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The Era of the Crusades
- Narrated by: Kenneth W. Harl
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
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The Era of the Crusades
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Summary
What were the forces that led to one of history's most protracted and legendary periods of conflict? How did they affect the three great civilizations that participated in them? And, ultimately, why did they end and what did they accomplish?
In these thirty-six dlectures, you'll look at the "big picture" of the Crusades as an ongoing period of conflict involving Western Christendom (we would now call it Western Europe), the Byzantine Empire, and the Muslim world. From this perspective, you'll study the complex but absorbing causes of the Crusades, which include the many political, cultural, and economic changes in Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. You'll examine the Crusades in terms of the specific military campaigns-the eight "canonical" Crusades that took place from 1095-1291-proclaimed to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim hands and return them to Christendom. You'll consider the immediate circumstances-the leaders, purposes, key battles, and degrees of success or failure-surrounding these often-monumental expeditions. You'll also explore a wide variety of misperceptions and long-debated questions about the Crusades. Did the popes preach the Crusades as a way to increase their personal power and authority? Why did the members of the Fourth Crusade decide to sack Constantinople, turning the Crusades from Christian against "infidel" to Christian against Christian?Taken together, these historically rich lectures are an opportunity to appreciate fully how Western Civilization changed in many profound ways during the Crusading era.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- MLH
- 04-10-16
Fascinating
Thoroughly recommend this to everyone interested in how we got to where we are today.
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- Maskull
- 21-07-20
Wonderful
This is a masterpiece. It comprises so much more than the title implies. It is an insightful, eye-wateringly intelligent and profound study of three centuries of Western European and Near Eastern history told in an infectiously enthusiastic and vivid manner by a gentleman who is clearly a very gifted educator. It is phenomenal value for money.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- Michael
- 10-02-21
Unfortunate Historical Inaccuracies
Listened to this to learn more about the crusades in detail, but unfortunately takes too long getting to the point, rather spending more time discussing the pre-crusade world, eating into time that could have been given to the core subject.
pronunciation of terms, even non historical ones were often wrong or inconsistent, but I could ignore that.
The worst crime were clear historical errors. Specifically the talk of the "Double headed axe" used by the Vikings and English, citing the Bayeux Tapestry as evidence. These are the two handed but single headed Dane axe, double headed axes weren't used, and these single headed axes are clearly the ones on the Tapestry. Professor Harl also calls lamellar armour and Roman Lorica Segmentata the same thing, which they are not.
The man clearly knows his subject well in the broad terms but these mistakes in the finer detail, while perhaps minor, do make me feel less confident in his credibility in the areas I don't know much about but wanted to learn of.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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- Sakari
- 23-09-23
Interesting story terrible narrator
Narrator ums and ahs his way throughout the narrative, making this a terrible listen. Reminds me of my old prof who would taje a sip of water at the midpoint of every other sentence.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. C. J. Cooper
- 21-11-21
Really good overview
I thought this series was highly informative if engaging. The only way it fell down was that there was to much emphasis on events in the Christian world and not enough about what was happening in the Islamic world throughout this era. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend it.
please remember that this is an overview of the period as a whole and not a close look at the military engagements in particular.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Janne
- 12-09-16
The lecture format really works.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the lecture format really works as an audiobook. Especially when the content is good and the lecturer definitely knows what he's doing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- A
- 09-06-21
The definitive account of the Crusades, in context
I have enjoyed so many of Professor Harl's courses that at this point I just buy whatever he puts out. I didn't have any great expectations for this particular course as I have already read a number of books about the Crusades. I was totally wrong. Professor Harl's accounts puts the Crusades into their sociopolitical context, which transforms the narrative and renders infinitely more engaging. This is particularly true of the Fourth Crusade, which is all too often summarised as "Venetian Merchants bad, Crusaders foolish." Learning about the concatenation of events that lead to the sack of Constantinople gave me insights I didn't know I was missing.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Manish
- 24-08-18
The Crusades
Great set of lectures. The best part it puts the crusades in the context of European politics and Eastern events such as the Mongol Empire.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-06-23
Prof Harl delivers again
This guy. Prof Harl delivers every time. I have been an avid consumer of history podcasts, audiobooks and lectures for years now, and Prof Harl is by far my favorite. He is exceptionally good at seeing and teaching the bigger picture of any event, technological, economical, political and sociocultural, without being bogged down by the details. He has just the right amount of little funny anecdotes, geeky humor snd interesting funfacts. Cannot recommend enough!
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- Mr
- 23-05-19
Outstanding
another tour de force from Professor Harl. Intelligent, comprehensive and comprehensible. I wish younger me could have spent a semester or two with him.
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2 people found this helpful