This wide-ranging collection offers a series of original interpretations of partially explored evidence for all three theatres of war during the Second Crusade (1145-49). It also considers the planning, execution and consequences of the crusade for western Europe, the Crusader States of the Holy Land and the Muslim Near East.

The Second Crusade in history and research - Jonathan Phillips and Martin Hoch; narrative outline of the Second Crusade - Jonathan Phillips and Martin Hoch; papacy, empire and the Second Crusade - Jonathan Phillips; the papacy and the Second Crusade - Rudolf Hiestand; Albert of Aachen, St Bernard and the Second Crusade and the Lisbon letter - a translation - Susan Edgington; military aspects of the capture of Lisbon, 1147 - Matthew Bennett; capta est dertosa, clavis Christianorum - Tortosa and the Crusades - Nikolas Jaspert; the coming and impact of the Second Crusade - Carole Hillenbrand; tales of the undead - who was the count in Marcabru's "Vers del Lavador" - Linda Paterson; the non-crusade of 1150 - Timothy Reuter; Denmark and the Second Crusade - the formation of a crusader state - Kurt Willads Jensen; the price of failure - the Second Crusade as a turning point in the history of the Latin East? - Martin Hoch.