[PDF] Holy Warriors eBook

Author : Jonathan Phillips
Publisher : Random House
Page : 473 pages
File Size : 45,92 MB
Release : 2010-03-09
Category : History
ISBN : 1588369757

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From an internationally renowned expert, here is an accessible and utterly fascinating one-volume history of the Crusades, thrillingly told through the experiences of its many players—knights and sultans, kings and poets, Christians and Muslims. Jonathan Phillips traces the origins, expansion, decline, and conclusion of the Crusades and comments on their contemporary echoes—from the mysteries of the Templars to the grim reality of al-Qaeda. Holy Warriors puts the past in a new perspective and brilliantly sheds light on the origins of today’s wars. Starting with Pope Urban II’s emotive, groundbreaking speech in November 1095, in which he called for the recovery of Jerusalem from Islam by the First Crusade, Phillips traces the centuries-long conflict between two of the world’s great faiths. Using songs, sermons, narratives, and letters of the period, he reveals how the success of the First Crusade inspired generations of kings to campaign for their own vainglory and set down a marker for the knights of Europe, men who increasingly blurred the boundaries between chivalry and crusading. In the Muslim world, early attempts to call a jihad fell upon deaf ears until the charisma of the Sultan Saladin brought the struggle to a climax. Yet the story that emerges has other dimensions—as never before, Phillips incorporates the holy wars within the story of medieval Christendom and Islam and shines new light on many truces, alliances, and diplomatic efforts that have been forgotten over the centuries. Holy Warriors also discusses how the term “crusade” survived into the modern era and how its redefinition through romantic literature and the drive for colonial empires during the nineteenth century gave it an energy and a resonance that persisted down to the alliance between Franco and the Church during the Spanish Civil War and right up to George W. Bush’s pious “war on terror.” Elegantly written, compulsively readable, and full of stunning new portraits of unforgettable real-life figures—from Richard the Lionhearted to Melisende, the formidable crusader queen of Jerusalem—Holy Warriors is a must-read for anyone interested in medieval Europe, as well as for those seeking to understand the history of religious conflict.

Author : Angus Donald
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 20,53 MB
Release : 2011-08-02
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1429995823

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After the events of Outlaw, Robin of Locksley—and his sidekick and narrator, Alan Dale—finds himself in a very different England and a very changed world. In 1190 A.D. Richard the Lionheart, the new King of England, has launched his epic crusade to seize Jerusalem from the Saracens. Marching with the vast royal army is Britain's most famous, most feared, most ferocious warrior: the Outlaw of Nottingham, the Earl of Locksley—Robin Hood himself. With his band of loyal men at his side, Robin cuts a bloody swath on the brutal journey east. Daring and dangerous, he can outwit and outlast any foe—but the battlefields of the Holy Land are the ultimate proving ground. And within Robin's camp lurks a traitor—a hidden enemy determined to assassinate England's most dangerous rogue. Richly imagined and furiously paced, featuring a cast of unforgettable characters, Holy Warrior is adventure, history and legend at its finest.

Author : James Brewer Stewart
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 47,17 MB
Release : 1996
Category : History
ISBN : 080901596X

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Revised to include important new scholarship, James Brewer Stewart's eloquent survey of the abolitionist movement is also a superb analysis of how the antislavery movement reinforced and transformed the dominant features of pre-Civil War America. Revealing the wisdom and na veté of the crusaders' convictions and examining the social bases for their actions, Stewart demonstrates why, despite the ambiguity of its ultimate victory, abolition has left a profound imprint on our national memory.

Author : Edna Fernandes
Publisher : Granta Books
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 48,60 MB
Release : 2011-03-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1846274230

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Home to all the major religions, India is also, inevitably, host to virtually every type of religious fanatic. No other nation has witnessed as much proselytizing or heard as many war cries in the name of God as India. For centuries, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Muslims have waged bloody wars, sought violent conversion and declared jihad against their enemies, as their religions have been hijacked by the forces of fundamentalism. In Holy Warriors, Edna Fernandes travels to the country's recent and past theatres of religious extremism - from Kashmir to Gujarat, Punjab to Goa - to meet the generals and foot soldiers of communal wars who assert their faith in rhetoric and rage. Theirs are stories of bigotry and bloodshed, insecurity and despair, but Fernandes listens with understanding, tolerance and a deft sense of humour, and paints a uniquely vivid and clear-sighted picture of a country divided by dogma.

