Riley-Smith's acclaimed book is now regarded as a classic short study. The updated fourth edition of this essential introduction features a new Preface which surveys and reviews developments in crusading scholarship, a new map, material on a child crusader, and a short discussion of the current effects of aggressive Pan-Islamism.

Preface.- Preface to Second Edition.- Preface to Third Edition.- Preface to Fourth Edition.- Map: The Theatres of War.- What Were the Crusades?.- A Just Cause.- Legitimate Authority.- Who Were the Crusaders?.- When were the Crusades?.- Chronology, 1095-1798.- Select Bibliography of Secondary Works.- Index.

'None of the growing number of rather good general books on the Crusades performs the same service in anything like the same measure as Riley-Smith's; no bibliography for an undergraduate course can afford to dispense with this book.' - Professor Peter Jackson, Keele University, UK 'An indispensable short introduction to a vast subject.' - Professor Thomas Madden, St Louis University, USA 'A fourth edition, 32 years after the first, is a tribute to the merits of this concise and perceptive book. A.W. Purdue, Times Higher Education 'If Bush had read this book - a new fourth edition of a seminal work first published in 1977 - he might have spoken more carefully on the White House lawn.' - Tribune

'None of the growing number of rather good general books on the Crusades performs the same service in anything like the same measure as Riley-Smith's; no bibliography for an undergraduate course can afford to dispense with this book.' - Professor Peter Jackson, Keele University, UK 'An indispensable short introduction to a vast subject.' - Professor Thomas Madden, St Louis University, USA 'A fourth edition, 32 years after the first, is a tribute to the merits of this concise and perceptive book. A.W. Purdue, Times Higher Education 'If Bush had read this book - a new fourth edition of a seminal work first published in 1977 - he might have spoken more carefully on the White House lawn.' - Tribune

The widely established starting point, by the leading authority in the field, for any study of the crusades The new updated edition takes account of the latest developments in the subject and concludes with a short discussion of the current effects of aggressive PanIslamism Includes a new map indicating the theatres of war