The fourth edition of Jonathan Riley-Smith’s book, What Were the Crusades?, published by the Ignatius Press on March 23, 2009, is a self-described introduction to the crusading movements of the medieval period. The book primarily covers the First through Fifth Crusades to the Middle East, issued by the Catholic Church, with the primary objective being to take Jerusalem and its surrounding territories. It also covers the French crusades, also known as King Louis IX’s first and second crusades, respectively. It finely details the reasoning, justification, planning, and execution of the crusades, as well as the sociopolitical consequences of the crusades in Europe and the Middle East.
What makes Riley-Smith’s work exemplary among others is how he challenged the generally accepted definition of the crusades. He states in his preface for the third edition that the widely accepted yet baseless tenets of the field, prior to his studies, were as follows: “True” crusading was defined as attempts from Europe to gain control of Jerusalem; the crusaders’ opponents in the Middle East were culturally superior to them; most of them departed in hopes of gaining land, money, and political power; the military orders were religious orders in name only; and the Crusader states were a colonial experiment.
What Were the Crusades? serves as an academic rebuttal of these viewpoints, namely the first, third, and fourth points, as the second and fifth points were no longer considered worthy of serious discussion. Riley-Smith argues that crusading was not just limited to expeditions to the Middle East, but was done across Europe for centuries; the Crusades were in fact a religious war for the vast majority of those who took the cross; and the military orders were as much of a religious order as any other division of the church. These claims are presented not in tandem with but as a result of Riley-Smith’s goal of the book, which is to define the “who, what, where, and why” of the Crusades using concrete evidence rather than unfounded claims.
Naturally, Riley-Smith opens with a broad but satisfactory definition of the crusades: a series of religious and political expeditions aimed at reclaiming, defending, and conquering lands deemed important to Christianity. The Catholic Church typically organized and supported these military campaigns, with Pope Urban II’s proclamation correctly establishing the first crusade in 1095. I believe his claim here is well-