Author : Edna Fernandes
Publisher : Penguin Books India
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 25,78 MB
Release : 2007
Category : India
ISBN : 9780143103608

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An Excellent Detailing Of The Complex Web Of India S Cultural And Religious Bigotry Business World No Other Nation Has Witnessed As Much Proselytizaton Or Heard As Many War Cries In The Name Of God As Has India. Here, There Is Evidence That Every Religion Can Be Hijacked By The Forces Of Fundamentalism. Edna Fernandes Travels To The Country S Recent And Past Theatres Of Fundamentalism From Kashmir And Gujarat To Punjab And Goa To Meet The Generals And Foot Soldiers Of Communal Wars, And Lets Their Rage And Rhetoric Speak For Them. The Result Is An Important And Utterly Absorbing Book About The Consequences Of Prejudice, Insecurity And Hate. A Powerful Book . . . As Fair And Objective An Assessment Of The Perils That Lie Ahead For India As Any That I Have Ever Read Khushwant Singh A Gripping, And Necessary, Book On The Political Issues Facing India Today Mahesh Bhatt This Is A Remarkable, Brave, Moving, Disturbing, Funny And At Times Beautiful Book. It Tackles Head-On The Great Indian Paradox: That India Is A Centre Of Religion And Spirituality, And Hence Of Tolerance . . . Yet It Has Also Been Home To Some Of The Most Terrible Atrocities Committed In The Name Of Religion Simon Long, Asia Editor, The Economist A Reporter With A Gift For Details, Fernandes Weaves Together Voices Of Key Actors As Well As Innocents Caught In The Cleft Of History To Explain The Seductions Of Fundamentalism . . . There Are Genuine Flashes Of Wit And A Talent For Mockery That Make The Book A Racy Read Manish Chand, Hindustantimes.Com Holy Warriors Shows Up, In All Its Ugliness, The Cancer Of Religious Bigotry And Intolerance That Afflicts All Communities . . . It Is A Vivid And Shocking Mosaic That She Puts Together, From Nagaland To Goa And From Amritsar To Ayodhya . . . An Excellent Detailing Of The Complex Web Of India S Cultural And Religious Bigotry Jawed Naqvi, Business World

Author : Richard W. Kaeuper
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 44,18 MB
Release : 2012-06-04
Category : History
ISBN : 0812207920

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The medieval code of chivalry demanded that warrior elites demonstrate fierce courage in battle, display prowess with weaponry, and avenge any strike against their honor. They were also required to be devout Christians. How, then, could knights pledge fealty to the Prince of Peace, who enjoined the faithful to turn the other cheek rather than seek vengeance and who taught that the meek, rather than glorious fighters in tournaments, shall inherit the earth? By what logic and language was knighthood valorized? In Holy Warriors, Richard Kaeuper argues that while some clerics sanctified violence in defense of the Holy Church, others were sorely troubled by chivalric practices in everyday life. As elite laity, knights had theological ideas of their own. Soundly pious yet independent, knights proclaimed the validity of their bloody profession by selectively appropriating religious ideals. Their ideology emphasized meritorious suffering on campaign and in battle even as their violence enriched them and established their dominance. In a world of divinely ordained social orders, theirs was blessed, though many sensitive souls worried about the ultimate price of rapine and destruction. Kaeuper examines how these paradoxical chivalric ideals were spread in a vast corpus of literature from exempla and chansons de geste to romance. Through these works, both clerics and lay military elites claimed God's blessing for knighthood while avoiding the contradictions inherent in their fusion of chivalry with a religion that looked back to the Sermon on the Mount for its ethical foundation.

