This German-to-English translation of a highly successful book is a clear, approachable, student-friendly introduction to the history of the Crusades. With a long chronological span, from the eleventh to the late fifteenth century, and with a wide geographical coverage of the whole of Europe and some of the Middle East, The Crusades is clear, concise and more wide-ranging than most single-volume works. Taking recent scholarship into account, and using boxes, case studies, marginal directions and chronologies, the book is well laid out and easy to follow, providing a comprehensive overview of the crusade movement for students at all university levels.

Modern study of the Hospitallers, of other military-religious orders, and of their activities both in the Mediterranean and in Europe has been deeply influenced by the work of Anthony Luttrell. To mark his 75th birthday in October 2007 twenty-three colleagues from ten different countries have contributed to this volume. The first section focuses on the crusading period in the Holy Land, considering the Hospital in Jerusalem, relations with the Assassins, finances, indulgences, transportation and the careers of the brothers and knights. The second and third sections move to the later Middle Ages, when the Hospitallers had their centre on Rhodes, and military and charitable activities in the East had to be supported with men and money from the West. The papers in the second section consider the Hospitallers on Rhodes, relations between Rhodes and the West and plans for crusades, while the third section includes papers on the Hospitallers in the Iberian Peninsula and in Hungary, the territorial administration of the Order of Montesa in Valencia, a plan to transfer the headquarters of the Teutonic Order from Prussia to Frisia, and a Hospitaller reconsideration of warfare and learning on the eve of the council of Trent. The final paper proposes new definitions and guidelines for future work on the military-religious orders. The authors include both well-known experts and younger scholars who promise to follow in the footsteps of Anthony Luttrell and to continue research into the Hospitallers and their fellow orders, these peculiar European communities avant la lettre.

The Mamluk Sultanate represents an extremely interesting case study to examine social, economic and cultural developments in the transition into the rapidly changing modern world. On the one hand, it is the heir of a political and military tradition that goes back hundreds of years, and brought this to a high pitch that enabled astounding victories over serious external threats. On the other hand, as time went on, it was increasingly confronted with "modern" problems that would necessitate fundamental changes in its structure and content. The Mamluk period was one of great religious and social change, and in many ways the modern demographic map was established at this time. This volume shows that the situation of the Mamluk Sultanate was far from that of decadence, and until the end it was a vibrant society (although not without tensions and increasing problems) that did its best to adapt and compete in a rapidly changing world.

The history of individual seascapes has recently become a vibrant and innovative field of research. Nonetheless, connections between seas (entre mers) and the imagination of lands "beyond the Sea" (Outre-mer) have only rarely been focused in these contexts. This is precisely the main aim of the present collection of essays, which results from a conference held at Heidelberg University. The individual papers treat various aspects of transmarine connections, their regulation and mental expansion in an Indo-Mediterranean context, which comprises the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, as well as projections of seaways to India on other maritime areas, thus spanning a wide chronological spectrum from Egyptian antiquity to the onset of the Atlantic Age in the sixteenth century. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

While comparative studies on purity and impurity presented in the last decades have mostly concentrated on the ancient world or on modern developments, this volume focusses the hitherto comparatively neglected period between circa 300 and 1600 c. E. The collection is innovative because it not only combines papers on both European and Asian cultures but also considers a wide variety of religions and confessions. The articles are written by leading experts in the field and are presented in six systematic sections. This analytical categorization facilitates understanding the functional spectrum that the binomial purity and impurity could cover in past societies. The volume thus presents an in-depth comparative analysis of a category of paramount importance for interfaith relations and processes of transfer.

Die Hanse ist einer der letzten ungetrübten deutschen Geschichtsmythen, die Verherrlichung vergangener Handelsherrlichkeit. Was aber war sie wirklich? Wann entstand sie und wie funktionierte sie? Stephan Selzer analysiert die Entstehung und den historischen Hintergrund der hansischen Gemeinschaft, ihre Konstruktion und Besonderheiten, die Verdichtung und die Auflösung der Hanse, die spätestens mit dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg ihren endgültigen Untergang fand. In den besten Zeiten nutzten Kaufleute aus bis zu 100 Städten die hansischen Privilegien und beherrschten den Handel im Ost- und Nordseeraum. Ihr Handelsverkehr reichte von Nowgorod über Bergen bis nach Brügge und London; von Danzig, Bremen und Hamburg bis nach Köln und Frankfurt am Main. An der Geschichte der Hanse lassen sich in seltener Deutlichkeit mittelalterliche Wirtschafts- wie Sozialgeschichte erklären, Aspekte der Seefahrt, des Piratenwesens wie auch die Auseinandersetzungen zwischen den Anrainerstaaten an Nord- und Ostsee.

Les Croades van impregnar la cultura i la societat de l’Edat Mitjana de manera decisiva. A més de les Croades a «Terra Santa», Nikolas Jaspert aborda també l’estudi de les guerres empreses tant contra qui professaven credos diferents en la península Ibèrica o en el territori bàltic, com contra els «enemics interiors» de la Cristiandat. Un altre dels temes centrals de l’obra són les ordres religioses de cavalleria, que marcarien durant llarg temps la història d’Europa. Gràcies a un plantejament que abasta una gran diversitat d’aspectes i a la seva informació sistemàtica, l’autor assoleix inserir les Croades en el fenomen general de la «expansió europea».

Die "Reconquista" - ein blutiger Kampf zwischen Christen und Muslimen auf der Iberischen Halbinsel? Die christliche Expansion - ein langsamer, aber letztlich unaufhaltsamer Prozess? Mitnichten, wie Nikolas Jaspert hier zeigt. Er beschreibt die Zeit zwischen 711 (Ende des Westgotischen Reiches) und 1492 (katholische Eroberung Granadas) als ständige Abfolge von Kriegen und Bündnissen, aber auch kulturellen und diplomatischen Beziehungen. Dabei gelingt es ihm eindrucksvoll, die Vielschichtigkeit der verschiedenen Spannungsfelder zu skizzieren und den Leser mit den wichtigsten Fragen dieser Epoche vertraut zu machen.