In considering the Crusades, many historians, scholars, and writers emphasize the romantic aspects of the Holy Wars. History's scribes often focus on mounted knights in gleaming armor, sallying forth with sword and lance to fight the good fight for God and glory. Writers of romantic novels tend to portray all enemies of Christendom as hated infidels who sought to stamp out not only Christianity, but all that was good in a world lit only by fire. More often than not, of course, the truth generally lies somewhere in between the extremes.

Except for occasional oblique references to life beyond the fields of valor, however, more than a few chroniclers of the crusading past have left to the reader's imagination the details of daily living of both Christians and Muslims during that fascinating period. Yet, to clearly understand the concept of...