Author : Amy Orr-Ewing
Publisher : Authentic
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 47,55 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781850784609

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"We write this account of the Taliban with probably a unique experience and perspective on them. We have a story that intertwines our lives with theirs long before the twin towers were destroyed and the appalling attacks on America had wreaked their havoc. For much of the Western press, the Taliban were just another fundamentalist regime, renowned for their treatment of women, and their ultra-orthodoxy. They are a group now ingrained upon the visual imagination of the western world." Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing

Author : Dan Jones
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 33,90 MB
Release : 2017-09-19
Category : History
ISBN : 0698186435

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“Dan Jones is an entertainer, but also a bona fide historian. Seldom does one find serious scholarship so easy to read.” – The Times, Book of the Year A New York Times bestseller, this major new history of the knights Templar is “a fresh, muscular and compelling history of the ultimate military-religious crusading order, combining sensible scholarship with narrative swagger" – Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem A faltering war in the middle east. A band of elite warriors determined to fight to the death to protect Christianity’s holiest sites. A global financial network unaccountable to any government. A sinister plot founded on a web of lies. Jerusalem 1119. A small group of knights seeking a purpose in the violent aftermath of the First Crusade decides to set up a new order. These are the first Knights Templar, a band of elite warriors prepared to give their lives to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Over the next two hundred years, the Templars would become the most powerful religious order of the medieval world. Their legend has inspired fervent speculation ever since. In this groundbreaking narrative history, Dan Jones tells the true story of the Templars for the first time in a generation, drawing on extensive original sources to build a gripping account of these Christian holy warriors whose heroism and alleged depravity have been shrouded in myth. The Templars were protected by the pope and sworn to strict vows of celibacy. They fought the forces of Islam in hand-to-hand combat on the sun-baked hills where Jesus lived and died, finding their nemesis in Saladin, who vowed to drive all Christians from the lands of Islam. Experts at channeling money across borders, they established the medieval world’s largest and most innovative banking network and waged private wars against anyone who threatened their interests. Then, as they faced setbacks at the hands of the ruthless Mamluk sultan Baybars and were forced to retreat to their stronghold in Cyprus, a vindictive and cash-strapped King of France set his sights on their fortune. His administrators quietly mounted a damning case against the Templars, built on deliberate lies and false testimony. On Friday October 13, 1307, hundreds of brothers were arrested, imprisoned and tortured, and the order was disbanded amid lurid accusations of sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Pope in secret proceedings and their last master was brutally tortured and burned at the stake. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state? Dan Jones goes back to the sources tobring their dramatic tale, so relevant to our own times, to life in a book that is at once authoritative and compulsively readable.

Author : John J. O'Neill
Publisher : Felibri.com
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 17,40 MB
Release : 2009-08
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 0980994896

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Historian O'Neill examines a great variety of evidence from many specialties and reaches an astonishing and novel conclusion: Classical Greek Civilization was not destroyed by Barbarians or by Christians. It survived intact into the mid-7th century when everything changed.

Author : William J. Hamblin
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 590 pages
File Size : 16,91 MB
Release : 2006-09-27
Category : History
ISBN : 113452062X

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The only book available that covers this subject, Warfare in the Ancient Near East is a groundbreaking and fascinating study of ancient near Eastern military history from the Neolithic era to the middle Bronze Ages. Drawing on an extensive range of textual, artistic and archaeological data, William J. Hamblin synthesizes current knowledge and offers a detailed analysis of the military technology, ideology and practices of Near Eastern warfare. Paying particular attention to the earliest known examples of holy war ideaology in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Hamblin focuses on: * recruitment and training of the infantry * the logistics and weaponry of warfare * the shift from stone to metal weapons * the role played by magic * narratives of combat and artistic representations of battle * the origins and development of the chariot as military transportation * fortifications and siegecraft *developments in naval warfare. Beautifully illustrated, including maps of the region, this book is essential for experts and non-specialists alike.