In the following essay, Throop examines the songs and poetry written and performed in opposition to the Crusades and papal policy.

In the following essay, Erdmann analyzes the various elements—including religious and literary developments—that enabled the “general idea of crusade and war upon the heathen” to take the specific form of the Crusade to the Holy Land.

In the following essay, Hussey offers a brief history of the Crusades from the point of view of the Eastern Christian Byzantine empire, discussing the conflicts that arose between the Eastern Christian rulers and the Western European Christian Crusaders.

In the essay that follows, Oldenbourg provides an overview of the history of the early Crusades, examining, in particular, the social effects of the warfare.

In the following essay, Krey analyzes the eyewitness chronicles and letters of the First Crusade, maintaining that they have primarily been examined as sources for literature, not as literary productions. Krey then examines the style and language of these accounts.

In the following essay, LaMonte studies two accounts of the Crusade of Richard the Lion-Hearted (the Third Crusade) and suggests that both works are derivatives of “a common basic form of the narrative.”

In the following essay, Atiya argues that while many critics cite the late thirteenth century as the end of the Crusades, following the “tragic exit of the Franks from Palestine,” the crusading movement in fact continued into the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

In the following essay, Goitein attempts to explain the dearth of Jewish accounts of the First Crusade. After examining a letter written in 1100, Goitein theorizes that the lack of Jewish narratives about the victory of the Franks in Jerusalem stems from the fact that local inhabitants viewed the event as one of “only passing importance,” offering little opportunity for the type of “heroic sacrifice” worthy of literary narration.

In the following essay, Foulet examines the content and form of two epic cycles about the Crusades—the first written at the end of the twelfth century, and the second composed during the 1350s.

In the following essay, James offers an overview of the history of the Second Crusade, which began in 1145. James notes the societal developments that occurred between the First and Second Crusades, and provides an account of the martial developments and ultimate failure of the Second Crusade.

In the following essay, Morris examines the types of “visual propaganda”—such as placards and the windows and architecture of churches and halls—used to keep the crusading spirit alive.

In the following essay, Munro surveys the extent to which anti-Muslim propaganda was utilized by papal and literary sources during the Crusades to encourage the crusading movement.

In the following essay, Cox reviews the events preceding Pope Urban II's call for a Holy War in 1095, focusing on the ongoing pilgrimages to Palestine and their relationship to the call-to-arms of the Crusades.

In the following essay, Brundage offers a brief account of the events directly preceding Pope Urban II's Council of Clermont sermon. An eyewitness report of the Pope's sermon directly follows.

In the following essay, Runciman surveys the contemporary and nearly contemporary source material related to the First Crusade, discussing Greek, Latin, Arabic, Armenian, and Syrian sources.

In the following essay, Thatcher discusses and ranks the contemporary Latin sources of the First Crusade and comments on what these sources reveal about the reality of that Crusade.

In the following essay, Saunders offers a brief overview of literature pertaining to the Crusades, beginning with the contemporary witness William of Tyre. Saunders discusses several other early accounts as well as later treatments of the Crusades through the twentieth century.

In the following prologue, Fulcher outlines the story that will be told in his A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem and describes the Crusade as a “pilgrimage in arms.”