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The First Crusade

The Call from the East

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The First Crusade

By: Peter Frankopan
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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About this listen

From the author of the number one best seller The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

The First Crusade is one of the best-known and most written-about events in history, but in this new book Dr Peter Frankopan asks vital questions that have never been posed before.

This is the only book to address the history of the First Crusade from the perspective of the East, examining the role of the Byzantine Empire and its ruler, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.

Peter Frankopan's focus on the imperial city of Constantinople and events in Asia Minor is the result of a major reinterpretation of Eastern sources which reveal the crucial role of Byzantium in the genesis and execution of the First Crusade.

Frankopan’s revelation of a close cooperation between the pope in Rome and the emperor in Constantinople constitutes an important revision and brand new evidence of the history of the Church. This book questions the traditional view that the Catholic and Orthodox churches had broken definitively in 1054.

Rather than viewing the Crusades as a conflict between Christianity and Islam, the book reveals a complex triangular relationship between the West, Byzantium and the Muslim world.

So, The First Crusade constitutes a paradigm shift - it radically re-shapes our understanding of the aims, expectations and long-term implications of the First Crusade and the Crusades as a whole.

Most importantly it answers: why was there a First Crusade?

©2012 Peter Frankopan (P)2020 W F Howes Christianity Europe History Medieval Military World Middle Ages Crusade Imperialism Ottoman Empire Middle East Africa

Critic Reviews

“Scholarly and yet accessible, and unashamedly partisan, The First Crusade, as any vibrant history should, is bound to set a lot of feathers flying.” (Daily Telegraph)

"Convincing and accessible." (Sunday Times)

"A nuanced and often counterintuitive story of power politics, international diplomacy and war and, ultimately that very rare thing - a truly fresh interpretation of an old story." (Time Out)
All stars
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The First Crusade is well narrated, and fascinating but the chronological order so often is reviewed, to the point it can be confusing to keep up with.

Enlightening but a little confusing

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This is the story of what you never hear about the crusades and boy was it dry, I was 4hrs in and still waiting for someone, anyone to draw a sword and once they did we moved quickly though into the politics of holding gains.

I now know it wasn’t sudden anger at mumblings of pilgrims being put into slavery that kicked off the crusades. It took a massive targeted campaign of misinformation and organisation across Europe to kick things off.

If you want a tale of Christian blood lust across the Holy Land steer clear. If you want to understand why and how it happened this is for you.

A history of Byzantine politics in the lead up to the crusades.

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Great story read really well. Set the tone, made it more interesting. A fascinating story that I knew little about.

Narrator was fantastic

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Excellent background on factors that aren’t covered in other books and the characters that shaped the whole crusade

A different view

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