The Crusader States and their Neighbours

The Crusader States and their Neighbours (Winner, The Verbruggen Prize, The Society for Medieval Military History) explores the military history of the Medieval Near East, piecing together the fault-lines of conflict which entangled this much-contested region. This was an area where ethnic, religious, dynastic, and commercial interests collided and the causes of war could be numerous. Conflicts persisted for decades and were fought out between many groups including Kurds, Turks, Armenians, Arabs, and the crusaders themselves. Nicholas Morton recreates this world, exploring how each faction sought to advance its own interests by any means possible, adapting its warcraft to better respond to the threats posed by their rivals. Strategies and tactics employed by the pastoral societies of the Central Asian Steppe were pitted against the armies of the agricultural societies of Western Christendom, Byzantium, and the Islamic World, galvanising commanders to adapt their practices in response to their foes. Today, we are generally encouraged to think of this era as a time of religious conflict, and yet this vastly over-simplifies a complex region where violence could take place for many reasons and peoples of different faiths could easily find themselves fighting side-by-side.

Nicholas Morton is a senior lecturer in History at Nottingham Trent University where he specialises in the history of the Crusades, the Military Orders, and the Medieval Mediterranean. He is especially interested in interfaith relations, medieval biblical exegesis, and military history, and has written extensively on these themes. His recent publications include: The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East (2022), The Field of Blood: The Battle for Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East (2018), The Uses of the Bible in Crusader Sources (2017, co-edited with Elizabeth Lapina), and Encountering Islam on the First Crusade (2016). He is also an editor of the Rulers of the Latin East and The Military Religious Orders: History, Sources and Memory book series.