Kingdoms of god
The military history of the crusader states is currently a popular topic. Steve Tibble’s second foray into the subject – following 2018’s The Crusader Armies: 1099-1187 – sits alongside several other recent books intended for the general reader. What sets this apart is that it seeks, by deconstructing these states’ military strategies, to challenge modern preconceptions regarding the lack of intelligence (or mindless brutality) of medieval crusading leaders.
The book begins with the battle of the Springs of Cresson on 1 May 1187, when a small Templar and Hospitaller force was all but annihilated by a numerically superior Muslim army. This defeat paved the way for Saladin’s famous victory at Hattin and the loss of Jerusalem a few months later, and Tibble traces how events in the crusader states, primarily Jerusalem, led to this conclusion. Tibble argues that this was not the inevitable result for states built by unthinking zealots, blindly hacking their way forward. Instead he argues that crusader settlers can be viewed as careful strategists, if not always tactically adept enough to succeed. In their staggered expansion towards 'gypt, they balanced multiple aims and pressures (not least a lack of manpower) to ensure their surprising existence.
Engagingly written, albeit with an occasional over-reliance on readers’ contextual knowledge, and an informal style that might raise some eyebrows (but which does help to remind the reader that these were real people, not mythical figures), this is an effective entry point for those interested in the grand politics of crusader states. It is this which leads to a cautionary note, however. It is my hope that no reader forgets that a historical picture painted largely in the broadbrush strokes of leaders’ overarching military strategies can only ever offer a small glimpse of the past. The rich, complex, enigmatic, even troubling, history of the crusader states deserves to be better understood – and hopefully will be.