in medieval Islam through which merchants and others could combine their resources and skills for commercial purposes,he demonstrates that these two techniques were versatile legal-commercial instruments capable of fulfilling a variety of functions in the economic life of the medieval Muslim world.-Flap cover.