Osprey Trade Editions : Crusader Knight

After Saladin's great victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1137 Outremer, as medieval westerners called the remaining Latin or Catholic enclaves in the eastern Mediterranean, was no longer a threat to Islam. Its military elites preferred to live in peace, focusing on trade as much of the defence of Christendom's holy places. After the Battle of La Forbie in 1241 - a disaster for the West - fear of an alliance between the Crusaders and the Mongol invaders convinced the Mamluks to destroy the Latin state once and for all. Thereafter the Western possessions in the Middle-East gradually collapsed, in spite of successes such as the establishment of another Outremer around the Aegean and eventually into the Black Sea following the Fourth Crusade in 1204. In this, the first book in the English language to objectively study the knights of the Latin East, David Nicolle presents a well-balanced and informed account of the Western warriors who defended the Crusader territories for so long. Their motivation, pay, education and training are all closely examined as is their society and chivalric culture. A significant proportion of the book is given over to the development of armour and weapons during the period, and tactics are also discussed. The excellent, accurate, and extremely detailed colour plates by Christa Hook superbly complement the text and enable the reader to see at a glance the wide-ranging changes that took place in the Outremer knight's equipment.