Richard the Lionheart: The Mighty Crusader

by Miller, David; Thompson, Julian

• ISBN13: 9780297847137
• ISBN10: 0297847139
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-03-01
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd

Summary

King Richard I won an enduring reputation for personal courage in his numerous wars, but his reputation as a military commander, let alone as a political leader, is less certain. British historians in particular have judged him harshly for what has been seen as absenteeism: he spent so little time in England that his younger brother was eventually able to seize power while he was away. Yet Richard ruled an empire, and the bulk of his territories were on the European mainland. His ability to undertake a two-year campaign at the other end of the Mediterranean demonstrated strategic skills far in advance of other Crusader commanders. As David Miller observes, this was the furthest 'overseas deployment' of an English army to date. Of course, his army was actually an alliance of often mutually hostile elements and to hold this multinational force together for so long suggests the king's political talent has been undervalued. If King Richard ultimately failed to wrest the Holy City from Saladin and the Muslim armies, he restored the fortunes of the Crusader Kingdom that had been on the brink of extinction when he set out for the Middle East. Book jacket.

Author Biography

David Miller served in the British Army from 1956 to 1991. He took early retirement to become a journalist and to write books. He has had over forty books published on subjects ranging from the Samurai to the Battle of Waterloo, a shipwreck in the Falkland Islands and the Crusades. Working on the latter book revived his interest in Richard the Lionheart, one of the greatest warrior-kings England has ever known

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations	p. 7
Foreword	p. 9
Acknowledgements	p. 15
Introduction	p. 19
The Background to the Third Crusade	p. 29
The Start of the Third Crusade	p. 46
The Cyprus Campaign	p. 52
The Siege of Acre: 1189-91	p. 61
The March from Acre to Jaffa and the Battle of Arsuf	p. 80
The First Attempt to Reach Jerusalem	p. 101
Interlude	p. 116
Jerusalem--the Second Attempt	p. 127
The Battle of Jaffa	p. 136
The End of the Campaign	p. 148
Main Fleet to the Holy Land	p. 153
Logistics	p. 166
Richard I as a Military Commander	p. 185
Vegetius's De Re Militari	p. 197
Richard I in His Own Words	p. 201
The Rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem 1099-1192	p. 207
Conversion Table	p. 208
Notes to the Text	p. 209
Bibliography	p. 212
Index	p. 217
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